DATE=10/7/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / OCALAN (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254762
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Turkish court (Thursday) gave Kurdish rebel
chief, Abdullah Ocalan, more time to prepare an appeal
of his death sentence on treason charges. As Amberin
Zaman reports from Ankara, the court granted the
appeal postponement at the request of Ocalan's
lawyers.
TEXT: The court was widely expected to uphold the
death sentence that was handed down last June. Ocalan
was convicted and sentenced at the end of a month-long
trial that was held on Imrali island off the coast of
Istanbul.
The postponement has been described by Western
diplomats as further evidence that Turkey is giving
the man it labels a "baby killer" a free and fair
trial.
But Ocalan's lawyers have described his treason
conviction as "unjust," especially in the light of
recent peace overtures made by the leader of the
outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party, or P-K-K.
These peace overtures include calls for P-K-K rebels
to withdraw from Turkish territory and end their armed
campaign for Kurdish self-rule. Last week a nine-
member rebel group turned itself in to Turkish
authorities on the Iraqi border in what Ocalan termed
a good will gesture aimed at proving that he was
sincere about ending more than 15 years of ethnic
conflict.
Over 30-thousand people, most of them P-K-K rebels,
have died since Ocalan launched his armed campaign
that was initially aimed at creating an independent
Kurdish state. During his trial, Ocalan shocked many
of his followers by declaring the rebellion "a
mistake." Ocalan said the easing of bans on
broadcasting and education in the Kurdish language and
the granting of a full amnesty for his fighters hiding
in the mountains of southeast Turkey and northern Iraq
would be enough to satisfy the Kurds demands.
Turkey's response so far has been to keep up the
military campaign against the rebels, to jail the
group that surrendered, and to prepare new charges
against Ocalan that also carry the death sentence.
Turkish officials continue to dismiss Ocalan's
gestures as a ploy calculated to save his own life and
to create the impression that the Turkish state is
negotiating, albeit it indirectly, with the rebels.
That is something, Turkish officials, categorically
reject, saying they will never talk with "terrorists."
The parliament and the Turkish president need to
approve the death sentence before it can be carried
out. There have been no executions in Turkey since
1984 in line with the country's efforts to highlight
its democracy. (Signed)
NEB/AZ/GE/JP
07-Oct-1999 11:04 AM EDT (07-Oct-1999 1504 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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