Turkey: International delegation attempts to visit imprisoned Kurdish leader

Fr Joe Ryan, from the Westminster Justice & Peace Commission was part of an international peace delegation that attempted to visit Abdullah Ocalan in Imrali prison this week. Fr Joe writes:

The delegation consisted of 12 members from USA, Canada, Venezuela, Ecuador, South Africa, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Germany, headed by Judge Essa Moosa of the High Court of South Africa. As a young lawyer he acted for Nelson Mandela and his colleagues when they were imprisoned on Robbin Island and other prisons in Cape Town.

The aims of the initiative was to promote the resumption of the peace process in Turkey; to visit and consult Mr Abdullah Ocalan who is currently detained at Imrali Prison in Turkey; to meet and discuss with the Turkish Minister of Justice; to meet and discuss with political parties, government representatives, civil society and lawyer associations.

Sadly, the Delegation was not successful in meeting the Minster of Justice. Neither were we allowed to visit Mr Ocalan in prison on Imrali Island. We did have some very helpful meetings and dialogue with politicians, lawyers and peace activists. We were informed that Abdullah Ocalan has had no access to his lawyers for the past five years. His family have not been able to visit him in over a year. It is understood that he is in solitary confinement and there are serious concerns about his state of health. The possible consequences of Abdullah Ocalan dying in prison are too frightening to contemplate!

Abdullah Ocalan is a key player in the peace process in Turkey and in the whole Middle East. He is the imprisoned leader of the 40million Kurdish people dispersed throughout the world. He has put forward a peace map in the three books written from his prison cell. He demands a stop to violence and states clearly that the only way forward for peace is dialogue and negotiation.

The request for his release has fallen on deaf ears. His release from prison is the hope of millions: 10.3 million signatures for his release were presented to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg over a year ago. We still await a response either from the Council of Europe or the Turkish Government.

We held a press conference at Elite World Hotel, near Taksim Square, Istanbul on February 16, 2016 and presented the message to the media/press that were present. Judge Mossa chaired the presentation and each member of our Delegation was able to add further comments.

While our Delegation did not achieve all its objectives, our host and those involved in the campaign for the release of Abdullah Ocalan were very appreciative of the solidarity shown by our visit.

On a personal note, I appreciated the opportunity of being part of this delegation. We met with two local activists, Zubeyde Teker and Emine Ayna who are involved in the Freedom of Abdullah Ocalan campaign. They had worked tirelessly in helping to achieve the 10.3 million signatures. Since I was one of the four signatories launching the Campaign in Brussels and also present in Strasbourg at the presentation to the Council of Europe, it was a privilege to meet those two campaigners.

It was an honour to meet the Member of Parliament Hatip Dicle from Diyarbakir, he has spent 15 years in prison off and on during his political career, mainly on false accusations. When I was in Diyarbakir in 2011 at the Trials of the 151 prisoners, Hatip was one of those 151 prisoners. So it was good to meet him now that he has been free for the past 18 months. The original charges still stand, so he not totally "free" as yet.

The peace process in Turkey has to continue. We need to observe carefully what we are told in the media about the Turkish/Kurdish conflict. The killing of Kurdish civilians still goes on. The killings in Ankara on 17 February do not help the situation. One has to ask why the conflict? When human rights are denied, there is no knowing what the response will be.

The peace process is in a very critical situation at this time; those concerned needs to start talking again. This is the desire of Abdullah Ocalan, so hopefully his pleading will be heard.