ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul denied on Thursday claims that his government has granted long-imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan’s lawyers permission to visit him in relation to re-do local election in Istanbul on June 23 or a potential new PKK-Turkey peace process.
The minister was answering journalists after an iftar meal in Ankara on Thursday evening.
He explained that it was purely a “judicial” matter, as the lawyers’ visits to Imrali Prison in the Marmara Sea had repeatedly been prevented in the past by some courts.
“In this framework, it was simply a visit. There is no need to link it to the Istanbul [re-]election. It was a meeting granted by court,” he said referring to Ocalan’s first meeting in eight years on May 2.
Asked about the future of the visits to Ocalan, the justice minister said it depended on the ability to access the island prison and “measures required by legislation.”
He had previously said that the Kurdish leader can be visited regularly.
Asked whether Ocalan’s meetings with lawyers had any underlying motive, the minister said “This has nothing to do with the peace process … [or] the Istanbul election,” reported state-run Anadolu Agency on Friday.
The minister was answering journalists after an iftar meal in Ankara on Thursday evening.
He explained that it was purely a “judicial” matter, as the lawyers’ visits to Imrali Prison in the Marmara Sea had repeatedly been prevented in the past by some courts.
“In this framework, it was simply a visit. There is no need to link it to the Istanbul [re-]election. It was a meeting granted by court,” he said referring to Ocalan’s first meeting in eight years on May 2.
Asked about the future of the visits to Ocalan, the justice minister said it depended on the ability to access the island prison and “measures required by legislation.”
He had previously said that the Kurdish leader can be visited regularly.
Swinging the balance of power
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost control of three major Turkish provinces - Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir - to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the March 31 local election.
The AKP accepted defeat in Ankara and Izmir but did not give up Istanbul, where the CHP’s Ekrem İmamoglu beat the AKP’s Binali Yildirim with a slight majority.
The loss of Istanbul would undoubtedly have been a bitter pill to swallow for Turkish President and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The city has been held by the parties he has belonged to, the Welfare Party and the AKP, since 1994.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) had announced a “strategic” plan before elections by not fielding candidates in western provinces like Istanbul, home to millions of Kurds. This was interpreted by many as the HDP indirectly throwing its support behind the CHP’s Imamoglu, and is believed to be one of the key reasons behind his victory.
The AKP is said to be after the HDP’s estimated million voters in Istanbul in the run up to the re-election, potentially swinging the balance of power in the metropolis.
Messages to hunger strikers
The lawyers who visited Ocalan on Wednesday carried a message from him to HDP lawmaker Leyla Guven, initiator of the months-long hunger strike for the PKK leader in late 2018. More than 3000 people worldwide have since joined the hunger strike.
Guven, who was in jail when she declared her hunger strike but was later released due to her deteriorating health, said on Friday that she had received the message but would not disclose its contents for now, as requested by Ocalan.
“Asrin Law Office lawyers have visited me and handed me Mr Ocalan’s message,” she said in a tweet on Friday, referring to the legal office whose lawyers represent Ocalan.
“There are attempts to send messages to other strikers as well. Soon we will disclose our correspondence to the public,” she added.
Asrin Law Office confirmed earlier today that they have been conveying their client’s messages to Guven and will later disclose its contents.
Judicial Reform Strategy Document
Justice minister Gul said on Wednesday that Erdogan will announce a Judicial Reform Strategy Document on May 30.
Describing it as a “roadmap” for Turkey’s 82 million citizens, he claimed that it will increase people’s confidence in the judicial system.
The slogan and philosophy of the reform is “Trusting Justice,” Gul said during the iftar in Ankara. “We have made preparations as per this motto for the last 8-9 months.”
The objective of the reform, he said, is to make people say “‘There really are judges, prosecutors and justice, and I trust in the judicial system’” when they pass by a court.
Abdullah Ocalan is co-founder of the PKK, who have fought a sometimes armed struggle for Kurdish rights in Turkey. He has been imprisoned on Imrali Island since 1999. From his jail cell, Ocalan was able to broker a short-lived ceasefire and a two-and-a-half year long peace process that broke down in July 2015.
Turkey and the PKK have been in decades-long conflict inside the country and in the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas, leading to the deaths of more than 40,000 people.
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