Word: ocalan
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Neither the verdict nor the sentence was ever in doubt; now Turkey faces a political decision over whether to hang its most hated enemy. Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was convicted of treason and sentenced to death by a Turkish court Tuesday. The death sentence ?- mandatory for treason ?- goes automatically to an appeals court, where it is expected to be upheld. Then it?s up to parliament and the president to sign off on the hanging ?- and although Turkey hasn?t executed anyone in 15 years, the clamor for Ocalan?s head may prove irresistible. The brutal Kurdish-nationalist insurgency...
Simply following its own instincts would in all likelihood lead Turkey?s strongly nationalist parliament to give Ocalan the rope. But pressure against executing Ocalan will come from Turkey?s NATO allies, particularly in Europe. While Western governments don?t doubt the viciousness of Ocalan?s insurgency, they tend to put it in the context of Turkey?s denial of the cultural and language rights of its Kurdish population: Turkey treats any assertion of a distinct Kurdish identity as a threat to the integrity of the state. This has allowed Ocalan, during his trial, to cloak himself in the mantle...
...careful of what you wish for. Now that NATO member Turkey has Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan where it wants him -- captive and pleading for his life -- it faces unanticipated political dangers. "Capturing Ocalan and putting him on trial has had the unintended consequence of focusing international attention on Turkey's human rights record and its treatment of the Kurds," says TIME U.N. correspondent William Dowell. "NATO's Kosovo campaign also increases pressure on Turkey to conform to the standards of an alliance that is taking military action in defense of human rights...
...Kurdish guerrilla leader's trial entered its second day with Ocalan urging his supporters to lay down their arms and warning of a bloodbath if he's executed. Ocalan's comments confirm suggestions that he is bargaining for his life in court rather than facing a trial in the sense that any of Turkey's NATO allies might use the term. Ocalan's lawyers complain that they've had no unfettered access to their client, and human rights organizations have questioned the credentials of a court in which one of the judges is a military appointee. Although the charges against...
...from being a freedom fighter, Kurdish radical leader Abdullah Ocalan is a vicious hoodlum [WORLD, March 1]. Greece, which arranged to sneak this international terrorist into Kenya, should be put on the U.S. State Department list of terrorist countries. Greece has nurtured the ideology of Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party cutthroats. ILYAS BOTAS Paterson...