Lawyers apply for visit to Öcalan

The Asrin Law Office has submitted a request to the Turkish judicial authorities for a visit permit for Abdullah Öcalan and his three fellow prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş. No response has yet been received to the request submitted by lawyer Nevroz Uysal and her colleagues İbrahim Bilmez, Mazlum Dinç and Serbay Köklü to both the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the management of Imrali Island Prison on Thursday.

Abdullah Öcalan has been held incommunicado on the prison island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara since he was deported to Turkey in 1999. The last contact with him was a telephone conversation with his brother on March 25, which was cut off after a few minutes. Also affected by the isolation on Imrali are the fellow prisoners of the Kurdish leader, who were transferred to the island prison in 2015 as part of the dialogue between Öcalan and the Turkish state.

Öcalan last had contact with his legal counsel from the Asrin law office in 2019. After eight years of interruption, a hunger strike led by Leyla Güven had pushed through a first visit on May 2. This was followed by lawyer visits to Imrali on May 22, June 12, June 18 and most recently on August 7, 2019. Since then, the 72-year-old has been denied any contact with his lawyers.