ANKARA - The Delegation International Women visited the Council of Europe against the aggravated isolation on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan.

 

The Delegation of International Women visited the Council of Europe (AK) for PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been held in absolute isolation in Imrali Prison and has not been heard from for 22 months. In the delegation, Sawsan Chouman, the director of the Nun Initiative in Lebanon, tasked with researching and disseminating taught of Öcalan among Arab women in the Middle East and northern Africa, and the co-chair of Franco-Kurdistan Association Sylvie Janthe, founded in response to the murder of three Kurdish women activists in Paris on January 9, 2013, is also present.

 

In a statement to the press, the delegation stated that their aim was to “make visible the importance of Öcalan's ideas for women all over the world in different liberation processes, and draw attention to the serious human rights violations of women imprisoned for supporting the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan, especially those deprived of their liberty for political reasons."

 

RIGHT OF HOPE REMEMBERED

 

The statement continued: “This delegation has attended some sessions of the various committees of the Council of Europe and met with different MPs as well as some others working in various groups within the Council. For example, meetings were held with the Office of Legal Affairs and Human Rights and the Monitoring Office, which is tasked with checking the fulfillment of obligations imposed on all Council of Europe member states, including Turkey. This rapprochement with the European institutions serves as a reminder, among other things, that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ordered Turkey since 2014 to amend the irrevocable life sentence handed down to Abdullah Öcalan, among many others because any life sentence that does not provide for the possibility of parole once the convict's reintegration into society is proven is contrary to the so-called 'right of hope'. It was also reminded that the ECtHR emphasized the importance of constant communication with lawyers and family members of persons deprived of their liberty in other Turkish prisons, including Abdullah Öcalan and three others deprived of their liberty in İmralı. Some members of the Council of Europe have committed to draw attention to this issue in their next report."

 

EMPHASIS ON THE URGENCY OF MEETING WITH ÖCALAN

 

It was also stated in the meetings that Turkey did not comply with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, which it signed, and that the requirements of the convention were not fulfilled. The delegation also emphasized to its interlocutors the urgency of meeting with Öcalan. The Delegation notes with regret that the European institutions do not have prompt and effective mechanisms to ensure compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights in Turkey, but welcomes the joint commitment by some people in favor of the defense of human rights and to all MPs of the Council of Europe, in particular to address the Kurdish Question in Turkey. The delegation wants to insist that there must be media and social pressure to take the understanding seriously. This country must do something to meet the requirements of respect for human rights that any member of the Council of Europe must abide by and to respect the decisions of the ECtHR and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). Unfortunately, this delegation could not meet, although it is very important in terms of humanitarian urgency to provide information about Abdullah Öcalan's health and ensure that he can communicate with his lawyers.”