ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) urged all citizens of Turkey to work together to end the isolation of prisoners, saying this is a growing problem.
"Isolation is not only a Kurdish question. Soon it will be a question related to all Turkish nations. There is no solidarity or unity to lift the isolation. If we do not do anything now, then we cannot say that our future will be bright," Pervin Buldan said in a press conference in Istanbul on Friday.
Friday marks 20 years behind jail for Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Ocalan and is also the 100th day of Leyla Guven’s hunger strike appealing for Turkish authorities to end his segregation on the island Imrali prison.
Ocalan was arrested by Turkish intelligence on February 15, 1999 in Kenya. He has not met his lawyers since 2011 and has rarely been allowed to see family members. Under pressure, authorities allowed Ocalan’s brother Mohammed to visit last month.
Lebanese of Kurdish origin demonstrate in front of UN headquarters in downtown Beirut on February 15, 2019 to denounce 20 years of jail for Abdullah Ocalan. Photo: Joseph Eid/AFP
Youngsters attend a demonstration in support of Abdullah Ocalan on February 15, 2019,in Qamishli, northeastern Syria. Photo: Hector Perez/AFP
Supporters in Erbil staged a march in support of Guven and Ocalan. The march ended at HDP headquarters. Photo: Kurdistan Democratic National Union (YNDK)
Though he has spent two decades behind bars, Ocalan is still the leader of the PKK and he directed peace efforts with the Turkish state that ended in 2015.
Guven, 55, a HDP lawmaker, has refused to end her hunger strike, despite her deteriorating health. She was released from jail in January because of her poor health. She is awaiting trial on charges related to her condemnation of Turkey’s military offensive against the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin.
Police on Friday blocked a demonstration of support for Guven outside her home in Diyarbakir.
Turkish anti-riot police surround and block HDP members during a demonstration in solidarity with Leyla Guven in of Diyarbakir on February 15, 2019. Photo: Ilyas Akengin/AFP
HDP said in a statement that Turkey has to meet Guven's demand to end Ocalan’s isolation.
"Leyla Guven is on the 100th day of her hunger strike and her house under police blockade. Instead of trying to silence her, Turkey should listen to Leyla's demand and end Ocalan's isolation. It is a matter that is related to human rights and international law," the party tweeted on Friday.
Pervin described Ocalan's arrest as a "conspiracy" against Kurds.
The British Embassy has raised Ocalan’s prison condition with Turkish officials, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas Alan Duncan said on Thursday.
“We note the concerns about isolation expressed by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture,” who visited Ocalan in 2016, he said.
That committee said last year it was concerned that Ocalan had limited contact with the outside world, noting his lawyers and family are unable to visit and phone calls are banned.
More than 200 prisoners are also on hunger strike in protest of Ocalan’s isolation, according to HDP. Supporters of Guven across Europe and North America have also gone on solidarity hunger strikes.