Statements

On 14 March allegations were shared on social media regarding the life of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan. Asrin Law Office released a written statement demanding to create communication channels that will end the state of isolation in Imrali that constitutes maltreatment and applied to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Justice for urgent visit. There has been no response yet. The last visit of attorneys was in August 2017, the first and last phone call in April 2020. His family is also denied visits. Speaking about the allegations on social media Öcalan’s brother Mehmet Öcalan said they were not able to see him for a year now and added: “We are concerned. The government is responsible.” 
In its last report, published in 2020, the CPT again referred to Öcalan’s solitary confinement and in addition criticised that all prisoners in İmralı continued to be denied visits by their lawyers and family members. 

In its final resolutions, the EUTCC annual conferences in the European Parliament have called upon the EU member states, European institutions, especially the Council of Europe and the CPT, and the United Nations to take diplomatic, political and legal measures to compel Turkey to comply with international law concerning the ongoing isolation of Abdullah Öcalan as a basis for democratic processes in Turkey and a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. 
The EUTCC urges the Turkish government to enable regularly visits by his attorneys and family. Furthermore, the EUTCC demands Mr. Öcalan’s immediate release and a return to dialogue for a political solution to the Kurdish question which is essential to achieve peace, democracy, and freedom not only in Turkey, but in the entire Middle East. 
16 March 2021

On behalf of the EUTCC board Kariane Westrheim, Chairperson Dersim Dağdeviren, board member 

EU Turkey Civic Commission
www.eutcc.net
Twitter: @EUTCC1
Facebook: Eu Turkey Civic Commission

 TURKEY CONTINUES TO ATTACK LEGALLY ELECTED POLITICIANS 

The past few days in Turkey have been marked by a wave of arrests of politicians from Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including the Co-Mayors of Kars, numerous former MPs, and members of the party council. Proceedings to lift immunity are to be initiated against seven MPs. A trustee appointed by the Interior Ministry immediately replaced the arrested Co-Mayors of Kars.Trustees now govern 59 of the 65 municipalities that HDP had won in the 2019 local elections. Most of the deposed co-mayors are currently in jail. In the previous term, co-mayors were deposed in 96 of the 102 municipalities led by the HDP. 
Any protest against the oppression of voters’ will is responded by the state with violence. Particularly in areas mainly inhabited by Kurds, repression, military presence and fraud dominate the elections, although not only since Erdogan and the AKP came to power. The re-run of the Istanbul municipal elections last year is part of “stealing elections” and electoral fraud that has been visible to the West. 
The latest warrants of arrests included 82 current and former HDP officials. The arrests were prompted by protests in solidarity with Kobane, the city that became internationally known for its resistance against ISIS. At the time when this happened, there were hundreds of arrests and convictions. Ayhan Bilgen, the Co-Mayor of Kars, had lodged a constitutional complaint and even received compensation.
In this context, it is certainly worth mentioning that the chief public prosecutor of Ankara who ordered the arrests married a week earlier. Witnesses to the marriage were, among others, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Defense and the Chief of General Staff. Following the ceremony, the couple visited the President in his palace to receive his gift. This shows the close relationship that exists between Erdogan and the chief prosecutor, which can be dated back to the time when Erdogan was imprisoned in Istanbul.
It is not acceptable for a country to attack lawfully elected politicians, steel elections and violate human rights on a daily basis. The EUTCC urges the European Commission and the Council of Europe to take concrete measures against Turkey immediately. 

On behalf of the EUTCC board
Kariane Westrheim, ChairpersonDersim Dağdeviren, Board Member  

EU Turkey Civic Commission 
www.eutcc.net
Twitter: @EUTCC1
Facebook: Eu Turkey Civic Commission

EUTCC statement on Turkish Intelligence Organisation’s plans to attack Austrian politicians.

It was revealed yesterday that an agent of the Turkish Intelligence Organisation (MIT) had turned himself in to the Austrian intelligence service where he reported on plans to attack Austrian politicians criticising the policies of the Turkish government. Among those affected are former members of Austrian Parliament Berivan Aslan and Peter Pilz as well as S&D MEP Andreas Schieder.

