Top Issue 1-2024

3 June 1999 Edition

Resize: A A A Print

Ocalan offers peace as trial starts

Abdullah Ocalan ``Apo'', the leader of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), said at the start of his trial in Turkey this week that he wants to stay alive and contribute to the understanding between Turkish and Kurdish people. He added that he could put an end to the war between Turkey and the PKK in only three months, and offered himself as mediator between the parties.

For nearly 15 years, Abdullah Ocalan ``Apo'' has been leading the PKK in a war against the Turkish state. Turkish soldiers have destroyed 2,500 villages and pushed three million people from their homes. Around 37,000 people have died in the war. The Turkish government calls Ocalan a terrorist, yet many Kurds consider Ocalan a hero. When he was arrested in Italy in 1998, thousand of Kurds demonstrated throughout Europe, and when he was kidnapped in Kenya in February, great numbers of Kurds demonstrated for days throughout Europe, attacking the embassies of those countries which were suspected of collaboration with the Turkish secret services in the kidnapping of Ocalan.

The repression of the Kurdish people has been condemned by Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The simple mention of Kurdistan or the use of the Kurdish language are considered treason by the Turkish administration.

Ocalan's calm acceptance of all the charges put to him by the Turkish authorities came as a surprise. But the latest statement of the PKK executive, supporting Ocalan's call for the end of the war, is being viewed as the possible start of a peace process. ``Fifteen years of war are more than enough'', said the text, sent to news agency France Press through pro-Kurd news agency Dem. ``We call on our party, friends, brothers and sisters to do whatever is necessary to support the fight of our president Apo to achieve a democratic solution.''

The trial against Ocalan, who was kidnapped from Kenya and taken to Turkey, started as scheduled on 31 May. He faces the death penalty for his involvement with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which fights for the independence of that area of Kurdistan occupied by Turkey. Ocalan's legal team tried to delay the trial after the Turkish government announced it was considering a constitutional change to exclude military judges, thus allowing for just two civilians judges to decide Ocalan's fate. Any change of the Turkish constitution requires parliamentary approval, a procedure that could have caused the trial to be delayed. But it now seems that the defence strategy has changed. What was expected to be a denunciation of the Turkish position in relation to the Kurdish people has become the opening gambit in a new Kurdish political strategy.

In spite of this unexpected turn, Ocalan's legal team have denounced the difficulties they are finding ``regarding the grave measures which affect the physical and mental health of our client and the de facto and legal obstructions designed to prevent us carrying out our legal duties''. Ocalan's lawyers argued that the pre-trial investigation process was violated as ``this process began on the plane bringing Ocalan to Turkey'', which was later broadcast on Turkish TV channels. The lawyers also denounced the leaking of information to the media by the State Security Court prosecutors. Ocalan has been remained on Imrali island, where he has been held since he was kidnapped on 25 February 1999. `` He remains in the custody of the Special Warfare Department who interrogated him and which the lawyers said it is still carrying out interrogations on a daily basis.

Another basic principle of law, the presumption of innocence, has been clearly ignored in this case. According to Ocalan's lawyers: ``State officials, the media and Turkish public opinion have violated this principle by labeling Abdullah Ocalan a `baby killer', `monster'...'' The lawyers feel that the death sentence has already been handed down to Ocalan and a different decision ``cannot be expected from the court''. When Turkish prosecutor Cevdet Volkan submitted the list of Ocalan's alleged crimes to the State Security Court, Volkan said the case against Ocalan was based on article 125 of the Turkish criminal code, which mandates the death penalty for attempted separatism.

The legal team also highlighted other violations of the defendant's rights. They compalined that every time they have met Ocalan there has been one or two men present and are not allowed to take anything into the meeting room. On every visit, their briefcases and private documents are searched. ``We are subjected to a body search which on occasions includes removing our shoes and socks... Our fingerprints are taken...'' But the gravest hindrance to Ocalan's defence is the lack of security to protect the lives of those lawyers who have agreed to defend him. ``In Ankara, the police beat us up in the street,'' said one lawyer. ``This attack was recorded on film, but the lack of any action against the perpetrators can only encourage the assailants...''

A representative from Amnesty International, Wesley Grick, who was present at one of the preliminary hearings, condemned the attacks on Ocalan's lawyers, saying: ``The role of the defence should not be identified with the alleged crime of the person involved.''


An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland