Rebel Kurds Damage Oil Pipeline in Turkey

Kurdish rebels loyal to guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan sabotaged a government-owned oil pipeline in southeastern Turkey, setting fire to an estimated 50 tons of crude oil, a security official said Thursday.

The attack by Kurdistan Workers Party guerrillas took place in Mardin province late Wednesday on a pipeline running from Iraq to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Officials said the fire was extinguished and they were examining the extent of the damage.

Ocalan, in detention in Italy, is at the center of a fierce diplomatic row between Rome and Ankara, which wants him to face trial for the deaths of nearly 30,000 Turks in the Kurdish rebels’ fight for self-rule in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast.

An Italian court has ruled out extraditing Ocalan to Turkey because the death penalty still exists there. Turkey is furious over the decision, and its people have protested, burning Italian clothes and cars and launching boycotts against Italian products.

Ocalan’s fate is expected to dominate talks today between German and Italian leaders Gerhard Schroeder and Massimo D’Alema.

The Italian government has made clear it wants Bonn to take Ocalan off its hands since Germany has an arrest warrant out for him.

But Germany, fearing violence among its large Turkish and Kurdish communities, has so far said it will not ask for Ocalan’s extradition.

Italy’s foreign minister, in remarks published Thursday, said his country cannot grant Ocalan political asylum because he is not a victim of persecution.

“We are talking about terrorist acts committed voluntarily,” Lamberto Dini told an Italian newspaper. “We are not dealing with a victim.”

Speaking through his Italian lawyer on Wednesday, Ocalan reiterated a pledge to renounce violence and said he wants to forge a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Ocalan was arrested Nov. 12 when he arrived at the Rome airport aboard a flight from Moscow. He is staying in a Rome villa under police surveillance.