Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2019 to Question 248721, whether he has had meetings with the Turkish Government since 2 May 2019 to raise the issue of Abdullah Öcalan's access to lawyers and family visits; and if he will make a statement.

​The UK Government has raised Mr Öcalan’s case with the Turkish authorities a number of times. I raised the issue with the Turkish Ambassador on 13 May. I welcome the fact that Mr Öcalan has since been granted access to lawyers on at least two separate occasions and that the hunger strikes undertaken by some of his supporters have now come to an end. I also note that the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture paid a further visit to Imrali prison in mid-May, and that the Turkish Minister of Justice recently lifted the court restriction on lawyers' visits there. Whilst I welcome these positive developments, it is important to reiterate that Mr Öcalan remains in our view a convicted terrorist and we condemn the acts of violence perpetrated by the Kurdish Workers’ Party as we condemn all forms of terrorism.