Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the merits of implementing recommendation 11.1.7 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Report on The Worsening Situation of opposition politicians in Turkey.

​When raising Mr Öcalan's case and the situation of fellow prisoners with the Turkish authorities, we have encouraged them to implement the recommendations made by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) following their previous visit to the prison in 2016. In this regard, we welcome the fact that Mr Öcalan was granted access to two lawyers on 2 May and again on 22 May. In further developments we also note that the CPT paid another visit to Imrali prison in mid-May, and that the Turkish Minister of Justice has also lifted the court restriction on lawyers' visits to Imrali prison. We note that hunger strikes in support of Mr Öcalan have now ended. We welcome these positive developments.