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Report of the 2020 International Peace Delegation to İmralı Full Text

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Report of the 2020 International Peace Delegation to İmralı Full Text ! REPORT OF 2020 INTERNATIONAL PEACE DELEGATION TO İMRALI International Initiative “Freedom for Öcalan - Peace in Kurdistan”: http://www.freeocalan.org/ 2020 International Peace Delegation to İmralı ! Opening Press Conference at HDP Headquarters Ankara with Pervin Buldan, Julie Ward, Hişyar Özsoy, Melanie Gingell, Ögmundur Jónasson, Shavanah Taj and Felix Padel. Introduction The İmralı Peace Delegation visited Turkey between 11th and 16th February 2020, witnessing and gathering evidence about the state of civil society and human rights in the country. The delegation sought to visit the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish freedom movement Abdullah Öcalan in order to assess his situation and conditions of detention. The annual delegation reports have provided a base measure of human rights in Turkey over the last decade and enabled a diverse group of academics, politicians, lawyers, faith leaders, journalists and trade unionists to visit various locations and assess the situation for themselves. The International Initiative organises the delegations with the primary purpose of keeping the cruel situation of Öcalan’s detention in the public eye, and as part of a wider campaign to highlight the need to reinstitute a peace process in Turkey. The delegation this year consisted of Ögmundur Jónasson, former Justice Minister of Iceland and Honorary Associate of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Julie Ward, UK MEP until January 2020, Shavanah Taj, Leader of the Trade Union Congress in Wales, Felix Padel, sociologist and anthropologist, affiliate of Oxford University, and Melanie Gingell, Barrister, Associate Tenant Doughty Street !1 Chambers, London. It held a series of meetings in Ankara with Ms Pervin Buldan Co- Chair of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and Hişyar Özsoy Deputy Co-Chair of HDP, Leaders of the Human Rights Association of Turkey, Liberationist Lawyers Association, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, and the Confederal Trade Union of Public Workers. In İstanbul they met with lawyers from Asrın Law Office on 15th February, the 21st Anniversary of the kidnapping of Mr Öcalan in Kenya. They then met Eren Keskin, leading Human Rights Lawyer with representatives of the Saturday Mothers. As in previous years, through the office of Julie Ward MEP, the delegation applied to the Turkish Minister of Justice, requesting a meeting with Abdullah Öcalan. The Minister of Justice did not respond to the request. The isolation imposed on Öcalan is symbolic of the persistent repression of Kurdish people in Turkey which in turn is exacerbated by prejudice against their ethnic and linguistic identity, leading to their further marginalization with respect to their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. The continued imprisonment of the elected members of the progressive and pro-Kurdish HDP, the country’s third largest party, and the persecution and harassment of its membership is another key example of this repression. The delegation noted the recently enacted anti-terror law, which retains numerous aspects of the recent Emergency Decree, and its detrimental effect on human rights and fundamental freedoms. The law restricts fair trial guarantees, prolongs the duration of pretrial detention and allows for continued dismissals of public officials, because of alleged links to terrorist organizations. The delegation found that the counter-terrorism law is excessively broad and vague, as is the definition of “terrorism”. The law is frequently used for politically motivated prosecutions of political opponents, human rights defenders and journalists, particularly for alleged “membership of a terrorist organization”. As the lawyers at Asrın Law Office, who represent Öcalan, concluded, this law is “more political than legal”. The delegation was also particularly concerned by a new law (No. 6722), which granted counter- terrorism forces de facto immunity from prosecution for atrocities carried out in the course of their operations in the Kurdish majority south-east of Turkey. The delegation took note of the UN Universal Periodic Review of Turkey in January 2020 where among many other matters it was recorded that a total of 44,690 people were in prison on “terrorism” related charges, including journalists, political activists, lawyers, academics (including those who signed a peace appeal in 2016), human rights !2 defenders and others following the coup attempt, vastly exceeding the legitimate purpose of investigating those responsible and bringing them to justice.1 Öcalan and political leadership A wave of hunger strikes swept through Turkey as well as Europe, Iraqi Kurdistan and Canada in 2019 involving at the height of the campaign over five thousand prisoners and supporters. The central demand was that the complete illegal isolation of Öcalan be ended and that legal and family visits