Abdullah Öcalan (b. 1948) is the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Biography
Abdullah Öcalan was born in Omerli, a village in the Halfeti-District, Province of Urfa, in the Southeast of Turkey in 1949. Leaving his village after secondary school, he studied Political Sciences at the University of Ankara. He successfully completed his studies and entered the civil service in Diyarbakir. Influenced by the situation of the Kurdish people, who were denied the right to live accoring to their own identity by the Turkish state, Abdullah Öcalan became an active member of the Democratic Cultural Associations of the East. In 1978 the Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, was founded with Abdullah Öcalan being the party leader, a post he retains until today.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) started their attacks against the Turkish government and local people in 1984, in order to separate the southeast region and create an independent Kurdish state. As a result of conflict between the Turkish state and the KADEK/PKK, approximately 30,000 people have died. The PKK has on several occasions declared unilateral ceasefires, but none of them were actually implemented, and in some cases it has been argued that they only served to support political tactics.
Until 1998, Syria was harboring the leader of PKK. As the situation got worse in Turkey, the Turkish government openly threatened Syria not to support the PKK. As a result of this, Syrian government forced Öcalan to move out of the country instead of handing him to the Turkish authorities. At first Öcalan went to Russia, from there he moved to various countries, including Italy (for about 2 weeks) and Greece. Finally he was captured in Kenya in a joint operation between two intelligence agencies (CIA and MIT). Agents then flown back to Turkey for trial.
After his capture the 15 year rebellion ceased, although there had been several isolated incidents, often by groups posing as the PKK.
Öcalan has been held under solitary confinement on the Imrali Island in the Turkish Sea of Marmara since he was captured in Kenya on the February 15, 1999. Though initially sentenced to death, this sentence was commuted into life-long aggravated imprisonment when death penalty was conditionally abolished in Turkey in August 2002.
On March 12 2003, the European Court of Human Rights issues a non-binding ruling that he did not receive a fair trial and his human rights were violated by the delay in bringing his case to court.
Current Situation of imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan
- Since his capture from Kenya in a joint operation between the CIA and MIT (Milli Istihbarat Teskilati) in February 1999, Abdullah Öcalan is imprisoned on the Island of Imrali, in the Sea of Marmara. He is the only prisoner on the fortress.
- The cell in which Öcalan is imprisoned is sized at 13 sqm. All sanitary facilities are located in the same cell.
- Abdullah Öcalan has officially the right to meet his lawyers every week at Wednesday
External links
Websites supporting Abdullah Öcalan
Websites opposing Abdullah Öcalan
Neutral websites
Last updated: 06-01-2005 19:04:35
