Statement of Kurdish Leader, Abdullah Ocalan on New Prison Conditions.

Press statement of Abdullah Ocalan's legal team:
No progress, but aggravation of the isolation

Statement
To the press and public

During the consultation with our client Abdullah Ocalan on 18 November 2009 at Imrali Island, our client made the following statements in regard to his transferring into the newly built prison building:

“I have been transferred here on November, 17th. This place is worse than the one before. They are trying to present this as a progress, but in reality it's an aggravation of the isolation. The current room is 6 square meters, half the size of the previous room. Here they want to constrict me even more, aggravate my imprisonment conditions even more and urge me to surrender.

I already had respiratory problems, but now, here, I cannot breathe at all. The air in this cell is causing major problems for my respiratory system. The old cell was better ventilated. The sun burns right through the window. To be able to breathe, I have to lean against the window, but there the sun is burning. So I have to bear that in order to breathe at all.

The window is looking upwards, so I can see nothing but the sky. The former window was better, because of the airing and because I could actually see something.

I had no opportunity yet to see the other inmates that have been transferred here. The clerks told me I would be able to see them in a month, at the earliest.

Life here is physically tiring me. Isolation and imprisonment conditions are obviously worse here. I don't know if I will ever be able to get accustomed to this. There is no progress, only further regress.

They are selling my transfer here as a positive initiative, but reality is very much different. The only aim of the transfer is to reduce the pressure of the public opinion abroad.”