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.
other 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]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)