Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and I acknowledge the many good responses in it. I also wish to acknowledge the work of our team at the Council of Europe and at PACE in particular.

There is a fair degree of frustration among my colleagues from the Kurdish community regarding the recent decision of the committee of ministers to postpone any action on the 2014 court decision which condemned Türkiye for abolishing the right to hope for Mr. Öcalan, especially after it was decided to put it off another 12 months before doing anything about it. I urge our representatives in PACE, and in particular our permanent staff at the Council of Europe, to raise this as a matter of urgency.

The Minister of State will agree that isolation, particularly the type of isolation being perpetrated against Mr. Öcalan, is a crime against humanity. I think he will also agree that peace cannot be achieved through oppression, but only through recognising Kurdish rights and establishing meaningful dialogue. I urge the Government to up the ante a little more with regard to Mr. Öcalan and to put pressure on the Turkish authorities to do more.