International committee to meet CPT and EC officials for Öcalan

A committee headed by Mandela’s lawyer Essa Moosa that wanted to visit İmralı on February 15 against the isolation of Öcalan but was obstructed by the Turkish state is having meetings in Strasbourg with CTP and EC.

A committee headed by Mandela’s lawyer Essa Moosa that wanted to visit İmralı on February 15 against the isolation of Öcalan but was obstructed by the Turkish state is having meetings in Strasbourg with CTP and EC.

Conditions of isolation conditions of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan have been in place for the last 17 years. Despite all peaceful efforts of Öcalan, the Turkish state continues and intensifies the isolation.

As the isolation of the Kurdish leader continues, civilian killings have started in Northern Kurdistan. Despite all the insistence from Kurds, European institutions keep their silence. An international committee headed by Nelson Mandela’s lawyer Essa Moosa from the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative wanted to visit İmralı on February 15 but was obstructed by the Turkish state. The delegation is now having meetings with the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the European Council (EC) in Strasbourg. The committee will be having meetings with CPT officials, Parliamentarian Assembly and political groups on April 18 and 22. There will be meetings with the press and conferences, and the committee will also meet with EC officials. The committee will later meet with the Kurdish community in Strasbourg and visit the “Freedom for Öcalan Watch” that has continued for 4 years.

SEVERAL NOTABLE FIGURES IN THE COMMITTEE

Along with Moosa, the following are attending the meetings in Strasbourg for ending the isolation of Öcalan:

Janet Biehl, writer from the US, Federico Venturini, academic in Leeds University in the UK, Dr. Thomas Jeffrey Miley, academic from Cambridge University, Germany Federal Assembly parliamentarian Andrej Hunko, Eirik Eiglad, author and translator from Norway’s New Compass Publishing and Joe Ryan, UK Parliament Justice and Peace Commission Chairman.

The committee also involves several names from the science, arts and politics communities like Prof. Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Prof. David Graeber and John Holloway.

ISOLATION SHOULD END, HE SHOULD BE RELEASED WITHOUT CONDITIONS

The declaration by the committee mentions Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s role in the solution to the Kurdish matter, and continues: “As an international committee, we arrived in İstanbul on February 15 to meet with Abdullah Öcalan. But the officials from Turkey’s Ministry of Justice and other Turkish officials didn’t allow us to go to the island. After our return, they did send a notice that they had relayed our request to the İmralı Prison Administration. We couldn’t go to İmralı but we had several meetings and attended conferences in İstanbul. We reached this conclusion there: We believe Mr. Öcalan plays a key role in the solution to the Kurdish matter. Isolation of Mr. Öcalan will only deepen this war. This isolation should end and he should be released immediately for the continuation of the peace process.”

CPT SHOULD SEND A COMMITTEE IMMEDIATELY

The committee directed calls to the CPT and EC, saying; “The CPT needs to send a committee to inquire about the conditions in İmralı immediately. The EC should be involved as well. European institutions should make attempts in ending the isolation on Öcalan. The Kurdish matter can’t be solved through isolation and oppression. This is why Öcalan’s conditions should be improved for the ending of clashes, for restarting of the dialogue and for peace.”

50 EUROPEANS TO JOIN THE VIGIL

While the committee is having the meetings, some 50 activists from different parts of Europe, mainly Germany, UK, the Netherlands and France with MPs, writers and academics among them, will be taking over the “Freedom for Öcalan Vigil” that has continued in front of the EC for 4 years. The group will be on vigil for a week, they will hold several events in the city and demand freedom for the Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan.