The isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali Type F High Security Closed Prison was further aggravated on November 17, 2009 when he was moved to a different cell. Abdullah Öcalan was moved from a 12 square meter cell to a 6 square meter cell. Abdullah Öcalan described this cell as a “death pit” and the “November 17 coup” in his lawyer meeting one day later. After 43 months of absolute isolation, Abdullah Öcalan pointed out that the isolation against him still continues in his October 23 meeting with his nephew Ömer Öcalan. 

 

Lawyers of Asrin Law Office Emran Emekçi evaluated the “November 17 Coup” and the İmralı system. Pointing out that İmralı was redesigned just before the February 15, 1999 conspiracy, Emekçi stated that the İmralı system is not designed according to the law. Emekçi said that the system in İmralı was prepared by psychologists at the Pentagon and was first applied on the PKK leader.

 

THE METHOD PUT INTO PRACTICE IN IMRALI

 

Pointing out that the isolation in İmralı has been deepened after Abdullah Öcalan's Democratic Middle East Project, which he put forward against the US imposition of the Great Middle East Project (BOP), Emekçi said: “In fact, what is being targeted here is Abdullah Öcalan's democratic solution and peace initiatives. Mr. Öcalan wanted to develop his democratic solution and peace initiatives with Mr. Özal in 1993. However, this process was sabotaged by Mr. Özal's suspicious death. The response to the 1995 ceasefire was the assassination of Mr. Öcalan on May 6, 1996. In other words, they wanted to eliminate the main interlocutor of peace with that assassination. Then they put a new method into action. They kidnapped him through a conspiracy, handed him over to Turkey, aggravated the isolation and introduced death over time. We call this the death corridor. In other words, what we call the regime of imprisonment until death is a corridor of death and a postmodern form of execution.”

 

3-STAGE ISOLATION SYSTEM 

 

Stating that the İmralı isolation system consists of three stages, “From 1999 to 2005, the isolation was established. At that time, there were İmralı trials and family and lawyer meetings were relatively possible. İmralı conditions are detrimental to health due to the heavy and humid climate. Rıfat Ilgaz said, 'A person cannot last 2 years here',” Emekçi said.  

 

 

Emekçi stated that on June 1, 2005, with the amendment of the law, the isolation system in İmralı entered the second stage, adding that the isolation was aggravated in this process.

 

Noting that it was also during this period that Abdullah Öcalan's cell was changed, “Mr. Öcalan said, 'It feels like a death pit and most importantly, I am suffocated here'. In other words, he considered it as an attempt to suffocate him physically and voluntarily. The CPT went to the island and prepared a report on the conditions at that time and made a series of recommendations. Another dimension of the November 17 coup was that the efforts for a solution were responded to in this way as a coup. In his lawyer meetings, Mr. Öcalan said about the solitary confinement: 'They are forcing me not to speak politically here. Sometimes they even intervened during the lawyer meetings, saying 'don't talk politics'. Mr. Öcalan did not accept these impositions, saying 'I am a political leader and I am being tried as the leader of the PKK. I will not talk about flower bugs, of course I will speak politically',” he said.  

 

ABDULLAH ÖCALAN'S STAND IN IMRALI

 

What happened was part of the conspiracy said Emekçi and added: “Mr. Öcalan said, 'The conspiracy is based on my death and if I attempt such a thing, the conspiracy will hold. If Mr. Öcalan was executed or physically destroyed there, the Turkish-Kurdish war would deepen. Those who designed the conspiracy had calculations in this regard. If a Turkish-Kurdish democratic unity alliance had been established, the conspiracy would have been thwarted. Both the Turkish forces and the Kurds and the Middle East would not be facing these problems. In the 5th volume of his defenses, Mr. Öcalan said: “I have realized that Turkey can neither fight for itself nor make peace. The mission assigned to Turkey was to protect the interests of the capitalist system in the region and to act as a gendarme. Like the liquidation of Özal, the paralyzing of Ecevit, and the pushing back of Erdoğan. That's why he developed the idea of the Third Way. With the Third Way, he wanted to fill the vacuum of political will by gathering the forces of democracy under one roof, coming to power and changing constitutions. Mr. Öcalan said 'My stance here is yes to democratic transformation, no to liquidation'. This is the summary of Mr. Öcalan's stance in İmralı for 25 years. But the response of the state and the government for 25 years has always been liquidation.” 

 

ABSOLUTE ISOLATION PERIOD 

 

Stating that the third stage of the isolation system in İmralı is the period of absolute isolation, Emekçi said that this period was put into effect after the July 15, 2016 military uprising. “If we look at the decision of Bursa 1st Execution Judgeship dated July 2016, they listed absolute isolation with the prohibition of lawyer visits, the prohibition of receiving visitors, and the prohibition of telephone communication. This is the suspension of basic prisoner rights as a whole. Isolation also means the continuation of the coup process. The trustees are also a coup law. On July 20, they developed absolute isolation against Mr. Öcalan. On July 21, they issued a decree and added an additional article to the law on municipalities. They paved the way for trustees. It is this exceptional legal regime that is currently in force,” he said.  

 

'ÖCALAN'S FREEDOM MUST BE RECOGNIZED'

 

Referring to Abdullah Öcalan's meeting with his nephew Ömer Öcalan after an interval of 4 years, Emekçi reminded that Öcalan stated that the isolation continued during the meeting. Emekçi said: “The fact that a limited family meeting was held today does not mean that the isolation has been broken. Because even an ordinary prisoner has the right to phone calls, family visits and open visits every week. These are legal, universal rights. Kurds have been experiencing isolation for a century with Lausanne. How can isolation be broken? By recognizing the individual and collective rights of Kurds, by opening the doors to İmralı. Isolation cannot be broken with a family meeting, lawyer or delegation meeting. ECHR decisions are obvious. You will recognize Mr. Öcalan's freedom. So, like De Klerk, you will bravely pass the negotiation law and end this.” 

 

'THE NECESSARY GROUND MUST BE PREPARED'

 

Reminding Abdullah Öcalan's words about the solution of the Kurdish issue in the last meeting, Emekçi continued as follows: “In the last meeting, Mr. Öcalan said, 'I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from the grounds of conflict and violence to the legal and political grounds if conditions are created. The necessary ground must be prepared for Mr. Öcalan to play his role in democratic solution and peace. If the conditions are met, the process will begin. Then a road map will be determined. The requirements of the road map will be fulfilled with determination and willpower. That is how the issue is solved. The rest is just talk. Look at all peace processes in the world, they are two-sided. It starts with non-conflict, continues with the road map and is concluded at the constitutional level. A one-sided 'Turkish Type' solution and peace is a false peace. Mr. Öcalan has established parameters for an honorable peace. With this, the state, the government and the peoples, in other words, everyone wins. But deepening the other Kurdish-Turkish conflict serves the conspiracy and causes more losses for the Turks than for the Kurds. The current state of the state is an example of this. We need to get out of this vicious circle. Mr. Ocalan is a great chance and opportunity to make use of this.”

 

MA / İbrahim Irmak