KURDISH MP Leyla Guven has called on the European Parliament to play a “constructive role” in ending the isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) for Hakkari politician has been on hunger strike for 86 days in protest against Mr Ocalan’s treatment, despite being released from Diyarbakir prison in a surprise move last week.

Ms Guven wrote a letter to the parliament, which was also sent to the European committee for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (CPT), calling for the institutions to “break the isolation system, which is turning Turkey into an intolerable regime.”

Mr Ocalan has been held in isolation on Imrali island since 1999 and, up until recently when he was allowed a visit from his brother Memed, had not been heard from since 2016.

Ms Guven insisted that ending Mr Ocalan’s isolation was crucial in terms of democracy and called on the bodies to apply pressure to speed up the process.

In her letter to European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, she said the institutions are “crucial for the restarting of the process of conflict resolution.” 

Writing to the CPT she described her hunger strike as “a legitimate action to defend a legitimate right.” 

She explained that she was not making an individual demand, reiterating her call to end the isolation of Mr Ocalan which she said was in line with “the statutes of the CPT and the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.”

The lifting of the isolation of Mr Ocalan “correlates directly with the defence of fundamental rights such as universal human rights and the independence of the judiciary,” she wrote.

More than 300 political prisoners have joined the hunger strike, with Ireland’s Sinn Fein playing a leading role in the international solidarity movement.

Speaking at a meeting at Portcullis House in Westminster on Tuesday night, Sinn Fein MP Chris Hazzard reaffirmed the party’s support for Ms Guven and the hunger strikers.

He recalled the international support during the Irish hunger strikes for political status at Long Kesh in 1981 and said: “We know when you are in that dark place, solidarity means a lot.”

Letters of support for Ms Guven have poured in from key figures in the international women’s movement, including US activist Angela Davis, who described her as “a major inspiration to people throughout the world who believe in peace, justice and liberation.”