News Center – The legal and political debate over the status of leader Abdullah Öcalan is renewed with the escalation of international calls demanding the guarantee of his "right to hope" – a principle affirmed by the European Court of Human Rights in cases of prisoners serving life sentences.

More than 250 politicians, academics, trade unionists, and civil society activists from various countries around the world sent an open letter to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, demanding the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights rulings concerning leader Abdullah Öcalan and the guarantee of what they described as his "right to hope."

The letter, published coinciding with the assumption of a new president of the Committee of Ministers, bore the signatures of more than fifty elected officials from twenty countries, in addition to representatives of twenty trade unions and a large number of human rights and civil organizations.

The signatories called on the committee to oblige Turkey to implement the European Court's 2014 ruling in the case of Öcalan v. Turkey (No. 2), considering that the implementation of the judgment constitutes an essential step towards strengthening the rule of law and democracy, not only regarding leader Öcalan but also for thousands of prisoners subject to the same legal framework.

The signatories pointed out that the success of the peace process in Turkey, in which leader Öcalan continues to play a pivotal role, requires the guarantee of his fundamental rights and enabling him to play his political role. They also recalled the ongoing international appeals campaigns in recent years, most notably a letter signed by 88 Nobel laureates last summer, in addition to hundreds of legal requests to visit leader Öcalan in his prison.

The signatories affirmed that Turkey stands before a historic opportunity to achieve progress in the path of peace and democracy by addressing the Kurdish issue, stressing that respecting leader Öcalan's rights is an essential part of this path.