Asrin Law Office prepared a 4-month report on the violations of rights of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş in İmralı F Type High Security Closed Prison. The report covered December 2024, January, February and March 2025. A new application was made to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) with the report, which included many violations.

 

LAST 52 APPLICATIONS UNANSWERED

 

In the application, it was stated that 35 applications for lawyer visits and 17 applications for family and guardian visits were made to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and İmralı Type F High Security Closed Prison Directorate in 4 months. It was noted that all 52 applications were left unanswered. It was pointed out that Abdullah Öcalan had only 5 lawyer visits in 14 years and the last lawyer visit date was 7 August 2019.

 

It was stated that Abdullah Öcalan has had 6 family visits since 2014. It was reminded that Öcalan met with his nephew and Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party Riha (Urfa) MP Ömer Öcalan on 23 October 2024 after 44 months of absolute incommunication. It was emphasised that there was no family visit after the meeting with Ömer Öcalan.

 

Regarding the situation of Yıldırım, Konar and Aktaş, it was said, "The other three applicants (Mr Yıldırım, Mr Konar, Mr Aktaş) have not been able to see a lawyer even on a single occasion since they were transferred to İmralı Prison in March 2015. In a timespan of more than nine and a half years, Mr Konar and Mr Aktaş have received only three visits from family members. For Mr Yıldırım, the number of family visits is two. The last of these family visits took place on 3 March 2020, and the three applicants have not been able to exercise this right since.

 It is unknown whether or not the total of six letters sent to the prison during the report period, four of these on 26 December 2024 addressed to each of the applicants respectively, one on 8 January 2025 to Hamili Yıldırım and one on 4 March 2025 to Veysi Aktaş, have reached their destination. Meanwhile, we have not received a single letter written by the applicants, either. Since 25 March 2021, the applicants have been denied the right to make phone calls. This practice has continued during the period covered by this report. The applicants were not allowed to make a single phone call."

 

APPLICATION TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

 

It was stated that the meetings were prevented on the grounds of "disciplinary penalties" renewed every 3 months since September 2018. 

 

"While the 3-month disciplinary sentence of 16 October 2024 was still in force, a new three-month disciplinary penalty was imposed on the applicants by the Directorate of the Disciplinary Board of İmralı Prison on 12 February 2025. We only learned this from the Execution Judgeship’s decision of 20 February 2025 to dismiss our application containing our objections and requests that we had submitted to the Bursa Chief Prosecutor’s Office on 14 February 2025 (Annex-1, Execution Judgeship decision). According to this decision, the applicants’ right to contact with their lawyers and family members has been restricted for another three months. This disciplinary procedure, like

the previous ones, was carried out in secret from the lawyers, and despite all our requests, the authorities did not provide us the decision, the evidence and a copy of the file. Our objection to the Execution Judgeship’s decision, submitted within the legal time frame, was definitely rejected by the Bursa 1st Assize Court on 6 March 2025, and this decision was notified to us on 13 March 2025 (Annex-2, Bursa Assize Court Decision). Upon exhausting domestic legal remedies, we will file an individual application before the Constitutional Court against the aforementioned rejection decision.

"

 

VISITS BLOCKED EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF 'PUNISHMENT'

 

In the application, it was stated that the previous 3-month "disciplinary penalty" was finalised on 5 November 2024 and the expiry date was 5 February. It was emphasised that a new "disciplinary penalty" was given on 12 February and this "penalty" became final on 6 March. " Since the previous three-month disciplinary penalty was finalised on November 2024, it legally should have ended on 5 February 2025. As explained above, the most recent disciplinary penalty of 12 February 2025 became final on 6 March 2025. Hence, there cannot have been a disciplinary penalty in force between 5 February 2025 and 6 March 2025.Despite this, the requests for family visits made on 7, 14, 21 and 28 February were left without any response. While we do already not consider the disciplinary penalties imposed systematically in succession as legal and legitimate, it is obvious that there is no legal justification for not allowing family visits even when there are no disciplinary penalties in force. These practices are manifestations of the arbitrary and unlawful system established in İmralı Prison."

