PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan Talks to His Family on the Phone After 21 Years

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Held in İmralı Island High-Security Type F Closed Prison, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has talked to a family member on the phone for the first time after 21 years.

Imprisoned in İmralı well, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş have also spoken to their families on the phone.

As reported by Barış Polat from Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the phone call between Abdullah Öcalan and his brother Mehmet Öcalan took place on April 27 and lasted for around 20-25 minutes.

The attorneys and families of Öcalan and three other inmates have also applied to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to meet them.

Message of 'peace and unity'

Speaking to the MA about the phone call that he made from Urfa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Mehmet Öcalan has stated that his elder brother shared his opinions about three main issues.

In his phone call with him, says Mehmet Öcalan, imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan referred to the 1982 Protocol within the context of latest developments in Iraq Federal Kurdistan Region and emphasized that what the Kurds needed was not war, but peace and unity.

Mehmet Öcalan has also indicated that he went to make the phone call with Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Ömer Öcalan, an attorney and two other HDP MPs, but only he was himself allowed to talk to him:

"We were referred to the Urfa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to make the phone call. They took only me to the room where the phone call was to be made at the courthouse, they said that I could talk to him on the phone.

"We had a phone conversation with a fixed telephone that belonged to the prosecutor's office for 20-25 minutes at around 1 p.m. I got happy when I heard the voice of the chief on the phone."

'It is the first time that we can use this right'

Mehmet Öcalan has noted that it was the first time that they could use their right to make a phone call; when they were on their way to the island, their boat had to return to the shore most of the time; and they could again make no meetings for months and, now, for years.

Indicating that telephone calls can be arranged if the state wants it, he has added, "But our legal and democratic right has not been granted for 21 years. Kurdish people also had their eyes and ears on İmarlı Island."

"I told him that the people are worried because of the outbreak and curious about his condition. He said that his condition of health is good at the moment and added, 'But, I don't know what will happen in the future'," Mehmet Öcalan has recounted further.

He has also said that Abdullah Öcalan mostly talked about the developments concerning the Kurds, rather than the outbreak.

Öcalan told the following to Mehmet Öcalan on the phone:

"Everything is obvious. There is nothing to hide. There is a big problem and everyone has to work properly for that. There is blood being spilled. If you are strong, you can prevent this blood from being spilled. For that reason, everyone has to struggle on this ground and to have such a perspective." (AS/SD)