World

Ocalan Charged With Treason

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 21, 1999 / 9:08 PM EST / CBS

Imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was charged with treason Tuesday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty as fallout from the sensational case continues to swirl around Europe and beyond.

Ocalan was brought to Turkey a week ago after being nabbed in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi by Turkish commandos. His rebel army, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, has waged a nearly 15-year war for Kurdish autonomy that has claimed an estimated 37,000 lives.

Turkey's semi-official news agency Anatolia and other Turkish media reported the charges, quoting the judge's statement. Anatolia quoted the prosecutor as saying Turkey was seeking the death penalty.

It was not known when the trial would begin.

Turkey on Tuesday rebuffed a European Union call for international observers to be allowed at the trial, arguing such formal representatives would compromise the independence of Turkey's judiciary.

The Turkish government has insisted Ocalan's trial will be fair and has told outsiders not to interfere. But human rights groups question whether a state security court, which includes military judges and perhaps prosecutors, can be fully impartial.

There is also concern that Ocalan was interrogated without a lawyer present. Only one of his lawyers, Osman Baydemir, a member of the independent Human Rights Association, was allowed to travel to the island for the hearing, and it was not immediately clear whether he participated in it.

Kurdish activists denounced the proceedings as politically motivated and a sham.

Protesters surrounded the lawyer's car before he left the port town of Mudanya for the island, shouting "Shame on you!" Authorities had to take him to a government building to get away from the demonstrators.

In southeastern Turkey, meanwhile, fighting between Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels killed 14 guerrillas, authorities said Tuesday.

The Ocalan case has exacerbated tensions between Turkey and its arch-foe Greece, which gave the rebel leader shelter while he was a fugitive. He had been staying at the Greek ambassador's residence in Nairobi when he was apprehended.

Turkey has denounced the Greek assistance to Ocalan and hinted it might take military action against Greece if the Athens government aids Kurdish rebels in the future.

Turkey's increasingly combative stance toward Greece has coincided with leaks of purported statements by Ocalan to his interrogators describing extensive Greek military aid to his rebel army. Greece has rejected such claims in the past.

The newspaper Hurriyet said Tuesday that Ocalan pleaded for his life in the interrogation sessions.

"I am remorseful. Don't hang me. I will tell you everything," it quoted him as saying. The newspaper's account could not be independently verified.

Ocalan was arrested after a five-month search for asylum following his expulsion from Syria. Damascus expelled the urd leader after a barrage of Turkish threats coupled with intense diplomatic pressure.

Turkey has not carried out the death penalty since 1984 and any execution must be passed by a new parliament, the formation of which will not be known until after elections in April.