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UN and other international organisations accused of complicity in jailing of PKK leader

INTERNATIONAL organisations including the UN were accused of complicity in the “conspiracy” that led to the detention and jailing of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan 21 years ago today.

Turkey’s opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP for Agri, Abdulla Koc, made the remarks in a panel discussion in the city on the issue of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder’s continued detention and isolation.

He branded the treatment of Mr Ocalan — who has been held in solitary confinement on Imrali island since 1999 — a “crime against humanity” and a breach of the Turkish constitution.

Mr Koc hit out at international bodies including the UN and the International Court of Human Rights for their silence on the conditions Mr Ocalan is being held under.

This, he said, “makes it clear that the February 15 conspiracy is international.”

The operation that led to Mr Ocalan’s arrest reads like a spy thriller, seeing him travel to a number of countries seeking sanctuary after being expelled from Syria.

He was wanted by Turkey having led the PKK in a decades-long armed-struggle against state forces who waged a bitter war against the country’s Kurdish population.

Mr Ocalan was kidnapped in Kenya in a sting operation involving Israeli Mossad agents. He was returned to Turkey where he was sentenced to death in “a sham trial.”

This was commuted to life in prison as part of Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

Kurds have campaigned for his release ever since, seeing his freedom as essential in bringing peace and resolving the country’s so-called Kurdish question.

Speaking yesterday his brother Mehmet Ocalan said that the isolation of the PKK leader was also aimed at the Kurdish people.

He said it “does not cease if we close our eyes to it” urging people to join the fight to break the isolation

“If we remain silent, we will face even worse days tomorrow,” he said.

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