The ongoing isolation of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has intensified as reports emerge of a new six-month ban on attorney visits to İmralı Island Prison, where he has been held since 1999. The ban also affects three other prisoners kept on the island, namely Ömer Hayri Konar, Veysi Aktaş, and Hamili Yıldırım.
The last known contact with Öcalan was a disrupted phone call with his brother, Mehmet Öcalan, on March 25, 2021. Since then, there has been a silence regarding his condition and communication rights.
Lawyers from Asrın Law Office, representing Öcalan and the other inmates, discovered the ban after filing a request with the Bursa 2nd Court of Enforcement for a meeting with their clients. The reasons for the ban have not been disclosed to the attorneys, and their appeals against the decision have been denied.
PKK leader Öcalan marks three years without communication with outside world
This development is part of a broader pattern of communication rights violations that Öcalan has faced since his imprisonment. During the early 2010s, there was a period when delegations from pro-Kurdish MPs engaged in talks with Öcalan as part of a peace process. However, this process was abandoned in 2015, leading to a reinstatement of strict communication restrictions.
The legal team plans to challenge the ban at the Constitutional Court, citing concerns over the violation of fundamental rights protected by both domestic and international law.
Öcalan, founder of the PKK, which has been engaged in an armed insurgency since 1985, was captured in 1999. (TY/VK)
