Italy, Germany Say Kurdish Leader Should Stand Trial

Italy and Germany agreed Saturday to make every effort to bring Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan to trial and to launch a European initiative to seek a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey.

The decision was reached at a meeting between German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini.

An Italian Foreign Ministry statement said Fischer and Dini agreed that Bonn and Rome would “jointly take up every effort so that Ocalan [can] be brought to justice.”

Some politicians, including Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, have called for a trial of the Kurdish leader by an international or European court.

The Turkish government considers Ocalan a terrorist, but supporters in Turkey and Europe hail him as a freedom fighter for his people.

Rome refuses to extradite him to Turkey because the Italian Constitution bars suspects being sent to a country where they may face the death penalty.

Germany, fearing unrest between the 2 million Turks and half a million Kurds who have made their home in the country, has refused to seek Ocalan’s extradition.

Thousands of Turks marched through German cities Saturday to demand that Ocalan be extradited to Turkey now that Germany has refused to try him.

About 18,000 people took to the streets of Bonn, Berlin, Munich and Nuremberg to demonstrate against the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

Meanwhile, a military helicopter went down in southeastern Turkey on Saturday, killing 15 soldiers. Kurdish rebels claimed responsibility, according to news reports.