Statement on rumours about Öcalan’s well-being

To the Press and the Public

We are unable to make any contact with our clients Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, Mr. Ömer Hayri Konar, Mr. Hamili Yıldırım and Mr. Veysi Aktaş, who are held in İmralı Prison. While the last lawyer-client consultations in İmralı Prison took place on 7 August 2019 and only with Mr. Öcalan, our clients’ last contact with the outside world occurred within the scope of their exercise of the right to communicate by phone which they were granted for the first time on the occasion of the pandemic on 27 April 2020.

Since then we have not been able to receive any news from our client Mr. Öcalan. On 14.03.2021, allegations regarding his life were advanced on a number of anonymous social media accounts. We seriously examine every claim made about our clients in İmralı, who we have not been allowed to meet for a long time, and we take all necessary action when required. We do not know from where these claims, which are advanced from time to time, originate and spread, but what is important for us is that these claims regarding Mr. Öcalan occur periodically. Undoubtedly, the most important reason for this is the severe isolation imposed on Imrali and the fact that we are completely curtailed in our opportunities to receive any information and make any observations. Given the fact that İmralı Prison, as a standard prison, is not a prison where family and lawyer visits can take place on a regular basis and where information about the inmates’ health and living conditions can be obtained, these allegations raise serious concerns that need to be cleared up. To this end, communication with İmralı should be made possible at the earliest.

We insist on our demand to create communication channels that will end the state of isolation in Imrali that in itself constitutes maltreatment, thus ruling out the concerns about our clients’ health and living conditions. Once again, we urge the political and administrative authorities to act responsibly and abandon this practice of discriminatory and violent isolation against a single prison and a single group of prisoners, to allow İmralı Prison to be monitored, and to implement the legal rights regarding visits and communication indiscriminately.

15.03.2021

ASRIN LAW OFFICE (ASRIN HUKUK BÜROSU)