On 4 April, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan turns 75. Yet, no one can be certain about his state of health or even whether he is alive or dead, since March 2021, when his brother, Mehmet Öcalan, last spoke to him over the phone, before the call was cut off by the Turkish authorities.
Since then, there has been no communication with Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned on Imrali island since 1999, in solitary confinement and under dire conditions.
It is particularly noteworthy to read the report published by AlphaNews.Live’s Elina Stamatiou, following her communication with one of Öcalan’s lawyers, Ibrahim Bilmez.
The report should have caused a stir in both the Cypriot and international political spheres, but the efforts of the Kurdish people and Öcalan’s lawyers fell on deaf ears, and a guilty omertà is observed by the leaders of nations everywhere.
This includes the leaders of Greece and Cyprus, who remain silent, allowing the Turkish Fascist state to commit these violations of basic human rights under the watchful eye of the international community.
They remain silent, even though Öcalan’s isolation amounts to torture, as his lawyer stated in the ‘AlphaNews.Live’ report.
They show no empathy towards the fact that for many years, the Turkish authorities created tension in Öcalan’s cell, as a test of the Kurdish people’s resolve, both fighters and civilians.
They remain indifferent to the fact that Öcalan’s imprisonment on an island, alone for a decade, constitutes a form of torture. This is why very few people, beyond the Kurds, speak up.
The lawyer who last visited Öcalan in August 2019, almost five years ago, now appeals via Elina Stamatiou to all of Europe.
He reminds them that Öcalan left Syria in 1999 in search of a diplomatic solution to the Kurdish issue, and Europe, including Greece, denied him asylum. He urges them not to forget that Öcalan’s purpose, after fifteen years of armed struggle, was to initiate peace talks in Europe, yet the continent’s powers closed their doors to him.
Öcalan did not come to Europe to save his own skin but rather to convince Turkey to accept a resolution to the Kurdish question, which would in turn open the way for the resolution of all the issues in the Middle East.
Ibrahim Bilmez calls on all democratic bodies in Cyprus, Greece, and Europe to acknowledge Öcalan’s efforts to find a peaceful solution in the Middle East. He asks that states, organisations, and parties side with Öcalan and demand that his human rights be recognised, thereby helping to bring an end to the bloodshed.
Öcalan’s release, Bilmez stresses, is a prerequisite for his participation in a peace process that could solve the Kurdish problem and bring an end to the chaos in the Middle East.
Why, then, is there so much silence?
