Kurdish hunger strikers wait for news from meeting of jailed leader
Imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan has met for a second time with lawyers as a wide Kurdish hunger strike endangers lives.
Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was granted access to his lawyers today in the first such meeting since May 2 and the second in eight years, amid signs that Ankara is easing his isolation.
Lawyers Nevroz Uysal and Rezan Sarica returned from the island prison of Imrali, where Ocalan has been held since 1999, following his treason conviction.
But Ibrahim Bilmez, a member of Ocalan’s vast legal team, said what had been discussed is still under wraps. “It may take one or two days for us to share this information,” Bilmez told Al-Monitor.
The government’s decision to end Ocalan’s communications embargo has sparked widespread debate about its possible motives. One is that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is seeking to woo back Kurds who voted in favor of the opposition in the March 31 local elections, helping it grab many of Turkey’s largest cities, including Istanbul. A do-over election for Istanbul is to be held on June 23, after the country’s top electoral commission upheld the AKP's claims of irregularities. Around two million of Istanbul’s 15 million-strong population are believed to be Kurds.
