Statement by Ronahî – Youth Center for Public Relations on the decision of the Council of Ministers of September 18, 2025, in the case of Abdullah Öcalan
From September 15 to 17, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers met to monitor the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in member states. Among other things, the case of Abdullah Öcalan was discussed.
Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned on the prison island of Imrali since February 15, 1999. According to international human rights law, a retrial is required. In 2014, the ECHR also ruled that Abdullah Öcalan’s imprisonment violates the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Council of Ministers now had the opportunity to respond to the decades-long disregard for human rights in the case of Abdullah Öcalan. Instead, the Council of Ministers merely called on Turkey once again to make changes by June 2026 and to communicate these to the Council of Europe.
In its declaration it refers to the possibility of using the “Terror-Free Turkey Initiative” and the recently established “Commission for National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy” to implement the ECtHR rulings.
The problem in Turkey is the lack of Democracy
Rather than supporting democratization and the implementation of human rights in Turkey, the term “Terror-Free Turkey” hinders the current development in the process of “Peace and a Democratic Society”. The problem is not terrorism, but rather the lack of democracy, freedom, and justice in Turkey. For this reason, Abdullah Öcalan should be given the opportunity to participate as a equal negotiator who represents the interests of the Kurdish people.
If the Council of Europe is truly interested in human rights and strengthening democracy, it should listen to the demands of the Kurdish people and use its leverage to put pressure on Turkey to fulfill its obligations, which it has obviously been neglecting for years.
Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan – for a political solution in Kurdistan!
Front Picture by Zsofia Vera on Unsplash