 

HISTORICAL CALL IN CPT APPLICATION

 

It was reminded that the Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party İmralı Delegation went to İmralı 3 times on 28 December 2024, 22 January 2025 and 27 February 2025 within the scope of the democratic and peaceful solution of the Kurdish issue. It was pointed out that Özgür Faik Erol, one of the lawyers of Asrın Law Office, took part in the 3rd meeting and Abdullah Öcalan made a "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" with the delegation.

 

Noting that the call attracted great national and international attention, the application said, "The same day, tens of thousands of people gathered in city squares across Turkey, particularly in Diyarbakır, Van, and Mersin, to show their support for Mr Öcalan’s call. Similarly, during Newroz celebrations, millions of people took to the streets in various cities, particularly in Diyarbakır and Istanbul, to manifest a sense of ownership regarding Mr Öcalan’s Call for Peace and a Democratic Society and to demand his freedom. Numerous countries affiliated with the Council of Europe, as well as the United States, Middle Eastern, and Gulf countries, viewed Öcalan’s call as a positive development. Internationally, journalists, intellectuals, academics, scientists, and human rights defenders recognised the call as a historic milestone and urged the authorities to take responsibility for ensuring its realisation. As we have stated in previous reports, both Mr Öcalan’s conditions of detention and his statements and calls as a political and influential actor are closely monitored on both national and international levels."

 

'FREEDOM OF ÖCALAN IS A LEGAL OBLIGATION'

 

In the application, it was said, "As can be seen, Mr Öcalan has once again demonstrated his commitment to a democratic, constitutional, and peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue, putting forward comprehensive solution proposals and making a call for peace and democracy. Despite the severe isolation regime on İmralı Island, he has continued to advocate for democratic resolution and peace. The most crucial step in bringing to life the path of peace and democracy that Mr Öcalan invites us to build is ensuring the provision of all rights guaranteed by the constitution and international treaties, particularly his rights to health and freedom. We urge the Committee to take the necessary steps in this regard."

 

The "Öcalan (No. 2)" judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the violation decision on the "Right to Hope" were also included in the application. It was stated that both judgements were not fulfilled by Turkey and that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE Committee), which is obliged to supervise the judgements of the ECtHR, did not carry out an effective supervision.

 

It was reminded that at the Committee of Ministers meeting in September 2024, it was decided to re-examine the "Öcalan (No.2)" decision in September 2025. In the Vinter v. United Kingdom judgements, it was stated that the possibility of "release" after 25 years should be evaluated within the scope of the "Right to Hope" and that Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned for more than 26 years. It was emphasised that ensuring Abdullah Öcalan's freedom is a legal "obligation".

 

"As evidenced above, numerous practices in İmralı Prison have been found to violate the prohibition of torture by both the ECtHR and the Committee of Ministers. However, despite the ECtHR ruling that a life imprisonment regime without the possibility of parole constitutes torture, Turkey has not taken the necessary steps to rectify this violation. Instead, the Turkish Government has consistently argued that its legislation explicitly precludes conditional release for certain offences, insisting that conditional release is legally impossible. The government has continued to maintain this position, upholding the aggravated life imprisonment regime, which is recognised in international law as a form of torture. To date, Turkish authorities have not responded positively to the Committee of Ministers’ requests, and it remains uncertain whether they will do so in the future."

 

DEMANDS

 

It was stated that the CPT last visited İmralı in 2022, but did not publish its report on this visit. The application included the following demands:

 

*To urgently conduct an ad-hoc visit to İmralı Prison considering the absolute and growing uncertainty regarding the situation in İmralı since 22 September 2022 and the new level conditions in the prisons have reached over the course of the past two and a half years;

 

*To take all necessary steps to ensure that the current conditions of detention are brought in line with human dignity, that the applicants are able to exercise all communication rights that ensure and protect their links with the outside world, in particular lawyer and family visits, and that the systematic and illegal restriction of these rights is put an end to;

 

*To urgently adopt and execute as well as publicly announce compulsive measures and the procedures under Article 10/2 of the Convention to eliminate the conditions of torture,

inhuman, and ill-treatment, to share with the public its general observations since the past about the extraordinary isolation regime in İmralı, particularly the observations made during the visit on 22 September 2022, especially if lawyer and family visits do not take place as soon as possible, and to add the report on the visit of 22 September 2022 to the statement within the scope of the procedure."

 

MA / Ömer İbrahimoğlu