Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Council of Europe's call for access to lawyers in Turkey and recent reports that lawyers have been denied access to Abdullah Öcalan, if his Department will make assurances in respect of the welfare of that person.

We are clear in our expectation that Turkey, like all countries, should live up to its human rights obligations towards all its citizens, including the welfare of detainees such as the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. We continue to encourage the authorities to ensure that all detainees are treated in accordance with relevant international human rights standards, such as access to legal representation and medical care. I raised human rights issues in December 2020 with my Turkish counterpart. Working with our international partners, we will continue to encourage Turkey, including at Ministerial level, to act in line with the conventions of the Council of Europe and to make greater progress on wider human rights reforms. We therefore welcome the Turkish government's recently published human rights action plan and hope it will be swiftly and comprehensively implemented.