The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out an ad hoc visit to Turkey from 7 to 11 April 2025.

 

The committee did not include İmralı Prison in its program, as it has done during many of its previous visits, despite the fact that İmralı has been at the center of criticism due to its stance regarding the isolation regime implemented on İmralı Island, where Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has been incarcerated under inhumane conditions for years.

 

The delegation was headed by CPT President Alan Mitchel, to whom many prominent international personalities and organizations had sent letters calling for action against the severe conditions of isolation in which Abdullah Öcalan finds himself,  as well as experts Nico Hirsch, Therese Rytter and Juan Carlos de Silva Ochoa. They were supported by Hugh Chetwynd (Executive Secretary) and Laura Ielciu-Erel of the CPT Secretariat and assisted by two experts, Julia Kozma, lawyer (Austria) and Djordje Alempijevic, professor of forensic medicine (Serbia).

 

In a statement on its website, the CPT said that the main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police, particularly in the context of the public demonstrations held since 19 March 2025.

 

According to the statement, the delegation held consultations with Yılmaz Tunç, Minister of Justice, Münir Karaloğlu, Deputy Minister of Interior, Enis Yavuz Yıldırım, Director General of Prisons and Detention Centres, and Ömer Urhal, Deputy Director General of Security in the Ministry of Interior, as well as other senior officials from the Ministries of Justice and the Interior.

 

At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary findings to the Turkish authorities.

 

The delegation visited the main police detention facilities in Ankara and Istanbul, and the prison campuses of Metris, Marmara and Sincan in the Istanbul and Ankara metropolitan areas, primarily to conduct interviews with persons recently placed on remand detention. Other visits were carried out to Istanbul Metris T-type Prison No. 1, Marmara L-Type Prison No. 1, Marmara L-Type Prison No. 3, Marmara L-Type Prison No. 4, Marmara L-Type Prison No. 5, Marmara Women Closed Prison, Ankara Sincan L-Type Prison No. 2.

 

While the CPT has long been under criticism due to its silence and inaction regarding the isolation conditions in which Abdullah Öcalan is being held, the last time it visited İmralı Prison was in 2022. The final report of this visit is yet to be shared with the public.