Subject: Press Conference
From: Int. Initiative (info@freedom-for-ocalan.com)
Date: Tue May 30 2000 - 15:43:54 CDT
International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan
Post Box: 100511, 50445 Köln, Germany
Telephone: 0221 1301559
Fax: 0221 1393071
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
URL: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com
30.05.2000
To all supporters and interests of the "International Initiative,
Freedom for Ocalan-Peace in Kurdistan":
The International Initiative organised a Press Conferece in Brussels to
enlighten the world public, media, and state representatives on the
urgency needed in changing the prison conditions of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan
and his necessity of his transfer to another prison with apppropriate
prison conditions.
The participants in the Press Conference were Kurdish personalities such
as Ismet Serif Vanli (President of Kurdistan Natioanl Congress),Yasar
Kaya (ex-President of Kurdistan Parliament in Exile ), Mahmut Baksi
(Writer, politician, journalist).
We would like to present the Press Statement that was mediated in the
Press Conference in Brussels, Belgium organised by the International
Initiative. If you would like the Document presented in the press
conference we would be hapy to do so (note: it will be an attachment):
Press Statement:
On 15 February 1999 Abdullah Ocalan, Pesident of the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK), was handed over to the Turkish State in a cloak and dagger
operation by an alliance of international intelligence agencies. Since
taken he has been held captive on the prison island of Imrali in the
Marmara Sea under increasingly harsh conditions of isolation.
We’re in the first anniversary of the PKK President Mr. Abdullah
Öcalan’s trial, which was contrary to the norms of international law and
unjust the manner by which the death sentence was given. Instead of
putting the issue and solution forward; the accusatrans trial and the
punishment made on the basis of denial of the Kurdish people and
distortion of history is not legal and can not by any means be accepted.
According to statements made by his lawyers, Mr. Ocalan’s health has
been steadily deteriorating over more than sixteen months imprisonment.
For some time he has been suffering from a difficulty in breathing and
related symptons which his doctors insist are resulting from the damp
island climate.
During a visit by his lawyers Mr. Ocalan provided a detailed description
of his breathing problems, and attacks of choking; loss of his sense of
smell; decreasing of his sense of taste; severe inflammation of the
mucus membrane; running of the nose; inflamed eyes and severe sleep
deprivation. His doctors insist that given present prison conditions,
there is a high probability that he will develop asthma. Mr. Ocalan
confirms that the medical treatment he has been receiving has not helped
to ameliorate his condition. This was additionally confirmed by a doctor
who was called in to examine him and who stressed that treatment under
the present conditions was impossible.
The International Initiative for peace are monitoring these critical
developments with increased concern. Despite to being sentenced to death
Mr. Ocalan continues to press for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish
question and for democratisation in Turkey, which has led to the PKK’s
cessation of armed struggle, the withdrawal of its forces outside
Turkey, and the launch of a comprehensive peace initiative. Regrettably,
political and military leaders in Turkey have so far failed to take any
concrete steps towards grasping this historical opportunity for a
lasting settlement of the Kurdish Question and the creation of a
sustainable peace. To the contrary, the Turkish army has pursued its
military operations, and the government has endorsed the closure of
human rights organisations, the crimalisation of Kurdish politicians and
prohibition of pro-Kuridish democratic newspapers and other
publications.
Mr. Ocalan remains a national icon of the Kurdish people. Any further
deterioration in his health as a result of a solitary confinement will
result in unpredictable consequences concerning the developing process
of peace and democratisation in Turkey. Therefore we call upon the
international community to exert all due influence on the Turkish
government to improve Mr. Ocalan’s conditions of detention and to ensure
they accord with international standards. We also demand:
- that the solitary confinement in which he is held is lifted
immediately.
- an improvement of his living conditions.
- that Mr. Ocalan be transferred to a place where conditions are more
suitable
- that he is allowed access to an International Commission of Physicians
to investigate the conditions of detention and Mr. Ocalan’s state of
health .
- an independent Commission to monitor Mr. Ocalan’s case and investigate
in accordance with the Convention of the Prevention of Torture and other
Cruel and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment.
- an investigation by the UN Committee Against Torture, and by the
European Council of the EU.
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