An important meeting will be held between 15-17 on the "right to hope" of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and 4 thousand prisoners sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment in İmralı F Type High Security Closed Prison.  

 

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will discuss the "violation" judgements of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Abdullah Öcalan and prisoners Civan Boltan, Hayati Kaytan and Emin Gurban. 

 

At its meeting in September 2024, the Committee had asked Turkey to make the necessary legal arrangements on this issue and gave a one-year deadline. Otherwise, he warned that an interim judgement would be issues. 

 

Turkey has not yet made any arrangements despite the committee's warning. It remains to be seen what kind of interim decision the Committee will take. 

 

Human rights and legal organisations, including the ÖHD, submitted a communication to the committee in July on the implementation of the "right to hope". The statement demanded that the necessary steps be taken to implement the judgements of the ECtHR. 

 

ÖHD member and delegate of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) Veysi Eski made evaluations on the "right to hope" and the decisions that may come out of the committee. 

 

'OBSTACLES TO THE RIGHT TO HOPE MUST BE REMOVED'

 

According to the "right to hope", everyone should have the hope of being released from prison one day and this period should not be too long. Eski said: "Hungary wanted to introduce a 40-year sentence. However, the ECtHR did not accept this. The duration of human life is already certain. Today, it is a right recognised in European Union (EU) member states except Turkey. The 'right to hope' is not something in the law, but the elimination of the preventive provisions in the law. In Turkish law, those sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment are labelled as "imprisoned until death". This phrase is an obstacle to the 'right to hope'. Such phrases need to be removed from the law. Because these are de facto capital punishment."

 

Stating that a mechanism should be established for the "right to hope", he said: "Bar associations, legal organisations and human rights defenders should be involved in these mechanisms. In other European countries, bar associations and human rights defenders also take part in the mechanisms monitoring the situation of prisoners." 

 

Drawing attention to Turkey's failure to implement the decisions of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Eski stated that the Committee of Ministers no longer has any sanctioning power. Stating that states do not feel responsible for implementing the decisions of the committee, Eski said: "In the action plans submitted by Turkey, they say, 'There is a presidential pardon. There can be special amnesties'. It thinks it will deceive the committee with this. In fact, it knows that it cannot fool the committee, it is just trying to buy time. In this way, it prevents the committee from imposing sanctions on them. However, we have now reached the final stage legally." 

 

'IT SHOULD NOT TURN INTO BLACKMAIL'

 

Stating that the committee should decide on sanctions, Eski reminded the process that started in Turkey and Abdullah Öcalan's "right to hope" was also expressed by the government. "The state knows that this 'right to hope' exists and knows that it has to implement it. But this right should not turn into a blackmail tool in politics, in the current process. The state is trying to use it as a trump card. This is not a very ethical thing politically," he stated.  

 

'WE ARE WAITING FOR AN INTERIM DECISION'

 

Reminding that they had notified the committee about the "right to hope", Eski concluded: "Turkey no longer has a chance to throw the ball away. Because the committee has to consider all options, including the sanction of expelling Turkey from the commission. We expect an interim decision to be made at the next meeting. We expect the interim decision to be an effective interim decision for Turkey to take steps."

 

MA / Ömer İbrahimoğlu