İZMİR - Lawyer Yunus Emre Güneş, who defined the Imrali isolation as "torture", criticized the silence of the bar associations and said: "Bar associations should oppose the torture system, which is one of its most essential officials."

 

The family and lawyers of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been in aggravated isolation in İmralı High Security Prison for 24 years, have been blocked for 27 months on the grounds of "disciplinary" punishments. Abdullah Öcalan, who last met with his lawyers on August 7, 2019, could not be heard from after his intermittent phone call with his brother Mehmet Öcalan on March 25,  2021. While applications made by families and lawyers are rejected, attempts by legal organizations are also left unanswered.

 

THE LAW IS IN SILENCE AGAINST ISOLATION

 

775 lawyers in Turkey applied to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on June 10, 2022 and requested a meeting with Abdullah Öcalan. The Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), on the other hand, has applied to bar associations in many cities since November 2022 and called for them to fulfill their responsibilities to end the isolation. Many bar associations, especially the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TTB), maintain their silence against the applications made. Lawyer Yunus Emre Güneş, Director of ÖHD Headquarters, evaluated the isolation system against the PKK Leader and its legal dimension.

 

ISOLATION IS PUBLIC TORTURE

 

Stating that the isolation aims to isolate the person by severing his/her ties with the outside world, lawyer Güneş said: "Its legal equivalent is defined as 'public torture'. Turkey has not fallen off the agenda with denial, destruction, unlawful rights violations, anti-democratic practices and torture since its establishment. The isolation policy is one of these practices. The absolute isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı Prison is the embodiment of all this ongoing understanding.

 

'ISOLATION IS NO PLACE IN THE LAW'

 

Adding that the Imrali Prison is subject to Turkey's legal system, the laws are not enforced, Güneş said: "There is no such thing as isolation in the law on the execution of criminal and security measures, which is legal. It is a practice that has been determined and prohibited as torture in both legal legislation and international law. Unfortunately, an absolute and severe isolation is maintained on Mr. Abdullah Öcalan."

 

MA / Semra Turan - Delal Akyüz