Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench) on Wednesday, 15 May 2019, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 30 May 2019. It was answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative) on Tuesday, 28 May 2019 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Abdullah Öcalan

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the documentary film and report by the 2019 International Peace Delegation to Imrali, published on 25 March; and what conclusions, if any, they have drawn from that report and film.

Answer

​We have studied both the documentary film and report. Our position on the Kurdish issue is unchanged. Mr Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, is in our view a convicted terrorist. We hope that a peace process can be resumed in the future and have provided funding to a number of civil society organisations in Turkey seeking to build dialogue between different relevant actors on the Kurdish issue.

Regarding Mr Öcalan's imprisonment, we expect Turkey to respect its international obligations with regard to prison conditions. This includes acting on the recommendations of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) of the Council of Europe concerning prisoner association, isolation and access. When raising Mr Öcalan's case with the Turkish authorities, we have encouraged them to implement the recommendations made by the CPT following their visit to the prison in 2016. In this regard, we note the fact that Mr Öcalan was granted access to two lawyers on 2 May. We also note that the CPT paid a further visit to Imrali prison in mid-May, and that the Turkish Minister of Justice has this month lifted the court restriction on lawyers' visits to Imrali prison. We welcome these positive developments.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL15763
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Prisoners Turkey Kurds Öcalan, Abdullah
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk