Selvi on İmralı structure: 'Not a villa, a workspace'
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli's disclosure that a house had been built for Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı has prompted Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi to weigh in. Selvi wrote that the structure, located inside the prison compound, is not a "duplex villa" but a coordination and meeting space. Selvi argued that the controversy over the house is being used by circles seeking to undermine the process. The PKK issue, he wrote, has cost Turkey 50 years and thousands of lives; those inflating the dispute are not troubled by the PKK, but by the fact that it is being resolved by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
RastinewsMHP leader Devlet Bahçeli's disclosure, made in recent days, that a house had been built for Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı Island drew wide media attention. Bahçeli said Öcalan had not yet agreed to move into the building, as he wanted to see the framework law implemented and the relevant boards set up and running first.
Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi addressed the controversy in his column today (Sept. 14).
"Not a villa, a workspace"
Selvi wrote that the structure built on İmralı sits inside the prison compound, and that describing it as "a duplex villa allocated to Öcalan" misrepresents the facts. He said the building is a coordination and meeting space used as needed under the "Terror-Free Turkey" process. According to Selvi, the facilities on İmralı have been renovated as needed since 1935, though such work is rarely carried out.
"An attempt to sabotage the process"
Selvi argued that the controversy over the house is being exploited by circles seeking to derail the process. The PKK issue, he wrote, has cost Turkey 50 years and thousands of lives; those inflating the dispute are not bothered by the PKK, but by the fact that the issue is being resolved by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Selvi also wrote that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had dissolved itself and integrated into the Syrian state, and that reports had emerged of PKK camps beginning to be vacated in northern Iraq.
What did Bahçeli say?
In his earlier remarks, Bahçeli said the two-story building constructed on İmralı, with a garden in front, had been arranged to allow Öcalan to live under "humane living conditions." Journalist Nagehan Alçı said the structure was a two-story building inside the prison, surrounded by walls with a garden, with the ground floor designed as a workspace and the upper floor as living quarters.