The HDP Foreign Affairs Commission co-spokespersons, Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy, met with representatives of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in Strasbourg. The meeting addressed the situation of Abdullah Öcalan, isolated from the outside world in the Turkish island prison Imrali, and the hunger strike by political prisoners.

Hişyar Özsoy told ANF: "This was the opportunity to meet face to face. We share news about the worsening situation of the prisons in Turkey. There is the issue of ill prisoners, which is very serious. Apart from that, torture practices are widespread in prisons and of course we talked about the ongoing hunger strikes which has been going on for almost 150 days. We shared our views on the latest situation of these hunger strikes, the Imrali isolation and the unacceptability of all this.”

Özsoy added: "They [in the CPT] are well aware of the criticism. When the CPT delegation was last in Turkey, it did not go to Imralı and didn’t meet with Abdullah Öcalan's lawyers. Before the meeting, Abdullah Öcalan's lawyers asked to convey some questions to the CPT representatives, which we did. We have insisted on the fact that there is a possibility of avoiding deaths resulting from the ongoing hunger strikes and change the course of the protest.”

The CPT does not share the content of the interviews it made with anyone in accordance with its working principle, said Özsoy adding: “They just know very well what the issue is and what the problems are and follow them up. We convey both the violations of rights in prisons in general and this persistent policy on isolation in particular. Isolation is one of the main agendas for the HDP. It does not change because the problem is not solved. From now on, it will stand as one of the main agendas in all our talks."

Background

Political prisoners in Turkey have been on a hunger strike against the torture and isolation regime imposed on Imrali since 27 November. Abdullah Öcalan has been detained in Imrali since he was illegally abducted from Kenya in 1999. For twenty months now, the 72-year-old has been denied any contact with his lawyers. The last visit the lawyers had in Imrali took place on 7 August 2019. And it was the first meeting after eight years of ban. Öcalan's last visit from his relatives was on 3 March 2020. After that, he was only allowed two telephone calls.

Detention conditions have deteriorated dramatically since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. The situation is life-threatening, especially for ill prisoners. As an international human rights mechanism within the member states of the Council of Europe, the CPT has the unrestricted right to examine prisons, police stations, refugee camps  and has already been asked several times to meet its responsibility with regard to Imrali. The committee, however, last inspected prisons in Turkey in January but did not go to Imrali.