Ms. Aslan, who has been a moderator at EUTCC’s annual conference in the European Parliament, and Mr. Pilz, revealed some time ago how the Turkish Intelligence Organisation had set up a network of MIT agents in different parts of Austria.

Mr. Schieder is among others foreign policy spokesperson and a board member of the Kurdish Friendship Group in the European Parliament. He follows closely, and critically the developments around the EU, Turkey, the Middle East and the Kurds which are central issues in the EUTCC conferences in the European Parliament. Mr. Schieder clearly shows his solidarity with democratic forces in the region, especially with the Peoples’ Democratic Party HDP.

Numerous political killings of Kurds in Europe, like the assassination of three Kurdish female politicians Fidan Dogan, Sakine Cansiz and Leyla Saylemez in Paris in 2013, show that the attack plans on politicians in Austria are to be taken seriously.

European states and institutions, above all the European Commission and the Council of Europe, must send a clear signal to Turkey. They have to protect their own politicians, show solidarity with the democratic forces in the region and take concrete and effective measures to stop the activities of the Turkish Intelligence Organisation in Europe.

The EUTCC express solidarity with all affected, in particular Mr. Andreas Schieder, a cooperation partner of the EUTCC Conference.

On behalf of the EUTCC board

Kariane Westrheim, Chairperson
Dersim Dağdeviren, Board Member

EU Turkey Civic Commission
www.eutcc.net
Twitter: @EUTCC1
Facebook: Eu Turkey Civic Commission

EUTCC statement on MIT

Robert Spano, the president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), received an honorary doctorate from Istanbul University on September 4, 2020. This occurred at a time when various bodies of the Council of Europe have noted that human rights are under tremendous challenges in Turkey. For example, the Venice Commission, Commissioner for Human Rights and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, among others, recently have noted how Turkey has blatantly violated principles upon which the ECtHR was constructed. This includes matters from arbitrary arrest, disposition and replacement of elected local mayors by government appointed trustees, Internet censorship, and vaguely worded anti-terrorism legislation purging thousands of academics, also from Istanbul University, without the right of defense, among many other egregious examples negatively affecting the rule of law.

It is not unusual that the President of ECtHR and representatives of the court visit member countries from time to time. Such delegations are usually considered as diplomatic representation. The President travels with one or more other leaders and someone from the registrar unit. The purpose will usually be to discuss the court’s decisions compared to the legal situation in that country and how it can be improved. Such visits are considered ordinary diplomatic courtesy. While the President of ECtHR has the obvious right to visit any country he wishes, it is highly inappropriate that he accepts an honorary doctorate in law from Istanbul University. In this way Mr. Spano turned a promising meeting in Turkey into a scandal.

By granting the honorary degree to Mr. Spano, Turkey obviously thought it could use the occasion to try to silence critics of its atrocious human rights record. The fact that Mr. Spano did not decline the honorary doctorate will definitely be interpreted as a sign of legitimization of human rights violations taking place in Turkey under the current President’s rule. The ECtHR means hope to those people who suffer from human rights violations in their home countries. By accepting the honorary doctorate, in itself a scandalous and totally unnecessary gesture, President Spano also accepts the gross and repeated violations of human rights taking place on a daily basis in Turkey. Mr. Spano is naive if he seriously thinks that the honorary doctorate will provide him with a voice that Turkey will listen to. On the contrary, Turkey see it as a triumph to have the very president of the human rights court in its pocket. The question is whom the President of ECtHR primarily should serve? The abuser or the victim? By accepting the honorary doctorate, Mr. Spano chooses the party that is responsible for the suffering.

The EUTCC strongly dissociates itself from the fact that the President of the European Court of Human Rights receives an honorary doctorate from a member state that largely violates human rights. The
EUTCC takes this occasion to remind all those who champion the cause of human rights about its perilous condition today in Turkey.

On behalf of the EUTCC board

Kariane Westrheim, Chairperson
Dersim Dağdeviren, Board Member

EU Turkey Civic Commission
www.eutcc.net
Twitter: @EUTCC1
Facebook: Eu Turkey Civic Commission