Life means hope. The "right to hope" is a fundamental human right.

This right reflects the expectation that a prisoner serving a life sentence may someday be released.

The primary function of imprisonment is to prevent the criminal from re-offending.

For a prisoner kept in jail without parole until death, the longer they live, the harsher the punishment becomes.

The European Council Committee had requested that Turkiye align its treatment of prisoners serving aggravated life sentences with the "right to hope" standards. However, Turkiye failed to comply and was consequently fined over one million dollars.

Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison at the age of 71. Abdullah Öcalan, now 76, has been imprisoned for 26 years. Significant changes have occurred in both the world and Turkiye. South Africa didn't recognize the court's authority, but Turkiye has always accepted its jurisdiction.

During the AKP government's "democratic initiative" in 2009, a $5 million "interior-exterior and architectural restoration" of İmralı Prison was undertaken, in part to maintain Öcalan's "right to hope."

Let's revisit an article written during that period (December 12, 2009).

THE INITIATIVE...

• Why and how was $5 million spent on that tiny prison in İmralı?

To make it European-style, with "boutique" features?

And why in dollars? Were Italian furniture, imported parquet, and fixtures used?

Were workers brought in from Luxembourg or Monaco?

"Teröristbaşımız" (Our terrorist leader) regularly shares his thoughts on the "initiative project" with the public through his lawyers, discussing issues related to inmates from Habur and Mahmur with the government. (...)

While it may not be essential for justice ministers to know decimal numbers and area measurements, they could leave such announcements to TOKİ.

The justice minister said, "It is only 17 centimeters smaller than the old one!"

But it turned out that this "shortage" was not 17 cm, but "17 cm²" larger.

Rounding a square, it seems.

This must be what the poet meant by writing a poem titled "The Corners of the Circle."

Tayyip Bey is also rounding the corners of the initiative.

He boasted, "I have 75 Kurdish deputies!" and then said, "We are starting the Kurdish initiative."

But he didn't introduce a single one of those deputies to the public.

He then turned the "Kurdish initiative" into a "democracy initiative."

Realizing the mistake of cm and cm², he rounded that too... and turned it into the "Unity and Solidarity Project."

WHOSE IS BIGGER?

Members of parliament may start envying Öcalan for the size of his room.

In the Grand National Assembly, the standard MP office is 298 cm by 378 cm.

That means an MP's office is 11.26 m²...

But Öcalan's new room is 11.81 m². The old one was 11.98 m².

In summary, both the old and new rooms are larger than an MP's office.

Let him eat, drink, and first thank the EU.

Then the AKP government!