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Ocalan meets lawyers as Ankara renews calls for PKK surrender

ANKARA, Feb 25 (AFP) - Two Turkish lawyers met with jailed 
Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan on Thursday for the first
time since his capture last week as Ankara renewed a call for Kurd
rebels to surrender.
   Attorneys Ahmet Okcuoglu and Hatice Korkut were ferried to the 
prison island of Imrali where Ocalan has been held since he was
seized by undercover agents in Nairobi on February 16 and brought to
Turkey to stand trial on terrorism charges.
   Turkey's state security court allowed the lawyers to meet with 
Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but the two
were accompanied by a judge from Mudanya, the departure point for
Imrali.
   Angry residents from Mudanya jeered as Okcuogly and Korkut left 
the port and again at their return to Mudanya later in the day
   "Imrali will be Ocalan's grave," chanted the protestors, 
carrying Turkish flags.  Police quickly moved to disperse the
crowd.
   Ocalan was entitled to see his attorneys only after he was 
formally put under arrest on Tuesday following his two-day
interrogation by three prosecutors.
   The prosecutors, who have returned to Ankara, are currently 
working on the indictment to be brought against the rebel leader
whom Ankara holds responsible for the deaths of some 30,000 people
during the PKK's armed campaign since 1984 for self-rule in
southeastern Turkey.
   Turkey's NTV news channel said on Thursday that the prosecutors 
were expected to complete the indictment in 45 days. However, one of
the prosecutors, Nuh Mete Yuksel, refused to comment, citing the
confidentiality of the investigation.
   Meanwhile, the Turkish National Security Council (MGK) on 
Thursday called on PKK rebels to give themselves up to Turkish
security forces in a bid to accelerate the dissolution of the group
in the aftermath of Ocalan's capture.
   "The MGK once again appeals to the youngsters who have been 
deceived into terrorism to surrender themselves to the Turkish
justice," the MGK said in a statement.
   Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has already promised that 
an amnesty law currently in parliament would be passed immediately
after elections in April, and that the personal safety of every
surrendered fighter would be assured.
   "On the other hand, it has also been expressed that no country 
and no people should support this organization that is undoubtedly a
bloody terrorist one," the MGK statement said.
   Ankara believes that the PKK receives both logistic and 
financial help from several countries.
   According to the Turkish press on Thursday, Ocalan has 
incriminated Greece, Syria, Iran and Germany as financial backers of
the PKK in his 36-page confession.
   He has also admitted to receiving financial contributions from 
many well-known artists and to ordering suicide attacks on civilian
and military targets, the reports said without citing any sources.
   "It has been stressed that the matter is in the hands of the 
Turkish judiciary now and no one should doubt that the trial will be
a fair one," the MGK statement added.
   Ankara has pledged a "fair" trial for the rebel leader, but 
refused calls for the presence of international observers.
    

 

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