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| Turkey moves five inmates to PKK leader's prison |
| By reuters.com |
| Published: 11/17/2009 |
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ISTANBUL, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Turkey transferred five inmates on Tuesday to the prison island where Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has been held for years in isolation, a step coinciding with government moves to boost Kurdish rights. The European Union had long demanded that EU candidate Turkey end Ocalan's solitary confinement, saying his mental condition was deteriorating after spending years as the only inmate on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul. Turkish media said the five inmates are convicted members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) led by Ocalan. The state-run Anatolian news agency said three more prisoners would join Ocalan soon. Ocalan has been held in solitary confinement since 1999, when he was convicted of treason for leading an armed insurgency with the aim of creating a separate Kurdish state. Turkish media said Ocalan will remain alone in his cell but will be allowed to spend 10 hours a week with the other inmates. The conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives since it was launched in 1984, but the violence has dwindled in the last couple of years after Turkish air raids on the PKK's bases in northern Iraq and due to increased cooperation between Turkey, Iraq and the United States against the militants. Read More. |
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