RONÎDA HACÎ

Hasakah- No news has been received from Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been kept under aggravated isolation in the Imrali High-security Prison since March 25, 2021. After eight years, his lawyers Rezan Sarıca and Newroz Uysal could meet him on May 2-22, June 12-18 and August 2019 after political prisoners staged a hunger strike across the country. His lawyers have met him five times since April 27, 2020. Abdullah Öcalan had a phone call with his brother Mehmet Öcalan on March 25, 2021, after some allegations about his health spread on social media platforms. However, the phone call was interrupted after a short time. No news has been received from Abdullah Öcalan for 20 months and the isolation imposed on him has been aggravated every day. A delegation from the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visited Imrali and announced that they had met Abdullah Öcalan. On November 29, 2022. However, the Asrın Law Office issued a written statement and said that Öcalan had not met the delegation. Beşîra Cemal Dîn, Co-chair of the Lawyers’ Union in North and East Syria, spoke to NuJINHA about the aggravated isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan.

‘The right to life is the most fundamental right of human beings’

Emphasizing that the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan is a crime against humanity, Beşîra Cemal Dîn said, “he right to life is the most fundamental right of human beings and this right must be protected by law. The solution of the Kurdish question is the key for the solution of all problems in the Middle East. Since the beginning of the revolution, Mr. Öcalan has called for a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish question.”

‘Those who are against the democratic system deepen the isolation’

Noting that there will be important developments in the Middle East if a peaceful solution is found, Beşîra Cemal Dîn said, “However, the Middle East suffers from many problems due to the politics imposed by the nation-states. The democratic nation system has been built against these policies. The Turkish state, hegemonic states and nation-states create their systems by denying peoples and causing conflicts. They see the democratic system as a threat to their sovereignty. For this reason, they deepen the isolation.”

‘Women will break the isolation’

Emphasizing that women will break the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan with the spirit of women's resistance and the philosophy of “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi”, Beşîra Ceman Dîn said, “The isolation imposed on leader Abdullah Öcalan is a crime against humanity. The Turkish state aims to silence all women and end the women’s struggle by imposing isolation. Because Mr. Öcalan gives great value to women in his ideology and philosophy. The aim of the isolation is to weaken the women’s struggle. Women defend their leader and they will break the isolation. The thoughts of leader Öcalan are the key in building peace for all women and the peoples of the Middle East.”

In her speech, Beşîra Cemal Dîn called on all human rights organizations to speak out against the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan.