PKK leader Öcalan talks to his brother on the phone after 11 months

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The Asrın Law Bureau released a statement yesterday (March 25) and announced that Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), had a brief phone call with his brother.

While there had been no information or news about his condition since April 27, 2020, it was alleged last week that Öcalan lost his life in İmralı Prison, where he has been behind bars since 1999.

According to the statement of the Asrın Law Bureau, the phone call between Öcalan and his brother was cut after a very short time and the conversation could not proceed any further. The Bureau has noted that it cannot obtain sufficient information as to its client's health condition.

The Asrın Law Bureau has also indicated that while Hamili Yıldırım, one of the three other prisoners in İmralı, also had a brief phone conversation, Ömer Hayri Konar and Veysi Aktaş, the other two prisoners, did not had a phone call "to protest the conditions of isolation."

Statement of the law bureau

The Asrın Law Bureau's written statement reads as follows:

"The families of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, Mr. Ömer Hayri Konar, Mr. Hamili Yıldırım and Mr. Veysi Aktaş were summoned to the prosecutor's offices to exercise their right to make a phone call with our clients in İmralı Prison. The conversation between Mr. Öcalan and his brother was interrupted after a very short time and the conversation could not continue.

"The conversation of Mr. Hamili Yıldırım lasted highly short; however, those of Mr. Ömer Hayri Konar and Mr. Veysi Aktaş did not take place as they did not go on the visitation in protest against isolation conditions.

"As is known, we had been unable to hear from Mr. Öcalan since April 27, 2020. The last attorney's meeting that we could make with him took place on August 7, 2019. After serious allegations were made on social media on March 14, 2021, causing concerns about Mr. Öcalan's life, we submitted requests everyday, demanding a face-to-face meeting with as a legal right and to confirm his health condition. However, we have been unable to get a positive reply to any of these requests.

"Today, we have been unable to get sound information about the health condition of Mr. Öcalan. Our request for meeting Mr. Öcalan in İmralı Prison urgently is still in place. In fact, in the part of Mr. Öcalan's phone call that could be held, he said that he did not accept the failure to meet this request and that this situation is against the law; afterwards, the conversation was interrupted. We bring these developments to the public attention and call on the authorities to act in compliance with the law and act responsibly."

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(EKN/SD)