PACE member Feleknas Uca queried Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic about the isolation and the prisons. Mijatovic said, “Turkey must resolve all issues regarding human rights. We will visit Turkey.”
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Batman MP and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Feleknas Uca attended the PACE session and gave a speech, asking Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic about the isolation imposed upon Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Ocalan, the rights violations in prisons, and what precautions were to be taken against them.
ISOLATION AND HUNGER STRIKES
Uca said the Council of Europe, and the CoE’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has pointed to the human rights violations that have become systemic in Imrali and continued: “Prisoners in the Imrali island haven’t been able to meet with their lawyers since 2011. Prisoners have been cut off from the outside world entirely since 2015. MP Leyla Guven has been on a hunger strike against the isolation that started in Imrali and spread throughout all prisons in time. The only demand in this hunger strike is an end to the isolation, which is imposed upon Mr. Ocalan and all prisoners.”
“WHAT ARE YOUR PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SUCH DISREGARD?”
Uca said there are approximately 7 thousand people on hunger strikes:
“Mr. Tayip Temel, a member of this council and a member of parliament in Turkey, is also on a hunger strike. As stated, the hunger strikers demand an end to the isolation. This demand coincides with the demands of the Council of Europe. As such, what will you do as the Commissioner for Human Rights to prevent the systemic rights violations and blatant disregard of the law in Turkey’s prisons?”
MIJATOVIC: TURKEY MUST RESOLVE ISSUES
The Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic responded and said: “I was glad that Leyla Guven was released, but of course that is not enough. As the Commissioner for Human Rights, it doesn’t please me to see actions such as hunger strikes in our member states. I visited Turkey last October. I plan on holding another visit as soon as possible. Turkey must resolve all issues regarding human rights. We are planning another visit to Turkey soon, and we will be inspecting the prison conditions. We will work to resolve the relevant CoE decisions on the basis of human rights.”
