PKK leader Öcalan faces new lawyer visit ban

İmralı High-Security Prison marked the 24th year of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's imprisonment with a fresh prohibition on lawyer visits, effective until October 31, 2023. 

According to a report from Mezopotamya Agency, the judiciary rejected the lawyers' request for the disclosure of the content and file samples of the ban, citing security concerns. An appeal made by the legal representatives to a higher court against the ban was also dismissed. 

In response to the imposed prohibition, the Asrın Law Office plans to file a petition with the Constitutional Court. 

This latest ban adds to the tally of at least 12 lawyer visit restrictions imposed on Abdullah Öcalan in the past eight years. 

The Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) will stage a march to Gemlik district in Bursa on November 18, opposing the isolation of PKK leader Öcalan, who has been held at İmralı High-Security Prison since February 1999. 

The last meeting between lawyers and Abdullah Öcalan took place on August 7, 2019, by the Asrın Law Office. Since the brief 4.5-minute phone conversation with his brother Mehmet Öcalan on March 25, 2021, there has been no news from Öcalan. 

During that phone call, Öcalan, who exercised his legal phone rights for the second time in his 24 years of incarceration, expressed dissatisfaction, stating, "What you are doing is very wrong. Both the state and you are playing wrong. This is neither legal nor right. This is unacceptable. Are you aware of what you are doing? I want my lawyers to come here and meet with me. This is a legal matter. I've been here for 22 years. How will this issue be resolved in the future? This problem can only be resolved through the law. Why aren't they coming here? If there is to be a meeting, it should be with these lawyers because this situation is both political and legal." 

From 2011 to 2020, Öcalan's family submitted 385 visit requests, of which only 29 were approved.(TY/VK)