Word: ankara
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...looks set to grow, but that pressure may, paradoxically, help seal his fate. Nationalist passions may make it even more difficult for the government to back down on hanging Ocalan in the face of violent protests by his supporters and pressure from Europe. Germany led the European chorus warning Ankara that hanging Ocalan might deal a death blow to Turkey?s ambitions to enter the European Union, and it was easy to see why Bonn was nervous: Turkish-owned businesses were firebombed across Germany overnight Wednesday, as the country, which plays host to 1.5 million Turks and almost half...
...held personally responsible for the more than 30,000 deaths caused by the Kurdish insurgency and the government?s own crackdown. But the sentence is now due to go before an appeals court, and will also be appealed by Ocalan at the European Court of Human Rights, so Ankara will have plenty of time to allow passions to cool before it takes a decision. Ocalan?s capture and conviction may have eliminated any security threat he may pose to Turkey, but Ankara?s political battle over the Kurdish question is far from over...
...enemies' hands reads like a thriller. Since the mid-'80s, the Turkish-born university dropout had spent most of his time safely ensconced in Syria. From there, he directed terror against Turkish targets from P.K.K. bases in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. His goal: to force Ankara to grant independence to the country's 12 million Kurds, part of the estimated 20 million Kurds who straddle five nations. Turkey has sought to eradicate Kurdish nationalism by suppressing their language, culture and political rights. Even so, millions of Turkey's Kurds did not sign up with the P.K.K.'s militant separatism...
...Turkey handles the aftermath. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Ocalan would quickly face trial. "It need not last too long [because] the crimes of the P.K.K.'s leadership are well known," suggested Ecevit. Discomfiting words for a world already wary of Turkish justice and for Kurds violently alienated by Ankara's policies. Turkey should celebrate while...
...corruption scandal -- has signaled it would be happy to see the Kurdish rebel tried in a third country. Italy refused Turkey's request to extradite Ocalan, but Germany could still potentially charge him with incitement to murder. For all Turkey's protests, Italy's decision may actually help Ankara by sparing them the trouble that might have arisen from trying Ocalan at home. "Putting Ocalan on trial in Turkey could cause further turmoil here," says TIME Istanbul correspondent James Wilde. "Turkey would likely settle for rendering Ocalan inoperative in a third country, such as Germany...