​​​​​​​Mystery surrounds the health status of Imrali detainees

For more than two years, the Turkish occupation state has not allowed the leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is detained in the Turkish prison of Imrali Island, to communicate with the outside world, whether meeting with lawyers, family, or even making phone calls.

Leader Ocalan's last contact with his family took place on March 25, 2021, through a phone call to his brother Muhammad Ocalan, which lasted only 5 minutes, then the call was cut off.

From then until now, the Turkish occupation authorities have imposed strict isolation on the Imrali detainees (leader Abdullah Ocalan, Khairy Konar, Hamili Yıldırım, and Yesi Aktash) by refusing to meet with lawyers and their families.

Efforts for reassurance met with rejection!

The family of the leader Abdullah Ocalan and the families of the three other detainees in Imrali prison applied; Umar Khayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Yesi Aktash, Friday, March 10, with a new request to the Republican Public Prosecutor's Office in Bursa and the Imrali Prison Directorate to meet with them.

The leader's lawyers submit two applications per week; To meet with their client, but the requests are systematically rejected, and sometimes they receive a response to their requests with refusal after months have passed, as the authorities prohibit meetings under the pretext of imposing a disciplinary penalty on the leader Ocalan.

His lawyers, Rezan Sarija and Newroz Uysal, were able to meet their client Ocalan after 8 years, on May 2 and 22, June 12 and 18, and August 7 of 2019, after which the Turkish authorities rejected all requests submitted by the lawyers to meet with their client.

During the year 2021, the leader's lawyers, Abdullah Ocalan, submitted 202 requests, his family 71 requests, and his attorney (representatives of people whose legal rights were stripped from them) also submitted 71 requests to meet with him, including requests submitted during official holidays, but not all of them were answered.

During the year 2022, the family of the leader Abdullah Ocalan submitted 49 requests, his attorney submitted 49 requests, and his lawyers submitted 98 requests to meet with him, but none of them were responded to, and they were not allowed to meet him even during the holidays.

During the first three months of this year, lawyers for the leader Abdullah Ocalan submitted 14 requests, while his family submitted 11 requests to meet him, but he did not respond to them.

A delegation from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visited Turkey on January 11-25, 2021 and visited a number of prisons, but did not visit Imrali.

The European Committee against Torture also visited Turkey between September 20 and 29, 2022, and later announced that it had visited Imrali without providing any additional information. After that, the lawyers announced that the leader did not meet them, and this increased their anxiety.

Turkish practices are completely contrary to what is stipulated in international law, which clearly indicates the need to allow prisoners, even under necessary supervision, to contact their families and reputable friends at regular intervals, both by correspondence and by receiving visits, but Turkey, with political motives, completely ignores this.

Difficult health situation!

Leader Abdullah Ocalan, in the fifth volume of the Manifesto of Democratic Civilization - The Kurdish Issue and the Solution of the Democratic Nation, talks about prison conditions on Imrali Island, and he says: “Imrali is historically famous for being an island in which sentences issued against high-ranking state officials are applied. Its climate is very humid and harsh, and closer to destroy the human structure physically. And by adding isolation inside a closed solitary room, its destructive effect on the structure increases. In addition, I was transferred to the island while I was on the threshold of old age."

From this brief description provided by the leader Ocalan, it is possible to understand the difficult health conditions he suffers from, which he later explained during his meeting with his lawyer in 2009.

He said, "I can't breathe because of the ventilation system that is set up here. My breath is getting tight because my room is not ventilated. The bleeding in my throat continues. Basically I suffer from sinusitis, and I suffer from pain and itching in my throat. This pain is increasing day by day. No I can breathe. It's very difficult for me to breathe. My condition is getting worse because of the conditions here. My health problems are related to the situation here. I don't know what will happen yet and how it will happen. The lack of air affects all my bodily functions. We know that the brain cells that are cut off The air is dying. I feel that my brain cells are dying because of the lack of air. This is causing me a headache. This kills my concentration. This is a very disturbing condition and affects my brain function. It is half dead and half unconscious. I live here half dead and half unconscious. I do not know how long I will bear this, and how long one can live in such circumstances.”

