ISTANBUL - The ECHR's "violation" verdict against Abdullah Öcalan has not been implemented for 10 years. Zilan Aydın from ÖHD drew attention to the "right to hope". 

 

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will meet once again in September. The European Court of Human Rights' (ECHR) 2014 ruling on the "violation" of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's sentence of life imprisonment without the right to conditional release (the right to hope) will be on the agenda of the meeting. The committee will monitor the implementation of the ECHR's violation judgments and requirements. 

 

The Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), the Human Rights Association (İHD), the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), the Association of Contemporary Lawyers (ÇHD), the Association of Civil Society in the Penal System (CİSST) and the Society and Law Research Foundation (TOHAV) notified the committee on July 31 before the meeting. In the notification, they demanded a call for "necessary legislative amendments". 

 

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION DECISION

ÖHD lawyer Zilan Aydın spoke about the declaration made by their association. Stating that the aggravated life imprisonment sentence, which was included in the legislation as the death penalty before Abdullah Öcalan was brought to Turkey, has turned into "white death", Aydın emphasized that this situation is against fundamental human rights.

 

"For this reason, applications were made to the ECHR. The ECHR also issued 'violation' decisions. The Vinter rulings in the United Kingdom and the Öcalan rulings in Turkey were the beginning of this. The Court found it against the convention to keep a person in prison without the right to conditional release. The Court gave a 25-year period for those sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. After this period, the court decided to re-evaluate their situation" she said.

 

'TURKEY NOT COMPLY WITH THE LAW'

 

Pointing out that there is no regulation on the "right to hope" or the right to conditional release in Turkey, Aydın said: "It is not legitimate for people to serve life sentences. Turkey is also in a place that accepts European conventions. Moreover, in Article 90 of its own constitution, it is committed that when there is a difference between its own laws and international conventions, the international convention will be applied. Here, Turkey is not complying with its own laws."

 

CONTENT OF THE NOTIFICATION 

 

Aydın reminded that following the Öcalan ruling on March 18, 2014, the ECHR issued similar rulings for prisoners Hayati Kaytan, Emin Gurban and Civan Botan. Stating that although 10 years have passed since the 2014 ruling, Turkey has not complied with the decision, Aydın noted that the declaration they made was also related to this situation. 

 

Aydın said: "In the declaration, issues such as the lack of regulation on the right to hope and Turkey's failure to comply with the decision were included. In addition, considering the time Mr. Öcalan has spent in prison, we have stated that there is no arrangement for Mr. Öcalan to obtain any conditional release right and that this right should be given to Mr. Öcalan. We have also stated that the aggravated life imprisonment is not compatible with the right to hope, that the laws and draft laws submitted to the Parliament are not taken into consideration and that they are null and void. The purpose of this statement is to inform that the aggravated life imprisonment is contrary to fundamental human rights and that Turkey is acting in violation of the conventions to which it is a signatory." 

 

POLITICAL SITUATION

 

Stating that the committee took this issue to the agenda only twice in meetings after 2014 and made recommendations to Turkey, Aydın pointed out that there may be sanctions against member countries that do not comply with the recommendations. "The first step is to invite them to withdraw from the council. Then, if the decision is not implemented, there is a sanction that goes up to the removal of the state from the council. Unfortunately, we cannot say that this is being implemented. So far, we see that the EC has not taken such a step. For 10 years, there have been no sanctions against Turkey. But we are not in a position to step back on this issue" Aydın said.

 

Emphasizing that Turkey's violation of prisoners' "right to hope" is a political situation, Aydın said following: "It is very important that civil society organizations and the public oppose this. In this respect, it is necessary to raise the struggle even higher. This issue needs to be more vocalized and addressed by the society. This is what we wanted to state in our application. The committee should not drop this from the agenda. This should also be on the agenda of lawyers, human rights defenders and civil society organizations like us. We should not hold back from this. Considering the outrage this state of absolute isolation has caused in society, we need to increase the struggle against it."

 

MA / Ömer İbrahimoğlu