Court seeks view on PKK leader’s book

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The Constitutional Court will ask the ministry’s opinion on Öcalan’s book. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

The Constitutional Court has decided to ask for the Justice Ministry’s opinion on an individual application filed by jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan concerning a ban on the publishing of one of his books.

Öcalan had appealed to the top court, arguing that his rights were violated since his book titled “Kurdistan Revolution Manifest, Kurdish Issue and Democratic Nation Resolution (Defending Kurds in the Grips of Cultural Genocide)” was seized just as it reached the publishing phase.

Only after Öcalan’s lawyers completed some documents required for the application did the court recently begin its review for admissibility, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

The court decided to correspond with the Justice Ministry in order to ask for its point of view on the issue. If the Justice Ministry does not respond to the Constitutional Court within the period which is set by the latter, then the Court will have to make this decision concerning Öcalan’s application by taking only the information and the documents regarding the application into consideration.

Assessment of merits

Upon receiving the response from the ministry, the court will first of all finalize its review of admissibility and then will assess the application on its merits.

Öcalan has been serving a life sentence on a prison island in the Sea of Marmara since he was captured in 1999.

He has been a key component in the ongoing process aimed at ending the three-decade old conflict between Turkish security forces and the PKK. As part of this process, he met with both officials from the country’s intelligence service, the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), and parliamentarians from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).