NEWS CENTER - CPT, which is the only international institution authorized to visit Imrali, does not share the reports of its visits with the public on the grounds that Turkey does not have permission, but it has the authority to make statements about countries that do not comply with the recommendations. CPT, which has refrained from making a statement despite not having heard from Abdullah Öcalan for 33 months, is almost in silent cooperation with Turkey.

 

When you say "island" in Turkey, the first place that comes to mind is İmralı Island. Not because it is historical, touristic or a place to visit, but because PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, whom millions of people call "my will" and "my leader", is held here.

 

İmralı Island is a place located in the Marmara Sea and affiliated with the province of Bursa. It is an island where voyages are made from Mudanya and Gemlik districts; however, these flights are only open to the state and persons or institutions permitted by the state. The island has the status of a completely military forbidden zone and is a place where not a single person can go without permission.

 

While the Ministry of Justice is responsible for "internal security", that is, the İmralı Type F High Security Closed Prison on the island, the Gendarmerie General Command and the Coast Guard Command are responsible for the remaining sections.

 

The prison on the island became operational on August 11, 1935. The first guests of the prison were 50 convicts who were sentenced to murder and were serving time in Istanbul and Bursa prisons. Former prime minister Adnan Menderes, ministers Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan, artist Yılmaz Güney, painter İbrahim Balaban and Greek painter Angulos Stafonodis are among those who stayed here.

 

The island was declared a "Special Security Zone" after PKK Leader Öcalan, who was brought to Turkey with an international conspiracy on February 15, 1999, was imprisoned there. It is not known exactly how many personnel and soldiers remain here, but this number is expressed in the hundreds.

 

NO NEWS FOR 33 MONTHS

 

In addition to Öcalan, political prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş are also held in the prison here; however, there has been no news from either Abdullah Öcalan or the other 3 prisoners for 33 months.

 

The PKK leader was last able to talk to his brother Mehmet Öcalan by phone on March 25, 2021. There is not a single piece of information about what has happened in İmralı since the intermittent phone call.

 

The applications made by thousands of people, including lawyers, politicians, intellectuals, writers and journalists, are not responded to.

 

THE LATEST VISIT OF CPT TO IMRALİ

 

The only international institution authorized to visit to İmralı is the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). In its statement on October 3, 2022, CPT announced that it visited Turkey between September 20-29 and that Imrali was among the institutions it visited.

 

CPT 2nd Vice President Therese Rytter, who is the Head of the delegation, said in her answers to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) questions about the visit on October 4, 2022, "I can say that we visited all the prisoners in Turkey, but I cannot explain our findings."

 

Asrın Law Office and other circles subsequently called for many "urgent" applications to the CPT; however, no calls were answered. The CPT based its decision not to publish the report it prepared on its last visit on the principle that "it will not publish it until the government of the relevant country requests its publication."

 

CPT

 

CPT is an independent monitoring body of the Council of Europe, of which 46 states are members. It describes its role and mission as "visits places of detention in Council of Europe member states to see how persons deprived of their liberty are treated." CPT carries out periodic visits to the party countries every 4 years. It also has the authority to make unannounced visits to member states "if it deems it necessary to monitor a serious situation." The CPT has unrestricted access to all countries it visits, able to hold private meetings with prisoners and communicate freely with anyone who can provide information. At the end of their visit, the CPT delegation meets with the relevant minister or government officials to present their preliminary observations.

 

The CPT does not process individual complaints and has no right to intervene in legal proceedings; however, they can present individual cases to the authorities and request an investigation into allegations of ill-treatment with the consent of the person or persons concerned.

 

CAN CPT MAKE A STATEMENT OR NOT?

 

CPT also submits a report containing recommendations, comments and requests for information to the relevant state after each visit. After the report, detailed information about the measures taken to implement the recommendations is requested from the relevant authorities within 3 or 6 months. All of these contacts and meetings are conducted confidentially. Afterwards, the report is given its final shape by the CPT. The report is published if the relevant state authorities request it. Some countries allow the automatic publication of the CPT's report with its responses; however, Türkiye is not among these countries.

 

The CPT attributes the reason for not disclosing its latest report on Imrali to this "permission"; however, if the CPT's recommendations are not complied with, it has the authority to make statements on the issue instead of the reports it prepares. A 2/3 majority of its members is sufficient for this authority.

 

Legal organizations in Turkey that want to go to Imrali and lawyers from Asrın Law Firm, which represents Abdullah Öcalan, also criticize the CPT for not using this authority.

 

THE VISITS OF THE CPT TO IMRALI

 

So, how many times did the CPT come to Turkey, how many times did it visit Imrali, and how many times did it publish a report on these visits?

 

The CPT has made a total of 25 visits to Turkey since 1999. Of these, 6 were periodic, 1 was a high-level meeting, and 18 were unannounced visits. In 9 of these visits (1999, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022), İmralı Prison was also visited. In three of the other visits, the conditions in İmralı were brought to the agenda.

 

The reports prepared for 6 of these visits were announced. In each report, the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan was pointed out and various human rights violations were included. Additionally, the published reports included various recommendations to end ill-treatment conditions; however, although isolation and rights violations increased, the "recommendation" was not followed.

 

THE 'COOPERATION' OF TURKIYE AND CPT

 

The CPT declares that it may make a statement if member states do not "cooperate" or "refuse to improve the situation in the light of the Committee's recommendations." There are many statements made by the CPT in this context so far.

 

Based on the article in question, the CPT has so far made statements about many countries that did not comply with the recommendations; The statements made about Russia in 2001-2003, Greece in 2011, Bulgaria in 2015, Belgium in 2017, Russia in 2019 and Bulgaria in 2021 are just a few of them.

 

In the Bulgarian statement dated November 4, 2021, it was emphasized that long-standing recommendations regarding the situation of people placed in social care institutions and psychiatric institutions were not followed. In the statement, the situation in some nursing homes was criticized as "horrible".

 

THERE IS NO IMRALI AMONG THE 2024 VISITS OF THE CPT

 

However, the last statement about Turkey dates back to 1996. In other words, it is a date before Abdullah Öcalan was brought to İmralı. Although the "incommunicado" situation continues in İmralı for 33 months, no statement is made by the CPT. CPT did not include Turkey among the countries it will visit in 2024.

 

MA / Azad Altay