*Drawing: Gianluca Constantini
Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), met with family members on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, marking a rare visit permitted at İmralı Island Prison. Three other prisoners held at the facility, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım, and Veysi Aktaş, were also allowed family visits.
The visits took place as part of the holiday visitation rights granted by prison authorities, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported. Öcalan met with his nephew, Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party MP Ömer Öcalan.
Family visits to Öcalan have long been restricted. Since 2014, he has been allowed to meet with relatives only seven times. The previous visit took place on Oct 23, following a 44-month period of total incommunicado detention. That visit, which involved Ömer Öcalan, came amid a broader political initiative launched by the ruling bloc in October to address the Kurdish issue.
The other inmates have also faced severe limitations. Konar and Aktaş, both transferred to İmralı in March 2015, have each had only four family visits to date, including this one. Yıldırım has had just three.
Lawyer access has similarly been restricted. Öcalan has had only five meetings with his legal team over the past 14 years, the last of which took place on Aug 7, 2019. Konar, Yıldırım, and Aktaş have not had any lawyer visits since being moved to İmralı.
On Mar 28, the Asrın Law Office, which represents Öcalan and the other prisoners, stated that 52 requests for family and lawyer visits had gone unanswered and called on the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to urgently visit the prison.
As part of ongoing political engagement, a DEM Party delegation visited İmralı three times, on Dec 28, Jan 22, and Feb 27, within the framework of efforts to find a democratic and peaceful resolution to the Kurdish issue. After the third meeting, Öcalan issued a call for the PKK to lay down its arms after four decades of armed insurgency. (VK)
