PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan left Syria on 9 October 1998 following the diplomatic and military pressures of the USA against Syria. Abdullah Öcalan had to go to different places in every country he visited afterwards due to the intense pressure of the USA. Abdullah Öcalan, who was declared "persona non grata" in Europe, finally had to go to Kenya, where he was kidnapped on 15 February 1999 at the exit of the embassy and handed over to a Turkish team waiting at the Nairobi Airport. 

 

It has been 26 years since the conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan. From the beginning of the conspiracy to the present day, the unlawful acts against Öcalan have never ended. Öcalan, whose asylum and refuge rights were denied during the conspiracy, has been placed under severe isolation in Turkey. Family and lawyer visits were arbitrarily prevented. After his last phone call on 25 March 2021, he was held under absolute isolation for 43 months. 

 

The unlawfulness against Öcalan was reflected in the reports of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) many times. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) also ruled in 2005 that Öcalan's ‘right to a fair trial’ had been violated. The ruling revealed that his right to defence was restricted and that he was not provided with adequate access to his lawyers.  

 

In 2015, the ECHR also found that the imposition of aggravated life imprisonment on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan without the possibility of release violated the "prohibition of torture and ill-treatment" under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR ruled in favour of violation of the ‘right to hope’. Despite this judgement, Abdullah Öcalan's "right to hope" has not been fulfilled. 

 

Mahmut Şakar, one of the lawyers who met Öcalan on 25 February 1999, 10 days after the conspiracy, evaluated the unlawfulness against Öcalan to Mezopotamya Agency (MA). 

 

CONSPIRACY PROCESS

 

Şakar stated that the international conspiracy was realised as a reflection of global politics. Stating that the conspiracy process was not legal, Şakar emphasised that this was the reason why the process of bringing Abdullah Öcalan was called a conspiracy and said: "Öcalan defined this process as a 'conspiracy' because he was faced with a process devoid of law, legal rules, moral principles and political ethics."

 

Emphasising that the USA and European states also disregarded the law, Şakar reminded that during the conspiracy process, Öcalan, who first went from Damascus to Athens, was sent to Moscow before his request for asylum was processed, and that the Parliament accepted his request for asylum there, but Pirmakov, the Prime Minister of the time, did not accept it, Şakar said that Abdullah Öcalan went to Rome for this reason. Şakar said that Italy was the only country where Abdullah Öcalan faced the law, but his asylum request was not accepted due to political pressures and added, "Abdulah Öcalan was sent to Athens on 1 February and from there to Kenya. According to the Dublin Agreement, Greece should have sent Mr Öcalan to Italy because his asylum request was in process in Italy, but they took him to Kenya with the promise of sending him to South Africa." 

 

Şakar stressed: "After Mr Öcalan was sent to Kenya, he stayed at the residence of the Greek Ambassador to Kenya. He personally hand-delivered a written request for asylum to Kostulas, the Greek Ambassador at the time, and asked that it be sent to the relevant mechanisms. On 13 February, his lawyer in Greece visited his residence in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Mr Öcalan made a handwritten request for asylum again and asked the Greek authorities to intervene, but on 15 February he was kidnapped to Turkey in a pirated way. When we look at this whole plot, we see that European countries do not comply with their own laws in any process except the Court of Appeal process in Italy."

 

Stating that Abdullah Öcalan wants to create a ground for the democratic solution of the Kurdish issue and therefore wants to stay in a European country, Şakar said that the reason why Abdullah Öcalan was taken to Kenya was that he did not want to be handed over to Turkey from a European country. Şakar said, "They wanted to protect their image of the so-called rule of law by realising this great lawlessness through an African country. Therefore, we see very clearly that the forces of conspiracy have planned this in this way. It is taken from Europe to an African country and from there it is pirated and delivered to Turkey."  

 

ECHR RULE

 

Reminding that İmralı Island was prepared before the conspiracy process, Şakar said, "As of 4 February, İmralı Island started to be evacuated. It was declared a military forbidden zone. This also developed as part of the conspiracy. The lawlessness in the conspiracy was continued on Imrali Island."

 

Şakar reminded that Abdullah Öcalan's lawyers applied to the ECHR on 16 February 199, one day after he was brought to Turkey, and that the ECHR ruled on 12 May 2005 that Öcalan had not received a fair trial and that a 17 thousand-page indictment on Abdullah Öcalan was prepared during the trial of Abdullah Öcalan and that this indictment was given to the lawyers on 15 May. He said that lawyers had to prepare for the trial to be held on 31 May within 15 days. Şakar said, "The lawyers were kept under pressure throughout the trial, none of their demands were fulfilled, their evidence, comprehensive research requests, requests to present and listen to witnesses were not used. As a matter of fact, a maximum period of 15 days was given for the final defence, which was completed between 31 May and 29 June."

 

Şakar stated that in his meetinhs with Abdullah Öcalan, Abdullah Öcalan evaluated the international conspiracy "as a part of the intervention of global powers in the Middle East" and emphasised that Öcalan's entire focus was on how this conspiracy could be frustrated.

 

'HIS LIBERATION WILL EFFECT MIDDLE EAST'

 

"There is no doubt that there is a special administrative and legal regime based on extreme arbitrariness, which deepens and generalises according to political conditions. Therefore, this extra-legal system envisaged for Mr Öcalan is a micro-level reflection of the life model envisaged for the Kurds," said Şakar and added: "The special regime applied to Öcalan is not limited to İmralı. It has spread to the Kurds as war and to Turkey as authoritarianism."

 

Stating that Abdullah Öcalan's physical freedom will not only end the unlawfulness of the conspiracy, but will also lead to a transformation in Kurdish politics and in Turkey, Şakar said, "In this last process initiated from this point of view, it is already possible to say that if Mr Öcalan's opportunities are expanded and his working conditions are created in a free and safe environment, it will lead to a great development. Moreover, the intellectual resistance created by Mr Öcalan, especially inside, and the paradigm created by him have attracted attention in the Middle East and globally in the person of the Rojava Revolution. With what he produced, Mr Öcalan has actually turned into a global voice, a global pioneer, a leadership that appeals to all oppressed peoples, those who are ignored, those whose identity is taken away. His liberation will also lead to serious positive effects, morale, hope and practical results for the Rojava Revolution and the Middle East geography. It will also be a promising development for the global world."

 

Expressing that they have concerns about the current process, Şakar continued, "However, the source of hope for us is the trust we have in Mr Öcalan's paradigm created and deepened by the accumulation of more than 30 years of democratic struggle, the peace and solution strategy, and the philosophical, political, ideological and strategic foundations he has established, and the struggle he has put forward for the liberation of all peoples. If Öcalan is liberated, a great democratic development will be paved with the hope he will create. Together with him, he will lead all progressive humanity to a more hopeful future."

 

MA / Fırat Can Arslan