PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is being held in İmralı Type F High Security Prison, was heard from on October 23 after 43 months of absolute isolation. Abdullah Öcalan had a meeting with his nephew Ömer Öcalan, MP of Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Riha (Urfa). Ömer Öcalan shared the following information about the meeting: “This visit took place as part of a family meeting. Mr. Öcalan made evaluations on general political developments and asked for the following message to be conveyed to the public: 'The isolation continues. If the conditions are created, I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from the grounds of conflict and violence to the legal and political grounds.' He is in good health and greeted everyone.”

 

The isolation Abdullah Öcalan emphasized has been going on since the day he was brought to Turkey on February 15, 1999 by an international conspiracy. Although the isolation has been eased from time to time as a result of social resistance and protests, it has continued uninterruptedly for more than 25 years. 

 

Abdullah Öcalan describes the İmralı system of isolation as a “torture system”. Abdullah Öcalan's most extensive evaluations of the İmralı system and isolation is, “Kurdish Question and the Democratic Nation”.

 

In his book, Abdullah Öcalan stated that he is fighting a “war of honor” in İmralı and added: “The process of imprisonment in İmralı forced me to grasp the reality even more deeply and in its entirety.” 

 

Abdullah Öcalan stated that despite the severe isolation, he wanted to use İmralı as “an opportunity for a political solution”. “Even at the cost of my execution, I considered it important that this was the way to be tried first,” he said. 

 

'I EVALUATED I·MRALI AS A SCHOOL' 

 

In his book, Abdullah Öcalan points to the İmralı system and said: “It is historically established that İmralı is a place famous for wearing out the human physique to the utmost due to its climate in the middle of the sea. Since the Byzantine Empire, it has been used as a place of exile and death for prisoners deemed most dangerous by the state. It is difficult for a person to endure the conditions here for such a long period of time unless there is a very real justification. İmralı has been a perfect school for me not only to get rid of the influence of the hegemonic nation-state god who imprisoned me in this Island Dungeon, but also to unmask all its masks. I considered Imrali as a real school for the Kurds not only to get rid of the influence of this god, but also to build their new order based on a scientific interpretation of their own nature. The teachings of the Imrali school have not only made our peoples, but also modern Turkey better than before. I must state that the foundations of democratic Turkey were laid in İmralı. I am not only talking about my share in this in a unilateral way. The transformation of the state itself was also possible with the encouragement received from İmralı.” 

 

'MYTHOLOGICAL GODS WERE INCONCEIVABLE'

 

Öcalan, who characterized the practices against him in İmralı as “National İmralı Policies (MIP)”, made extensive evaluations about the prison in the section titled “On my prison life in İmralı Island”. In the section dated December 21, 2011, Öcalan said: “In all my written defenses and oral dialogues up to now, I have not touched much on my personal life. Apart from general health problems and relations with the prison administration, I have not talked about how I resisted the isolation and endured loneliness against the isolation specially prepared by the system and applied only to me. I think the most curious subject is my life experiences that I developed against this absolute loneliness and stagnation.” 

 

 

PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF IMRALI

 

Öcalan shared the following information about the physical structure of İmralı: “The climate is both very humid and harsh. Physically, it has a tendency to break down a person's body. When the isolation in a closed room is added to this, its corrosive effect on the body increases even more. I was also taken to the island at the beginning of the aging process. For a long time I was held under the supervision of the Special Forces Command. For the last two years I think the Ministry of Justice has been in charge. I had no means of communication other than a book, newspaper, magazine and a single-channel radio. Of course, half-hour visits from siblings every few months and weekly meetings with lawyers, even though they were often interrupted due to 'bad weather', constituted my communication universe. Of course, I do not underestimate these communication factors, but they cannot be sufficient relations for survival. My mind and will would determine whether I would stand or rot.” 

 

'HOW CAN YOU KEEP MILLIONS IN A NARROW ROOM?

 

Öcalan underlined that the conspiracy imposed on him in İmralı is “of a kind that leaves not a shred of hope” and said: “The execution of the death penalty and keeping psychological warfare on the agenda for a long time was for this purpose. In the early days, even I could not imagine how I could endure it. I could not imagine how I could survive even a year, let alone years.”

 

In the continuation of the article, Öcalan asked “How can you keep millions of people in a narrow room?” and continued as follows: “Indeed, as the Kurdish National Leader, I had made myself a synthesis of millions of people in the conditions of my imprisonment. The people perceived me as such. While one could never endure being deprived of one's family and children, how could I endure for a long time being separated from the will of millions united to death, never to be reunited again. People from the public were not even given a few lines of letters. So far, with a few exceptions, I have not received any letters from outside, except for the few strictly controlled letters of comrades in prison, most of which have been withheld. I have not been able to send letters. All these points can partly make the situation caused by isolation understandable.”

 

 

‘I WILL SHARE LIFE WITH EVERYONE’

 

Noting that despite all kinds of negativities, Öcalan transformed İmralı into a “battleground for truth”, Öcalan also included in his book the struggle he would wage if he were released from İmralı. Öcalan stated the following: “It should be well known that I am the owner of a lifestyle called revolutionary realism. If one looks not at my life after my release from prison, but at my life since childhood, such questions can be better answered. My 'first rebellions' against family authority at the age of less than ten carry important clues in this regard. From that time on I was a lone rebel, and I tried to express my objections to village and city society in my defense. Those who are interested can find the necessary questions and answers together. I must summarize very briefly that for me life is possible as long as one lives in freedom. It is only natural that when I am released from prison, wherever I am, at whatever moment I am living, I will be in a constant struggle with every discourse and action style that is necessary to the end, for the sociality I am trying to be a member of, for the Kurds, who are experiencing the most tragic reality of this, for their democratic nationhood, which is their solution and way of liberation, for the Democratic Union of Nations, which is the solution and way of liberation for all the peoples of the Middle East, especially the neighboring peoples of which they are a part, and for the World Democratic Union of Nations, which is the solution and way of liberation for the peoples of the world, of which they are also a part. I will walk with my personality of truth, which has gained a great share with the ethical, aesthetic, philosophical and scientific power that this necessitates, I will win life and share it with everyone.” 

 

MA / Emrullah Acar