Turkey rejects calls for international observers at Ocalan trial
ANKARA, Feb 17 (AFP) - Turkey on Wednesday rejected European calls for international observers to be permitted to follow the trial of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is to stand trial there on terrorism charges.
"It is not possible for us to accept actions from outside Turkey which might be an intervention in the Turkish judicial process," Sermet Atancanli, spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry, told reporters in Ankara.
"Thus we could not accept such things as observers." Atacanli said Turkish courts were open to the public and anyone could follow the legal proceedings there.
"However, if people who give themselves legal titles such as observers or lawyers come to Turkey to behave like an inspector, they will not be allowed to do so," Atacanli said.
Several European leaders on Tuesday called for any trial of Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), to be fair and demanded that foreign observers be present at the trial.
Turkey needs no lessons from Europe on Ocalan trial: PM Ecevit
ANKARA, Feb 16 (AFP) - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Tuesday said Turkey needed no lessons from Europe on how to try Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan after the Europeans failed to try him themselves.
"Of course everything will be completely transparent," Ecevit said in answer to a question on whether foreign observers would be
allowed at the trial. "But no European country has the right to lecture us on this subject," he added in remarks reported by the Anatolia news agency. "And if you ask why, it is because they did not put him on trial even though their own prosecutors demanded it," Ecevit said. "Those who suspend justice for fear of violence in the streets have no right to warn or criticise us or to look at us askance," the prime minister said. "It is an irrefutable reality that the Turkish judiciary is independent," he added.
European leaders earlier called for any trial of Ocalan to be fair and urged the Turkish authorities not to execute him. The Council of Europe in Strasbourg issued a statement calling for Ocalan to be tried in "total conformity with the European convention on human rights." Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily was among those who called for Ocalan to be ensured the guarantees of the rule of law and for his life to be spared regardless of any trial verdict. Germany last year declined to request Ocalan's extradition from Italy, where he was held at the time, citing internal security concerns.
Ecevit said the decision where to hold and when to try the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) would be made in the coming days. Meanwhile, a security task force headed by Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan would meet every morning to determine the necessary security measures at home and abroad, Ecevit said.
The task force, including top police, gendarmerie, army, secret service and interior ministry officials, assembled for a first meeting late Tuesday, Anatolia reported. Ocalan was intercepted by Turkish agents in Kenya on Monday and brought to Turkey early Tuesday, where he was wanted on terrorism charges in connection wuth the PKK's armed rebellion in sutheastern Anatolia.
Abdullah Ocalan, "charismatic leader" or "bloody murderer"?
ANKARA, Jan 17 (AFP) - Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) whose departure from Italy for an undisclosed destination has caused a rift between Italy and Turkey, is viewed as a "bloody murderer" by Ankara but a "charismatic leader" by Kurdish separatists.
Called "Apo", the hulking 49-year-old with fiery eyes and a bushy black moustache has been the iron-fisted leader of the PKK since 1978, when he created the Marxist-Leninist party with a group of fellow students.
The party, known initially as "Apocular" (The Apoists), has since waged an armed battle for the creation of a "Greater Kurdistan", an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey incorporating Kurds from Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. It would count 20 million inhabitants and inevitably upset the status quo in the region.
Ocalan was born into a peasant family with six children in a village on the Syrian border. He became politically active during his university years in Ankara, where he studied political science. He was imprisoned for seven months in 1972 for "pro-Kurd activities".
He fled Turkey before the September 1980 military coup and has lived in exile since 1981, most often in Damascus or in the Lebanese plains under Syrian control, where he set up his headquarters and a training camp.
On August 15, 1984, "Apo" launched his armed struggle against Ankara, choosing arms over talks for the Kurdish cause so as not to "waste time with political debates". He declared a unilateral ceasefire in March 1993 in exchange for the start of political talks with Ankara, but it ended just two months later.
In December 1995, Ocalan declared another ceasefire, and again on September 1, 1998, but the Turkish government has rejected them all -- Ankara has rejected any talks even if the PKK lays down its arms.
The PKK's operations often consist of attacks on Kurdish villages that refuse to cooperate. More than 31,000 people have been
killed in the conflict. Ankara has called "Apo" a "bloody murderer" and termed his organisation as "terrorist".
The PKK enjoyed widespread popular support in its debut years, which has since dwindled along with its strength and influence in the region, mainly due to Turkish army offensives.
ROME, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- In Washington, U.S. Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright reiterated
today the U.S. position that the United States wants Ocalan extradited to Turkey.
Albright said: ``The PKK is a terrorist organization. Whatever
happens, we believe it is important he be brought to justice.''
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