Öcalan's compatriots!

Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin was reluctant to disclose the five or six names who might become “neighbors” of separatist chieftain Abdullah Öcalan at İmralı island prison where he has been serving a life sentence without parole. Who might be those five or six “prisoners” who might be Öcalan’s neighbors in the not too distant future?

The silence of Justice Minister Şahin to the question of whether Turkey is planning to place some other chieftains of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, gang in the “enhanced” İmpralı prison led to speculations that notorious mafia leader Alaattin  Çakıcı, al-Qaeda islamist terror network hitman, Louia Sakka, Islamist fundamentalist Metin Kaplan, Abdi İpekçi’s murderer, Mahmet Ali Ağca, DHKP-C terror gang chieftain, Ercan Kartal, and Islamist IBDA-C terrorist gang chieftain, Salih İzzet Erdiş, could well be the “prison compatriots” of Öcalan. Speculations are also spreading that Turkey is seeking the capture of Cemil Bayık and Murat Karayılan, two of the most notorious chieftains of the PKK, to confine them to the İmralı prison.

No change in İmralı conditions
Irrespective of which of these speculations will come true eventually, it is becoming clear that Turkey will soon have an İmralı Prison larger and more crowded than the current one. It is also certain that the İmralı Prison will continue to be a “top security” jail where the most notorious prisoners will be hosted and where, irrespective of how many other prisoners are hosted, Öcalan will continue to stay in his prison room in solitude.

While the Massoud Barzani administration in northern Iraq is not expected to actively take part in a possible Turkish (pinpointed) operation on some selected PKK targets, through intelligence sharing and some other cooperation schemes it may indeed facilitate Turkish efforts to nab, as was the case in the capture of Şemdin Sakık in 1998 in northern Iraq by elite anti-terror squads, Bayık, Karayılan and some other senior figures of the PKK gang. Perhaps, Babacan’s statement that Turkey would concentrate more on the PKK in 2009 was a slip of the tongue, revealing what might be in store, at least some hopes of Turkey.

What appears certain at the moment is that Turkey is willing to warm up to a new spring in relations with northern Iraqi Kurds, but in this new climate the determining factor will be how far Barzani can go in cooperating with Turkey in the fight against the PKK, as well as how well he will be able to accommodate himself to Turkey’s perennial red lines, though they turned pink in time, regarding Iraq.

Move will cut Öcalan to size
The move of the government to “increase the capacity” of the İmralı Prison, of course, will stir up some fresh discord in domestic politics as well; the early signs of which have already become apparent with the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or the CHP, and the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, accusing the government of compromising to the demands of Öcalan, the PKK gang and the European Union.

However, hosting some other enforced life time prisoners on İmralı could help invalidate complaints of the ill-treatment of Öcalan, because apart from prison guards there will be some “witnesses” to testify about his condition. But, perhaps even more important than that, Öcalan staying alone at İmralı was giving him some sort of a “privileged” status, as if he was a political prisoner. Placing some life-term serving inmates there would demonstrate that he is just a criminal serving a life-term behind bars. That is, while for security concerns Öcalan cannot be moved to a crowded prison elsewhere, placing some inmates serving a similar sentence may help eradicate an anomaly that not only made İmralı a “personal prison” for Öcalan, but which was exploited by the PKK and its political wing, and Turkey’s adversaries within the EU.

The government’s decision to enhance İmralı Prison, therefore, was a bold step in the right direction even though, due to its timing, opponents say it was an election investment and a compromise to terrorism.