International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan
P.O. Box 100511, D-50445 Koeln
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
Url: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com

Cologne, 13 February 2004

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE BRIEFINGS:
KONGRA-GEL on account of the current development concerning A. Ocalan's detention situation an worsening health:

We document the below declaration by KONGRA-GEL on account of the current development concerning A. Ocalan's detention situation an worsening health:

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"To the press and to the general public:

The Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Ocalan has now been kept isolated from the outside world on the prison island of Imrali for over five years. He is the only prisoner there. The prison is administered by a 'crisis staff' on the basis of a special law. For a year his weekly visits from lawyers and relatives have been arbitrarily blocked.

He last received a visit from his brother and his lawyers on 31.12.03. He told them that the worsening isolation is seriously threatening his health and that in particular he is suffering serious shortness of breath. The damp climate of Imrali is detrimental to his health. The supply of fresh air to his cell is insufficient and inadequate hygienic arrangements additionally make his conditions of imprisonment worse. The isolation, which has gone on for more than five years now, has considerably weakened his immune system, and this is generally reflected in his poor physical condition.

At present the policy of isolation in force on Imrali is being extended to all the prisons in Turkey, and in recent few weeks many prisoners have been put in isolation cells across Turkey. It is feared that there will be a rise in human rights violations in Turkey.

The authorities of the Republic of Turkey do not take human rights seriously, nor do they obey their own laws. Abdullah Ocalan is deprived of even the most minimal rights guaranteed by law. His weekly visits by his lawyers and his family, which are in any case limited to an hour at a time, are being arbitrarily blocked. This practice is causing permanent injury to his right to defend himself. The intention is in this way to eventually eliminate him as a political figure. This is very provocative to the Kurds. Simultaneously the current peaceful political atmosphere is being sabotaged.

So we expect the Turkish authorities to desist from their provocative policy and to take steps to calm the situation. In this context we call on the Kurdish people to step up their level of watchfulness and to raise their commitment to securing Abdullah Ocalan's freedom.

We call on the appropriate international institutions to intervene against this illegal policy of execution by degrees, in order to prevent further human rights violations and the sabotaging of the peaceful political atmosphere in Turkey.

7 January 2004

KONGRA-GEL
Committee for the Freedom of Abdullah Ocalan"