ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish authorities Monday allowed Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), to speak with his family on the phone for the first time since his imprisonment two decades ago.
“Our clients Mr Abdullah Ocalan, Mr Hayri Konar, Mr Hamili Yildirim and Mr Veysi Aktas, who are jailed on Imrali Island, made seperate phone calls to their families today (April 27, 2020) through the public prosecutors’ offices,” said Asrin Law Office, Ocalan's legal representation, in a tweet.
Ocalan has been incarcerated on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999. The three other PKK officials named in the statement were also imprisoned on Imrali in the following years.
The PKK leader has rarely been granted meetings with his lawyers or family. His last face-to-face meeting with the same brother, Mehmet Ocalan, was on March 3 following reports of a fire near the prison he is held at.
Mehmet told Rudaw late Monday that he was summoned by the public prosecutor’s office in Sanliurfa city, his hometown, to use their phone to speak with Ocalan.
“We spoke on the phone at 1pm … It lasted for 20-25 minutes,” said Mehmet, who is Ocalan’s elder brother, and has joined most family meetings with Abdullah in the past.
Kurdish unity
Ocalan’s PKK and the Kurdistan Region’s ruling parties, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have been in a standoff near the PKK’s headquarters in the Qandil region of Iraq on the border with Turkey and Iran. Each demands the other leave the strategic Zini Warte area, accusing one another of treason.
On a different note, northeastern Syria’s ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other Kurdish parties have had several meetings to cast aside their differences and unite following calls from Kurdish intellectuals and the international community, including the US and Russia.
Mehmet said these developments within Kurdish politics were among the topics discussed with his brother, and that Ocalan called on all Kurdish parties to be united.
“These incidents could happen between countries, but Kurds from all four parts need unity,” Ocalan’s brother quoted him as saying, referring to the Zini Warte incident.
By four parts, Ocalan refers to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (Bashur), southeastern Turkey (Bakur), western Iran (Rojhalat) and northeastern Syria (Rojava) - known to Kurds as the four pieces of a Greater Kurdistan.
Health in ‘good condition’
Many supporters of Ocalan were concerned about their leader's health following the spread of the virus in Turkey and the confirmation of cases in jails.
Mehmet says that Ocalan reassured him that his health was in “good condition,” and that no COVID-19 patients have been recorded at the prison, adding that he is not in solitary confinement and can speak with the other PKK prisoners.
The brother told Rudaw that they “mostly” talked about the virus in their phone call on Monday.
Turkish Justice Minister Abdulmahit Gul said Tuesday that "120 prisoners from four jails have tested positive to COVID-19," adding that they are in "good condition," reported the state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA).
The ministry reported the deaths of three prisoners earlier this month.
Turkish parliament has approved the release of 90,000 prisoners, but excludes political prisoners like Ocalan.
Regarded as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its NATO allies, the PKK has been in a decades-long war with the Turkish state, resulting in the deaths of more than 40,000 people on both sides, including civilians.
Ocalan, 72, was imprisoned following his arrest in Nairobi, Kenya in 1999. He was tracked down after being expelled from Syria, where he was based from 1979 to 1998.
Despite being in prison with limited access to his lawyers and family, Ocalan remains an influential figure for Kurds, especially in Turkey and Syria.
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