Turk President Seeks Amnesty to Appease Kurds

President Suleyman Demirel has appealed for swift passage of an amnesty law to help persuade followers of captured Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan to end their 15-year armed struggle for self-rule.

Parliament is adjourned for a general election April 18. However, Demirel wants lawmakers back for a special session before Kurdish rebels can launch their annual spring offensive in Turkey’s mountainous southeast.

“I know that this law might not be viewed positively in some places where there is suffering, but it is important in the name of preventing more bloodshed,” Demirel said in an interview published Friday. “This must be completed with coolheadedness and tolerance.”

Since Turkish commandos took custody of Ocalan in Kenya on Monday, the government has intensified its fight against Kurdish nationalists. About 4,000 Turkish troops, backed by attack helicopters, have struck rebel sanctuaries in northern Iraq.

Police have arrested hundreds of people in raids on offices of the People’s Democracy Party, which prosecutors claim is an arm of Ocalan’s movement.

On Friday, police and armed Kurdish demonstrators clashed in the southeastern city of Kiziltepe, and a 15-year-old boy died in the cross-fire.

Demirel’s remarks in the Milliyet newspaper were the first high-level call since Ocalan’s capture for a bit of conciliation.

The president is a figurehead in a parliamentary system, but his position on amnesty is believed to reflect that of Turkey’s powerful military leaders.

Seeking to crush the rebels’ movement with force, the government has always refused to discuss their demands for an autonomous homeland for Turkey’s 12 million Kurds, with rights to broadcast and teach in the Kurdish language.

Yet during the ethnic conflict, the government has offered several amnesties for surrendering rebels, each valid for a few months.

Demirel estimated that Ocalan’s movement, weakened by army offensives since the mid-1990s, has 2,000 guerrillas inside Turkey and 3,000 more in northern Iraq. The impact of Ocalan’s arrest on their morale and ability to strike will not be clear until the spring.

Calling for an amnesty before then, Demirel said: “These people must be prevented from going down a dead-end street.”

A draft “repentance law” sent to parliament last year but never debated offers immunity from prosecution to any guerrilla who surrenders and offers useful information about former comrades.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, his popularity enhanced by Ocalan’s capture, opposes an early parliamentary debate on amnesty.

While agreeing that such a law might defuse the insurgency, Ecevit and many lawmakers believe that it would be unpopular and cost them votes in the April election.

Instead, the prime minister called Friday for undermining the rebellion with growing government and private investment in the impoverished southeast.

The conflict has cost about 30,000 lives and billions of dollars while damaging Turkey’s image in the world.

Foreign leaders and several Turkish commentators have said that Ocalan’s upcoming trial--on charges including treason and terrorism--will be a crucial test for the country and its much-criticized judicial system.

Ocalan underwent a second day of interrogation Friday on the small island of Imrali, which has been cleared of the 250 or so petty criminals who were serving time at a prison compound there. Naval vessels were deployed around the island, 35 miles southwest of Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara.

Justice Ministry officials said the rebel leader’s first session before a judge, to hear the charges against him, will come within the next two weeks. His trial may not start for several months. All proceedings will take place on the island, the officials said.

Under Turkish law, Ocalan is not entitled to a lawyer until after four days of interrogation. Human rights advocates have criticized his isolation.

The U.N. investigator for torture, Nigel Rodney, has urged Turkey to allow an independent monitoring system to verify that the longtime fugitive is not mistreated.

Italy and Greece asked the European Union on Friday to make a fair trial for Ocalan and rejection of the death penalty he faces conditions for eventual Turkish membership in the 15-nation club.

Turkey has long aspired to EU membership, but European reluctance to help capture Ocalan disillusioned its leaders.

“No one in Europe has anything to say to us about the nature of this trial, whether it is fair or whether he receives the death penalty,” said O. Faruk Logoglu, Turkey’s deputy undersecretary[cq] for foreign affairs. “They have not earned the right to criticize us.”