Şehriban Aslan

 

DİYARBAKIR - Speaking about the aggravated isolation on PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and the prisoners, lawyer Adile Salman said that the isolation is the black hole of the law in every respect.

 

The isolation on Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been kept in Imralı Prison for 22 years, is increasingly aggravated. While there has been no news from Abdullah Öcalan for seven months, the applications made by his lawyers and his family for a meeting are either not answered or are rejected on the grounds of disciplinary punishments. Finally, it was revealed that Abdullah Öcalan was given disciplinary punishment on the grounds that he had paced up and down.

 

Lawyer Adile Salman, who is a member of the Board of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (OHD) Diyarbakır Branch and Prison Commission, touched upon the aggravated isolation on Abdullah Öcalan and the prisoners.

 

‘All the forces who feed from solutionlessness are disturbed’

 

Stating that the Imralı isolation is a comprehensive plan developed against the free coexistence of the peoples of Turkey and the Middle East, Adile noted that it is the policy of the forces that want to leave the problems, especially the Kurdish one, unsolved. Adile noted that the isolation policy is not only a policy of the Turkish state and said, ‘’It is being implemented with the knowledge and approval of the world states. The alternative solution he developed against the problems in Turkey and the Middle East disturbs all the powers that feed from the solutionlessness. Because of this, Mr. Öcalan is completely isolated, and efforts are made to prevent his peaceful ideas and policies from meeting with the public’’.

 

‘All peoples are being isolated’

 

Adile pointed out that the isolation is not limited with Imralı only, and that all the peoples of Turkey are being isolated. Mentioning that the government, which implements a policy of isolation by turning a deaf ear to the solution policies, drags the whole country into chaos and deadlock, Adile stated that the Kurdish problem will remain unsolved as long as the isolation continues. Adile, who said that no problem in Turkey could be solved without solving the Kurdish problem, underlined that this solutionlesness had an impact on the entire Middle East, especially Syria.

 

‘Punishment for pacing has no explanation’

 

Pointing out that the Imralı system is a system in which the law, codes, the constitution and universal principles are suspended, Adile said, ‘’Isolation is the black hole of the law in every respect. The Imralı isolation system has no legal, moral, conscientious or humane basis. As such, it is an isolation system against the entire Kurdish community through Öcalan. It spreads every aspect of social life. It has closed the doors of democratic and peaceful solutions to the Kurdish problem. As such, it aims to condemn Turkey to darkness. Again, imposing a disciplinary punishment on the pretext of pacing has no legal basis and is ridiculous as well. No explanation can be made, no legal validity can be discussed’’.

 

‘Heavy isolation policies must be ended’

 

Noting that the isolation has spread to all prisons, Adile said that the prior agenda of the prisoners are disciplinary punishments. Adile finally said, ‘’The imprisoned are isolated with a level that they cannot reintegrate into social life. The attitudes of prison administrations create autonomous areas that are far from regulation. With the authority given to the administrative and observation boards, it has left the Turkish judicial system out by operating a parallel judgement process. With all these arbitrary practices, the heavy isolation policies on the prisoners do not remind a Turkish citizen who is imprisoned, but a prisoner of war who is imprisoned and treated with hostility. Moreover, when we look at the history of Turkey, no inhumane treatment was made to the captives of war. As a rights-based institution, our call is to put an end to the heavy isolation policies that deprive prisoners from their fundamental rights in Turkey prisons’’.