PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan is still being kept at İmralı High Security Type F Prison since February 15, 1999 when he was delivered to Turkey as a result of the interventions of the international powers. Öcalan who was put in İmralı İsland Prison which is surrounded by kilometers of 'restricted area' where law was by-passed and a tailor made law was put in place, was denied of his rights of communication with his family and attorneys, which is every prisons natural right and was isolated since then. 

 

The relationship of İmralı with law is like Öcalan's attorney Fail Özgür Erol said from the start is that it is the place where law  falls into abeyance. This isolation policy, which was periodically stretched in line with the approaches of the state and the government towards the Kurdish question, was manifested by the fact that even during the solution process, state and political delegations were taken to the island and their lawyers were not allowed to meet with Öcalan.

 

 

With the end of the "solution process", Öcalan-based isolation policy, like the other 3 detainees who were taken to the island, was forced to be stretched again as a result of the pressure created by the hunger strike and death fast actions in the country and abroad. The messages that reflected with the doors of İmralı being slightly open, was aimed at getting Turkey back on track with the democracy Turkey has been falling away from in the las few years.

 

 

Mehmet Öcalan told about the last 20 years of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan who has insisted on this line with the messages and approach he has given since the day he was placed in İmralı.

 

 

Mehmet Öcalan began his remarks by saying that the isolation that has been imposed on the Leader of the PKK since the day he was brought to İmralı was stretched during the negotiations with the state. As a result of this policy, Mehmet Öcalan said that he sometimes met with his brother countless times in a year and sometimes they could not meet for years and that the doors of İmralı were opened during the periods when Kurdish political struggle was evolving into a position that forced the state's isolation policy and that's when they were able to meet.

 

 

Mehmet Öcalan who stated that he first saw his brother after he was arrested as a result of an international organization, 30-40 days after his arrest, was with their elder sister Havva Keser and two attorneys, said that they were concerned and had a heavy heart during the first visit and at the same time it was very exciting.

 

Mehmet Öcalan who stated that, that visit took only 15 minutes, said the conditions at the prison visit was very rough. Öcalan said they were subjected to inhumane practices at Gemlik on the way to the island, said they faced endless searches and was given 15 minutes seperately to visit their brother.

 

 

 

Mehmet Öcalan said: "Phsyical contact was not allowed. We could only see him. The time was too limited. Therefore we were not able to speak much. He looked a little bit tired. But he was still filled with his struggle. It was a hard visit since it was the first visit. The only thing he said to me in that short period was; 'Life and our struggle will continue.'I can't say the physical conditions was good, and we still can't say that. He had gone through a long interrogation period and that was tiring for him."

 

Mehmet Öcalan who stated tht he is one of the people that was able to see him the most, said: "His path never changed in these 20 years. He is thinking deeper than he did 20 years ago. His way of evaluating the world, approach to the facts is deeper. His foresight is much deeper now. He can see 2 years from now clearly. The most concrete evidence of it is Şengal.He warned us about Şengal much before an organization called ISIS was created."

 

Öcalan who stated that his brother never lost hope of the solution of the Kurdish question, said his brother told him that this problem could be solved on the basis of an honourable peace in the democratic area and that he still does after 20 years."