‘Isolation on Ocalan is equal to treason against the people'

"The isolation (on Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan) plays a destructive role as to solve the problems in the country and in the region. The isolation on Imrali is equal to treason against the people" HDP Ankara MP Sirri Süreyya Önder says.

Ankara MP Önder, who is also a member of the HDP's Imrali Committee, chair of the Parliamentary group and Istanbul MP Pervin Buldan and Urfa MP Dilek Öcalan organized a press conference in the Turkish parliament to address Öcalan's health and security conditions.

THE ISOLATION ON IMRALI IS EQUAL TO TREASON AGAINST THE PEOPLE

Onder started the conference by saying "Both regional and domestic peace is in one and a half hours distance” referring to the distance between the shore and Imrali island where Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan is imprisoned.

Onder warned Turkish authorities that the isolation on Ocalan plays a destructive role to solve the problems in the country and the region.

“Adopting provocative isolation instead of guaranteeing peace will lead nowhere. When considering this, the Imrali isolation is nothing but treason against the people” he said.

Onder said that the question is not simply Öcalan's health and security anymore, but building up a common ground for the very future of the country.

ÖCALAN IS HELD UNDER ABSOLUTE ISOLATION

"Imrali is neither a place the state can ignore, nor clamp down. Nobody is allowed to see Öcalan for over a year. In fact, he is held in extreme isolation and unlawful, human rights opposing conditions since the first day. Many people, especially the political prisoners in this country, have started actions of resistance because they believe that putting Öcalan under isolation is a threat to the country's domestic peace. We must remember that the Peace Process began after a similar period of resistance” Onder said.

Onder called on the Turkish authorities to abandon their insistence on isolation on Imrali and said: “A person who risks losing so much energy and time again, cannot sincerely be called a statesman but is an idiot. It is the nature of Human Beings that they can learn from their experiences.

Today, the rulers of this country lead a huge war for their own being. The only way they have discovered is hostility against the Kurds, but they even reached the end of this road. There is nothing to achieve by criminalizing the HDP. Whichever public poll you look at, the votes of the HDP are not decreasing. That is a demonstration of peace, humanity and democracy"

The Turkish authorities constantly reject appeals by Öcalan’s family, lawyers and Imrali delegation to visit him in the high-security prison.

Öcalan’s lawyer’s last visit to Imrali took place more than 6 years ago on 27 July 2011. The Imrali delegation, which was formed during the informal peace negotiations, last visited the Kurdish leader on 5 April 2015. The Turkish authorities constantly reject appeals by Öcalan’s family, lawyers and Imrali delegation’s appeal to visit him in the high-security prison.