Families apply to meet their relatives on Imrali

Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s brother Mehmet Öcalan and his legal guardian Mazlum Dinç and Ömer Hayri Konar’s brother Ali Konar, Hamili Yıldırım’s brother Polat Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş’s sister Melihe Çetin lodged an application to the Public Prosecutor of Bursa and Imrali Prison Administration for meeting the inmates next Monday (Jan. 10).

Öcalan has been kept under aggravated isolation in Imrali High Security F-Type Prison near Istanbul since he was captured following an international conspiracy in 1999.

The last contact with Öcalan was made on a phone call with his brother on March 25 last year. The phone call was interrupted by the authorities.

Lawyers of Öcalan were able to meet their client on May 2-22, June 12-18 and August 7, 2019, first time in 8 years. Since August 7, 2019, all applications have gone unanswered.

After Öcalan’s lawyers applied to a Bursa court for an “urgent meeting” on November 22, it came out that two further bans had been issued against the Kurdish leader. The Bursa court rejected the application, citing a 6-month visitation dated October 12 as a reason.

The court also rejected the application of the families for a meeting with their relatives, citing a 3-month family visitation ban issued by the Disciplinary Board of the Imrali Penal Institution dated August 18, 2021.