be reintroduced. There had been no legal visits since 2011 and no political visits since April 2015 when the Erdoğan government unilaterally ended the peace process. Pervin Buldan, the Co-Chair of the HDP, explained that, “During the abortive coup of July 2016 helicopters could be seen flying over İmralı and there was great concern to know whether or not Öcalan was still alive. For quite some time we organised diverse activities and private meetings with the Ministry of Justice but we were not able to make any progress. We emphasised the importance and sensitivity of the issue for the Kurdish people but there was no meaningful response. The hunger strikes were a direct reaction to this lack of response. Leyla Güven MP and co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress, took the initiative. She ended up striking for over 200 days.” Ms Buldan talked about the lack of political support from Europe. She said, “It was painful for us to witness the silence in Europe. Öcalan is a very important figure in relation to the peace process as well as victim of repression personally. The generalised silence in Europe is very painful… He has been pushing for negotiations and dialogue, the need for a political resolution. He looks for political models for co- existence but simultaneously a guarantee for Kurdish existence within that model.” Eren Keskin, prominent human rights lawyer, said, “the isolation has been intense. I have been a human rights defender for 30 years and I have not seen a period where the violence of the state has been as openly legitimised as it now is. The 90s were a period of profound torture and violence but the state would deny it and try to hide it. Now they openly say ‘we did it’, even publicising their own violence on social media.” She went on to recount the experience of one of her clients who had not seen her son for many years and then being suddenly presented with an Instagram picture of an officer beheading him. She went on to emphasise that freedom of expression is under greater pressure than ever before. “Outside these walls you cannot say ‘Freedom for Öcalan’.” 1 https://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/turkey/session_35_-_january_2020/a_hrc_wg. 6_35_tur_3_e.pdf !3 The hunger strike was successful in that the government conceded the principle of visits but later rescinded this concession, allowing only five legal visits and three family visits to take place. Thereafter complete isolation was suddenly and arbitrarily re-imposed. Lawyers representing Öcalan told the delegation that since August 2019 there had been no contact with him, and no news about his condition. The lawyers described the physical and psychological condition of Öcalan when they visited in August 2019: his spirit intact, and his energy high. They said he sent his greetings to all struggling for his freedom and for an increase in the dissemination of information about him. He expressed his respect and love for the hunger strikers but underlined that he wanted them alive and healthy… He wanted to explain his position, his stand as not being conditional but as an historical one leading to the future, a vision related to the Kurdish Question. "My agenda is peaceful and for a democratic solution not only to the Kurdish question but also for the broader region.” He concluded, “My position is the same as in 2013 at the beginning of the dialogue; if they are serious about a solution, I am here and ready.” The lawyers further explained that in 1999 Öcalan had instructed the Kurdish Workers Party, the PKK, to leave the border area and for peace groups to assemble, but it was at this time that the PKK was listed as a terrorist organisation, during a time of peace. The European system and the United States followed suit and the strategy of listing the PKK as a terrorist organisation was complete. The Belgian Court Decision On 28th January 2020 the Belgian Court of Cassation held that the PKK should not be categorised as a terrorist organisation but as a legitimate party to a conflict. It should therefore be subject to International Humanitarian Law and not to anti-terror legislation. Asrın lawyers believe that there is scope now to bring similar cases in other countries, including Britain. Jan Fermon, the Belgian lawyer who led the successful defence of Kurdish activists said: “This is a final verdict which is of great importance in the discussion on the PKK ongoing for a long time. I find the verdict is consistent with international law. It is a fair ruling. I hope it will contribute to a political solution to the Kurdish question at the European level. The court ruling has opened a new door on the side of Europe. It has paved the way for a profound concentration on a political solution.” !4 The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) The delegation visited the HDP headquarters in Ankara and met with Pervin Buldan the co-chair and Hişyar Özsoy MP, vice co-chair. They discussed the deep psychological effect of the continued isolation of the Kurdish movement as exemplified by the aggravated isolation of Öcalan.
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