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Council of Europe calls for end to
isolation of Kurdish PKK rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan
10.3.2008
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March 10, 2008
Strasbourg, France, -- The anti-torture
committee of the Council of Europe said in a report
Thursday, March 6, that Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebel
chief Abdullah Ocalan,www.ekurd.net
in solitary confinement
in Turkey for almost nine years, should be allowed
human contact or else his mental state will
deteriorate further.
Ocalan, who led the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK),
was convicted of treason in 1999 and given a life
sentence. The anti-torture committee visited him
last May in his prison cell on an island in the Sea
of Marmara.
The report released in Strasbourg said that a
psychiatric examination of the 59-year-old showed a
distinct deterioration of his mental state since
visits in 2001 and 2003.
"This deterioration is connected with a situation of
chronic stress and prolonged social and emotional
isolation, coupled with a feeling of abandonment and
disappointment," according to the report.
Ocalan should be allowed regular contact with
relatives, the report said, adding that he is in
physically good condition.
The Turkish government agreed to the publication of
the report. |
Jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, The only
prisoner on the Imrali Island in the Turkish Sea of
Marmara. photo from ROJ TV |
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish
PKK rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
the U.S. and the EU.
DPA | Agencies
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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