Leader Ocalan explains the impact of isolation on his health and psyche, saying: "I am in a one-story place, its area is about six or six and a half meters, and they built a toilet next to it, so they are inside each other. I have a bed next to the wall. It is attached to the wall. Between my bed and the other wall is a short distance." It's a few steps. And I'm walking back and forth in this narrow space. It's a very tight place. The ventilation system in the room I'm staying in is very bad. I can't breathe. The ventilation windows in the room are very high. It's close to the ceiling. It looks up to the sky and it's tight. With wires and I only see the sky. Of course the airflow from this window towards the room comes from the height. This creates pressure at the bottom of the room and makes it airless. Because I stay close to the ground I suffer from the negative effect of this pressure especially when I sleep. The pressure makes my breathing difficult It's almost suffocating me. As if something heavy is falling on me. This makes my breath so tight that I can't breathe. It's also so tight that I can't breathe when I sleep. I wake up from sleep many times because of this. I take my head out from between the sheets and bend my head to breathe between them. So only I can breathe a little. In this way, I also have to sleep half unconscious, and so I either bend over like this and breathe, or I get up and approach the ventilation area and try to breathe. This spoils my sleep."

The leader, Abdullah Ocalan, adds: "In the old place, I used to breathe in front of the glass, I could breathe," indicating that this opportunity is also not available in a cell measuring 6-7 meters. He continues, "The ventilation space is a small, high window. This situation affects all my vital functions here. When I sleep, I feel tight and uncomfortable. So I either sleep or stay awake to breathe. I wake up several times and have to walk to be able to breathe. When I was in my previous position." A CAT doctor came and he knew about it. He told me that my discomfort and shortness of breath was caused by the ventilation. He told me that I had to lie down near the window and turn my head towards it while sleeping. I actually slept like that there. Basically my bed was in "The place where I was staying was near the window. I did as I was told, at least my breathing was a little regular. That doctor knew about this condition and his diagnosis was correct. They prescribed some treatments but it didn't finish."

Leader Ocalan explains that his health is deteriorating day by day and says: "Just as prisoners desperately resist during execution by hanging and struggle before their last breath, my situation is also like this. As you know, the first reaction during execution is chills in the body, and this constitutes 25 percent of the death process, and then comes the second stage is complete death. But the first reaction during the execution is 25 percent the goosebumps stage. My situation here is that stage when the person being hanged is 25 percent. My hands are shaking; my whole body is trembling. It hurts. I also have involuntary movements. This is a response A physical action. It is caused by this shiver. This shiver is repeated many times and increases day by day. I suffer from it sometimes when I am lying down and sometimes when I am standing. This shiver occurs to the hanged person by 25 percent. It is known that Saddam died within 3 Minutes during his execution. My situation here is as if I'm being hanged like this dozens of times a day. I'm not afraid of hanging, because I'm experiencing those three minutes during which Saddam suffered twenty-four hours a day."

According to what was mentioned, it is clear that health problems are many and worsen with the passage of days as a result of the poor conditions in the prison where the leader Abdullah Ocalan spends his days.

Since this leader spoke 14 years ago, and with his advanced age more and more, it can be expected to a large extent that these health problems have exacerbated, and that the conditions of detention have become more difficult today than ever before.

Because of these measures of the Turkish state, serious health problems arose for the leader Abdullah Ocalan. Until February 15, 1999, he was suffering from sinusitis only, but with the passage of the years, and because of the isolation, solitary confinement, and torture in Imrali, the leader's illness quickly turned Abdullah Ocalan leads to chest suffocation, pharyngitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma, in addition to many other health problems.

T/ Satt.

ANHA