Uysal: Turkish state is obliged to implement decisions of EC's Committee of Ministers

 Leader Abdullah Ocalan's lawyer, Nowruz Uysal, evaluated the decisions of the European Council of Ministers during a special program by our agency.

 Nowruz Uysal said about the importance of the three-day meeting of the European Council of Ministers. “One of these courts is the European Court of Human Rights, which issues decisions, based on a review of people versus states. Among those decisions is that Turkey has a life sentence.  Where people deemed guilty of the state are imprisoned for life.

This Turkish state law, according to the agreement of the European Court of Human Rights, was considered a reason for violating rights.  On this, they issued their decision against the Turkish state.  The goal of establishing this committee is to follow up the requirements of the court decisions in a country, and the progress and efforts have been made.  Mr. Ocalan's decision was presented to this committee after 2014. Therefore, the European Court decided that thousands of people today facing severe life imprisonment in Turkey.  This must be removed immediately.  Finally, the Committee of Ministers made this issue up for discussion at its first meeting, after seven years.  This is the first time that it has been discussed, and that is why this meeting is important.

 Because there is no mechanism in Turkish law to investigate severe life imprisonment, this issue is related to the prevention of ill-treatment, this assertion of violation should give no hope to reviewers of achieving release, and international authorities should establish an investigation mechanism according to the standards set by the court.

 We call that decision the right of hope.  On the international level, the detainee must have the hope of getting out of prison and reintegrating into society again.  But there is no such order in the penalty of aggravated life imprisonment.  Why is that?  When Mr. Ocalan was arrested during the plot;  Sentenced to death.  This death sentence was discussed for a long time in the European Council and the Turkish state suspended this punishment against Mr. Ocalan.  And she had to change this sentence to a hard life sentence, according to the European Council.

At that time, some discussions took place in the Turkish Parliament.  Some parliamentarians said, "We will not execute him, but we will do every day."  This punishment is basically found for Mr. Ocalan and his goal is death.The state does not make changes to its laws so that there is no hope for Mr. Ocalan's freedom.  The committee said, "There is no mechanism in Turkish law. This is clear, and it should make a change in its laws."

This has been on our agenda for seven years. The HDP and the Peace and Democracy Party have proposed to the Turkish parliament to change the law several times, but rejected.  Today, the Turkish state is obliged to take a step.

* What is the necessary mechanism?

  Unfortunately, the law does not act in accordance with human rights and laws, especially in prisons.  There is a lot of injustice and pressure.  Mr. Ocalan does not pose a threat to the Turkish state or the Kurdish and Turkish society. On the contrary, he is considered a hope for the societies.  Today, Mr. Ocalan has become the model or key actor in the peace.

 When this is taken into account and objectively, this person should be released.  We first want to make a change that is not compatible with the Turkish mentality that sets the law and legislation today.

 This mechanism should take place in accordance with the agreement and criteria of the European Court or Council and not  the Turkish law, and that this committee can discuss this mechanism in a way that “does it think this mechanism is appropriate or not”.

 * The European Court of Human Rights confirmed that the third point of the Convention, which relates to the conditions of detention after November 17, 2009, does not have any violation.  What is the scope of the third point? (No:2) in the Ocalan case?

 We have a lot of demands about the isolation and detention of Mr. Ocalan in Turkey and in the international arena, especially the European Court of Human Rights.  The commission did not make any assessments about Mr. Ocalan's physical condition and isolation.  We were really waiting, but also Turkey had to be determined or invited according to the level of law on that situation.

 The third point is that the right to life is the most basic right in the convention, and after that comes the right to prevent inhumane methods or torture.

 No violation of this point can be made in any way.  This point is so clear that we have been saying for seven years that the third point was violated, but they did not put this resolution on their agenda for seven years.

 This third point is important for human rights and not to prevent it either.  The authorities are the first responsible party.

*The court is working to review the conditions of detention that are monitored by the European Committee for the Prevention of Punishment or Inhumane Treatment and Torture.  Is there any personal procedure related to the conditions of detention of auditors?

 Changing this aggravated life sentence in the person of Mr. Ocalan must be done in this way, and thousands of people are facing this punishment.  The commission says it sees it as a general point, not specifically for Mr. Ocalan;  Rather, in order to change this legislation.  This is a general violation and is not a personal matter.

