A delegation of the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out an ad hoc visit to Turkey from 13 to 22 February 2024. However, the delegation returned to Europe without visiting Imrali, where Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan is held in solitary confinement.

In a statement, the CPT said that “the main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons held in high-security prisons. A further focus of the visit was the situation of LGBT-I and women prisoners.”

The statement added that “on the occasion of the visit, the delegation also raised with the relevant authorities certain issues related to the situation of the prisoners currently held at Imralı F-type High-Security Prison, in particular as regards their contact with the outside world.” However, no visit to Imrali was made.

The statement continued: “In the course of the visit, the delegation had an exchange of views with Yılmaz Tunç, Minister of Justice, Ramazan Can, Deputy Minister of Justice, and Enis Yavuz Yıldırım, Director General of Prisons and Detention Centres, as well as with senior officials from the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs.

Further, meetings were held with Muharrem Kılıç, President of the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey, in his capacity as Head of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), members of the Ankara prison monitoring boards and representatives of civil society organisations active in areas of concern to the CPT.”

The statement continued: “At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the Turkish authorities.”

The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT: Hans Wolff, 1st Vice-President of the Committee (Head of Delegation), Therese Rytter, 2nd Vice-President, Juan Carlos Da Silva Ochoa and Marie Kmecová. They were supported by Hugh Chetwynd (Executive Secretary), Elvin Aliyev and Monica Martinez of the CPT Secretariat, and assisted by two experts: Jurgen Van Poecke, prison director (Belgium) and Kate Wood, medical doctor (United Kingdom).

The delegation visited the following prison establishments: Antalya S-type Prison, Iğdır S-type Prison, Van F-type Prison, Van High-Security Prison, Antalya L-type Prison, Istanbul – Maltepe L-type Prison No. 3 for foreign nationals.