Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Initiative visits CPT

On Tuesday morning, December 14, co-chairs of the Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress in Europe (KCDK-E) and affiliated community centres, and representatives of Democratic Alevi Federation (FEDA), the Yazidi Coordination and Kurdistan Islamic Society (CİK) have taken over the action carried out under the motto “Freedom shall prevail; Take action for Abdullah Öcalan.”

The co-chairs of the Kurdish institutions in Europe, who came to the scene of the vigil in the morning, submitted a dossier containing a series of demands to the CPT, raising concern over the aggravated isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. KCDK-E Co-chairs Fatoş Göksungür and Yüksel Koç representing the activists were welcomed by a delegation of the CPT.

After the meeting, which lasted about half an hour, the KCDK-E co-chairs came to the scene of protest and made a statement about the meeting as they took over the vigil.

Koç said after the half-hour conversation that he and Göksungür were received by two people from the CPT’s Turkey Department; “These two people had spoken to Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali Island Prison twice in the past. We told them that we had submitted dossiers many times before and that we were making the same demands this time as well. We explained that we are coming as co-chairs of institutions from all over Europe and we will continue our resistance until our demands are met. We said: ‘Imrali Island Prison itself is a torture system that we do not accept. The CPT is a committee for the prevention of torture. So please do your job.’ We communicated that the conditions in which Abdullah Öcalan is being held are not acceptable by our people and circles of solidarity.”

Speaking after, Fatoş Göksungür said the following: “We pointed out in the conversation that our previous meetings were inconclusive and the CPT does not follow up on its own reports and recommendations. We explained that the isolation system has been in place for almost 23 years and contact with families and the legal team is completely cut off. In this context, we reminded them that they themselves have stated in their reports that Imrali is a torture system. However, the necessary consequences have not been drawn. We have said that Abdullah Öcalan is subject to a special status and that he cannot make use of his rights. They replied that they understand us and that they have made public their previous visits to Imrali and the torture system there. However, some decisions could not be made public. They also told us: ‘As we have learned from the media, you want to continue your actions until the gates of Imrali are opened. These actions sometimes get the CPT into trouble.’ To this we replied that we will continue our activities until the torture system on Imrali is lifted.”

The further planning of the vigil, which has been running since 1 December, foresees that Kurdish activists from the south of France will take over the sit-in on Wednesday. For Thursday, internationalists and a diplomatic network have announced their participation. The Kurdish communities from the Düsseldorf and Cologne area will conclude the vigil on Friday.