 The authorities did not provide sufficient information about the action taken against these violations evidenced in the decisions, and they were called upon to apply the legal context in accordance with the standards of the Court, and were encouraged to benefit from the good models elsewhere.

 This is said for the sake of the state until Mr. Ocalan's decision was issued in 2014, when several people were sentenced to life imprisonment.  Several people remained in prison for twenty or thirty years without the Minister of Justice sharing this as a statistic with public opinion.  But after Mr. Ocalan's decision was issued in 2014, the Turkish state revealed this information.

 We do not know today the exact number of people who have been sentenced to life imprisonment or sentenced to life imprisonment.

 She says there is no such thing in my country.  Deceive the committee.  We demanded that the number to be disclosed, but the Turkish state did not provide any information  nor did submit it to the committee either.

 Today in England and Hungary changes have been made in the law, and the commission says that we have sent decisions to some countries before your eyes, and these countries have made the changes.  The Turkish state can also take advantage of those countries that show the way to it.

* Authorities must release information in order to carry out public actions by the end of September 2022 at the latest

  The committee says that Turkey should prepare what change it will make or how it will change and send it to us for that time.

  The Turkish state can send it after a month too, but we know that, as usual, it will wait until the last minute.  We also don't know how to change it.

  The Committee shall hold its meeting every three months, and accordingly;  They gave the Turkish state three meetings to make a change, but the biggest problem is that this decision did not become part of the committee's agenda seven years ago.  Why did the committee intentionally stop this decision?  This is the most important matter for us, and these decisions will be discussed during the three meetings of the Committee.  All decisions that will be taken in these meetings will affect the positions and laws of the Turkish state.  That is why we are waiting for what will happen until the March meeting?

  Until then, we, Mr.  Ocalan's lawyers, will also submit new requests and reports on the basis of those decisions and the committee's position.  This situation as a stage will not be removed immediately;  Because the Turkish state must change the law, and this, according to Turkish legislation, is done in Parliament.  The Justice and Development Party and the Nationalist Movement Party are now in Parliament, and they are worse than each other and implement the alliance against the Kurds.  They also have a sordid history of human rights, not only against the Kurdish people;  But on all levels.  We are waiting for fair changes to be made according to the standards.

  Were you waiting for such decisions to be issued?

True.  Proceedings against Mr. Ocalan were implemented belatedly;  Because of that delay we wanted it not to be delayed too long;  Because they were already too late and didn't do their work.  The text of the resolution did not show anything interesting.

 The Turkish state has not implemented many of the decisions of the Committee of Ministers of the European Council, such as those taken on Selahattin Demirtaş and Osman Kavala.

 What is the stage that could begin if the Turkish state does not implement the current decisions as well?

 According to their agreements, each member state of the European Council is obliged to implement the decision of the European Court of Human Rights.  In the end, that country must implement these decisions.  Even that country's membership is revoked.  But the embryos did not apply this procedure to the Turkish state.  In the decision regarding Osman Kavala, a deadline was given until December 19 to implement it.

 What is the impact of this decision for the Turkish state?

 In fact, it does not affect, the relations between Turkey and the European Council are clear, and unfortunately when it comes to the Kurdish issue and refugees, the economy is taking place at the political level.  This committee is essentially a political committee and does not take decisions in accordance with the law only.  Countries support each other, and if they resent each other politically, they make decisions against each other.  Unfortunately, you will not take any serious action.  This is a European political position.

 *Many requests are made to meet with Commander Abdullah Ocalan.  But either they don't provide any information about the meetings or they answer late.  How do you see this approach?

 They did not implement Mr. Ocalan's right to meet with him on a daily basis, according to the laws in Imrali for 23 years.  We are always in doubt about the security and health status of Mr. Ocalan, and unfortunately, the state of isolation deepens with the passage of time.  Also, we have not received any information from Mr. Ocalan since 2015. So much so that we wonder whether Mr. Ocalan is there or not?  Is he alive or not?  We can only get information from Mr. Ocalan, in exceptional cases.  Unfortunately, the disciplinary penalty is repeated every six months.  Whatever the level of discontent with the isolation imposed on Mr. Ocalan, he has shown one thing in 23 years;  Adoption and reactions against isolation opened the doors.

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