DİYARBAKIR - Emphasizing that the ongoing isolation on PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has spread to the whole society, the women noted that the isolation policies should end as soon as possible.

 

Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has been kept in heavy isolation in Imralı High Security F Type Prison for 22 years. His lawyers’ applications for meeting are rejected each time for different reasons. Lawyers announced that they learned that Abdullah Öcalan was given a new disciplinary punishment last January. However, although this ban expired on March 23, no positive or negative response was given to the applications made by the lawyers. Again, it was revealed that family visits were prevented for three months in 2018 on the grounds that he ‘’paced up and down’’ during ‘’sports activity’’.

 

Halime Topuz and Sema Seydaoğlu, executives of the Association for Assistance and Solidarity with Families Who Lost Their Relatives in the Cradle of Civilizations (MEBYA-DER), pointed out that isolation is a crime against humanity. They noted that the government is trying to be make the Kurdish people kneel down through isolation.

 

‘They want to make us kneel down’

 

Halime underlined that the Kurds are treated with hostility. Halime said that the rights violations against the Kurds have not been prevented and said, ‘’All of these are reflections of the isolation. We do not understand why the state is adopting such a hostile attitude towards the Kurds. There is no difference between the isolation imposed on the Kurdish people and the prisoners. The imposed isolation also has an impact on the economy. Due to the increasing economic crisis, people do not make a living. A people want to be disciplined in the person of Abdullah Öcalan. They oppress the people in every aspect. They want to make us kneel down. They are persecuting our children’’.

 

‘They do not let us communicate’

 

Underlining that the increasing violations of rights in prisons are also a part of the isolation policy, Halime said that prisoners are subjected to torture. Halime said, ‘’When our children call us, they say that they are facing a huge violation of rights and that their wards are constantly trying to be change. Wards are raided regardless of the hour. The guards who raid the ward confiscate the belongings. At the same time, they have depressed the prisoners with the isolation they apply. Let them put an end to these policies’’.

 

‘Young people are dragged into prostitution and drugs’

 

Sema Seydaoğlu, on the other hand, mentioned that the isolation is felt very deeply and stated that Abdullah Öcalan should meet with his family and lawyers. Noting that the people and the prisoners cannot be step back through isolation, Seda said that isolation policies are imposed on the prisoners in the prison. ‘’None of the food given to the prisoners is healthy. Prisoners are often unable to eat foods. That’s why they always have to buy something from the canteen. But since the products in the canteen are also very expensive, the prisoners often go hungry. At the same time, most of our young people who are outside are dragged into prostitution and drugs because of poverty,’’ Sema said.

 

Sema continued to her word, ‘’Why do they apply isolation? Let the isolation end. There are thousands of imprisoned women and children in prisons. There are sick prisoners who are in serious condition. Even families who go to see their children are subjected to persecution and bullying. Most prisoners are held in prisons without guilt. Let them not persecute the Kurds’’.