The co-chairs of the Freedom for Ocalan campaign, Christine Blower of NEU and Simon Dubbins of Unite, have issued the following statement on this week’s events and restated the call for the release of Mr Öcalan.
This has been a vitally important week for the campaign to release Abdullah Öcalan. For the first time in 8 years, Mr Ocalan has finally been able to meet with representatives of his legal team and to issue a short public statement. Although this development is highly significant, and we hope will be followed by further regular visits and meetings, it remains an appalling fact that Mr Öcalan has endured complete isolation and the denial of the most basic of prisoners human rights for the last 8 years of his 20-year incarceration.
Given the severely curtailed independence of the Turkish judiciary following the 2016 attempted coup, it is unimaginable that such a significant decision would have been taken without the explicit approval of the Turkish government. We fully welcome this move and call on the Turkish government to continue on this path by immediately restoring all family and legal visits without further hindrance.
We remain firmly convinced that Mr Öcalan has a critical role to play in the search for peace in Turkey and the wider region and we therefore also reiterate our call for his immediate release in order to hasten that process.
Christine Blower and Simon Dubbins Co-Chairs of the Freedom for Öcalan campaign