Amed Bar application on Imrali receives no answer by Ministry of Justice

Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported that Amed Bar Association applied to the Ministry of Justice on 26 November for Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan and prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş. The application said: “The Ministry of Justice should give the necessary permission to visit the Imrali Island Prison in order to observe and determine the fundamental rights and freedoms, especially the living conditions of prisoners who should be able to communicate with their families and lawyers.”

Although more than a month has passed, the Bar’s application has not been answered.

Mehdi Özdemir, one of the members of the Bar Association’s Board of Directors, said that the ministry’s failure to respond to the application within 30 days meant the rejection of the request. Noting that Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners are kept in total isolation, Özdemir said that family, guardian and phone calls are blocked. “We, as Diyarbakır Bar Association, have applied to the Ministry of Justice to demand the end of these blocked rights and to this absolute isolation.” Noting that the application includes requests for the bar association to investigate and determine the violations, Özdemir insisted that “Failure to make any counter-notifications means that our request has been rejected.”

Noting that the isolation in Imrali Prison has spread to all prisons, Özdemir pointed out the fact that ill prisoners were not released. Özdemir said: “The absolute isolation in Imralı Prison is not independent from what is happening in other prisons.”

Stating that the rise or fall of democracy and legal standards in the country is directly related to the isolation in Imrali, Özdemir said: “When the political process is normalized for the Kurds, the isolation is sometimes ended or loosened. In periods when the political process is conflicting or chaotic, isolation is applied in an absolute and unlimited way. Isolation is the sword of Damocles used against Kurds. Turkey’s democratization means an end to the isolation in Imrali. It also means the implementation of fundamental rights and freedoms. In order for the governing government to carry out the process in the context of human rights, it must end the isolation in Imrali.”