International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan
P.O. Box 100511, D-50445 Koeln
Telephone: +49 221 130 15 59
Fax: +49 221 139 30 71
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
Url: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com

Cologne, 6 September 2005

Press statement:
Turkey plays with fire: Ocalan feels that his security can no longer be guaranteed.

Since 1 June 2005 Abdullah Ocalan’s lawyers have had no contact with their client, as Ocalan has refused their visits because of the legal changes in force since then, which amongst other things stipulate that the prosecutor’s office should undertake direct surveillance of interviews with clients.

Since 1 June the Kurdish leader’s family have only been able to visit him on four occasions, when they were obliged to undergo humiliating checks. Other visits have so far been arbitrarily blocked by the Turkish authorities. According to his brother Mehment Ocalan, Abdullah Ocalan’s already severe conditions of isolation have been further intensified.

Apart from the fact that it is extremely difficult for Ocalan’s lawyers to deal with their client’s affairs, as twelve lawyers have had their mandate removed, other lawyers have been the subject of court proceedings and had travel bans imposed, he is now exposed to additional harassment such as constant provocations from the guards. This includes closing the passage to the courtyard for an hour per day, which has led to yet another deterioration in his health. According to his brother, the swellings on his head are larger, his chronic sinusitis is worse, and his breathing difficulties caused by chronically inflamed airways have become much worse. Medical attention is restricted exclusively to external examinations. His brother further reports that he is now only being given old newspapers once a month. Much more worrying is that because of the increasingly provocative behaviour of the guards, Abdullah Ocalan feels that his security can no longer be guaranteed.

We at the International Peace Initiative share this concern, since any injury to Ocalan would have unforeseeable consequences for the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. In any case the tense atmosphere in the Kurdish region of Turkey gives little room for optimism. It is true that Prime Minister Erdogan recently recognised the existence of the Kurdish question, after the fighting between Turkish army units and the Kurdish guerrillas escalated again. But the Turkish army in fact accompanied this gesture of good will with a widening of military operations and brusquely rejected the one month ceasefire announced by the Kurdish side. Peaceful assemblies of Kurdish civilians demanding the return of the bodies of Kurdish rebels killed in these operations have been broken up and fired upon, leading to more deaths and injuries.

To avoid further escalation of the conflict, the engagement of the international community is also called for. Here the EU has a special role, since it is hard to imagine that a country like Turkey, in which human rights are systematically violated, can become a member. Nor should the European Council and the Council of Ministers stand by and watch the systematic breaking of the European Convention on Human Rights without taking any action. Turkey must be induced to take a constructive approach to the Kurdish question. To demand an immediate improvement in the prison conditions of Abdullah Ocalan would be a first step.

Dialogue not Force!
Lift the isolation of Abdullah Ocalan immediately!

(Source: Press Statement of Asrin Hukuk Burosu, 1 September 2005; phone conversation with Mehmet Ocalan, 1 September 2005)