BEHDINAN, SOUTHERN KURDISTAN
The KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council Co-Presidency made a written statement regarding the report recently shared by the CPT. KCK said:
“Leader Apo, who has become the leader of freedom and democracy not only of the Kurdish people, but also of the peoples of the Middle East and the world, has been under severe isolation in a one-man prison for 21 years. He has lived in a single cell for 21 years. With one or two exceptions, he has not been allowed to meet with his lawyers for 10 years. Visitation applications by his family are rarely approved.
The reason why he was kept under such heavy isolation is that he is the leader of the people who [the enemy] is trying to subject to genocide.
This sever isolation is carried out in accordance with the genocide policy carried out on the Kurdish people. Therefore, this isolation is also a policy and practice of genocide. Undoubtedly, the Kurdish people and its leadership are resisting against this genocidal attack and practices of the Turkish state.
The Kurdish people and Leader Apo act with the awareness that all these attacks and isolation are an attack of genocide.”
The statement by KCK drew attention to the following:
“Leader Apo was imprisoned in Imrali prison through a conspiracy because he wanted to break this genocidal order. Turkey has been assigned the role of being a guard. The Imrali isolation system is a system that practices the US and Europe in Turkey. The USA, Europe and the Republic of Turkey are jointly responsible for this system of torture and genocide.
The CPT’s failure to object to the Imrali torture system so far should be seen as evidence of complicity.
The 21-year struggle of the Kurdish people, their claim to their leader and the stance of Leader Apo in Imrali exposed the reality of the Imrali system and made it unsustainable. This exposure was further dimensioned by the resistance against the isolation in 2018-2019, and the immoral and fascist character of the Imrali system was revealed in all its nakedness. During this period, the CPT went to Imrali and prepared its report, which was recently reflected to the public.
Sever isolation and torture
It is an important development that the CPT has defined the Imrali system as a system of severe isolation and torture. This would mean that those who have a role in the establishment and maintenance of the Imrali system can no longer claim this system.
In this respect, all the foundations and arguments of severe isolation are scattered. The doors and bars of Imrali were broken. It has no ideological or political basis. Just as the ideological and political basis of the genocide on Kurds has been exposed, only the forced genocide system is maintained; The same situation has now occurred in Imrali. This has made the struggle for the liberation of Leader Apo more concrete. Genocidal, fascist attacks are heavy, but the freedom of the Kurdish people and Leader Apo has also come closer. The shaking of the Imrali system has such an ideological and political meaning.
Insufficient report
This reality requires the freedom struggle of Leader Apo and the freedom struggle of the Kurdish people to be carried out together and resolutely. Undoubtedly, the CPT’s report, although important, is not sufficient. They have a responsibility to directly target and demand the end of the isolation. However, it would be naive to expect such moves from the CPT.
Just as the report was prepared in this way as a result of a great struggle, the isolation and freedom of Leader Apo will be ensured by struggle.
The CPT has defined the İmralı system as a system of severe isolation and torture. The duty of our people and all forces of struggle is to increase the struggle against the isolation, whose legitimacy and justification have become stronger with this report, and to bring the freedom of Leader Apo closer. It will be through this struggle to get the CPT to take further steps.
The isolation imposed upon Leader Apo is political, like the genocide attack on the Kurdish people. In this respect, it is not possible to eliminate isolation by reading statements. Political attacks can only be repulsed by powerful political struggles.
In this respect, the CPT’s statements imposed the responsibility of the Kurdish people, their friends and the forces of democracy to struggle against isolation and to increase the struggle of freedom for Leader Apo. The end of the severe isolation imposed upon Leader Apo and his meetings with his lawyers, his family and democratic forces will also be achieved through struggle.
Thus Leader Apo will effectively play his role in the democratization of Turkey and the Middle East and the liberation of the Kurdish people.
On this basis, we call on the Kurdish people to heighten their struggle for freedom and democracy everywhere, parallel to the struggle for the freedom of Leader Apo, to defeat the AKP-MHP fascism and to create a free Kurdistan, democratic Turkey and democratic Middle East.”
