Turkish Spy Chief Opposes Hanging Rebel

The head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency, or MIN, said in remarks published Tuesday that it would be against Turkish interests to hang Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan, who was sentenced to death last year for treason.

In an unprecedented briefing with selected national newspapers, Senkal Atasagun also said he is in favor of ending a ban on Kurdish-language broadcasting and of setting up a state-controlled television channel in Kurdish.

The liberal comments are sure to spark fierce debate over an issue that has stoked tension in a three-party government that includes the hard-line Nationalist Action Party, or MHP.

The initial response from Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu, a member of the MHP, was frosty. “These views may be personal opinions of the MIN undersecretary, but I do not think they are binding for the state,” he told reporters.

Ending the Kurdish-language broadcasting ban is among key conditions for Turkey to start European Union membership talks.

The European Court of Human Rights is currently hearing an appeal against Ocalan’s death penalty.

Turkey has, in effect, had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1984. While extreme nationalists are keen to see Ocalan hang, the government is aware that executing him would end any hopes Turkey has of joining the EU in the near future.

Turkey holds Ocalan responsible for a 16-year campaign of violence in which about 30,000 people died. Since his arrest, he has urged the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party to give up the armed struggle, and violence has declined dramatically.