PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan who was brought to Turkey as a result of an international conspiracy on 15 February 1999 remains in isolation in İmralı Island Prison since.

An international delegation led by Nelson Mandela's lawyer Essa Moosa from the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative has planned a three-day visit to Turkey on February 14th to make efforts for the ending of the isolation on the Kurdish leader and the ongoing war in North Kurdistan territory.

The delegation will meet committees from HDP, CHP and AKP before going to the Island of İmralı for a visit to Öcalan on 16 February.

Jusge Essa Moosa will be accompanied by the following names during the three-day talks in Turkey;

Independent author, copy editor, and graphic artist Janet Biehl from America

Political activist, writer and publisher Dimitri Roussopoulos from Canada, co-founder of International Confederation for Disarmament and Peace

Academic Federico Venturini from the University of Leeds, UK,

Academic Dr. Thomas Jeffrey Miley from the University of Cambridge, UK

Social justice activist Dr. Radha D’Souza from UK

Andrej Hunko, member of the German Parliament, Bundestag

Author Eirik Eiglad from the New Compass, Norway

Edgar de Jesús Lucena González from the Venezuealan Parliament

Joe Ryan, Chair of Westminster Justice and Peace, UK

Francisco Velasco Andrade, former Minister of Culture for Ecuador.

LETTER TO THE TURKISH MINISTER OF JUSTICE

Judge Essa Moosa who will be leading the delegation to visit Turkey, wrote a letter to the Turkish Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdağ, in which he explained the reason for their demand to pay a visit to İmralı as follows; "We believe Öcalan can play a very important role for the resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey, in the same way President Nelson Mandela did in South Africa."

‘ÖCALAN AND MANDELA IN THE SAME POSITION'

Essa Moosa stressed in his letter that Öcalan's conditions needed to be improved in order for the re-initiation of the peace process, and likened his situation to that of South African leader Nelson Mandela. In this regard, Moosa attached a copy of a letter written to him by Mandela on 21 August 1989 which manifests how the South African leader didn't give up the fight for peace despite all the challenging circumstances during those years.

'WE WANT TO VISIT ÖCALAN'

The letter by Judge Moosa, which was written on behalf of a very esteemed delegation in international, political and cultural arena, said; "The mission of the delegation is to visit Turkey to provide a contribution to the ending of the conflict ongoing since the unexpected collapse of the peace process and its re-initiation of talks for peace. This mission therefore requires a meeting with firstly Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and then Kurdish people's imprisoned leader Mr. Abdullah Öcalan. We intend to focus on talking to Mr. Öcalan regarding the peace process for we believe he can play a very important role for the resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey, in the same way President Nelson Mandela did in South Africa. Our delegation asks to be granted a visit İmralı Prison on February 16th, 2016."

Moosa said the delegation also wanted to hold a briefing meeting with the Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ after the visit to the Kurdish leader in İmralı.

DELEGATION SUPPORTED BY PROMINENT NAMES

The 11-person international delegation is also supported by a variety of worldwide known names who include Prof. Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Prof. David Graeber, John Holloway, Mauro Palma, Dr. Felix Padel, Baroness Helena Kennedy, Baroness Jenny Jones, Mark Thomas, Jeremy Hardy, Dr. Dafydd Iwan, Dr. Bill Bowring, Mike Mansfield, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Dr. Derek Wall, Bert Schouwenburg, Stephen Smellie, Nick Hildyard, Louise Christian, Tony Simpson, Ara Sarafian, Alastair Lyon, Matt Foot, Bronwen Jones, Johannes de Jong and Feroze Mithiborwala.