Turkey Ends Ban on Lawyer Visits to Kurd Rebel Chief Ocalan

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Turkey has lifted a ban on lawyer visits to imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, the justice minister said on Thursday.

"The ruling that prevents meetings has been lifted and the opportunity to meet with him has been allowed," Abdulhamit Gul told reporters in Ankara. 

Ocalan, imprisoned on Imrali island near Istanbul, met his lawyers for the first time in eight years on May 2.

Gul said those convicted had the right to see their lawyers but this could be limited when there were concerns over security risks.

After the meeting earlier this month, his lawyers read out a message from Ocalan in which he said "Turkey's sensitivities" should be taken into account in Syria where a U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia has spearheaded the fight against the Islamic State extremist group.

Ocalan remains a key figure for Kurdish separatists in Turkey and also Syria.

Turkey says the YPG is a "terrorist offshoot" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) co-founded by Ocalan and which has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984.

The PKK is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.

Ocalan was caught in February 1999 in Kenya and jailed a few months later after he was found guilty of treason, separatism and murder.

Ocalan's brother was allowed to visit him in January for the first time since 2016.