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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 July 1999 Issue No. 437 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 July 1999 Issue No. 437
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Focus Books Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Heads or hanging hearts?
By Garith Jenkins
Turkish police inspect the scene of an explosion following a suicide bomb attack in the southern city of Adana. A suspected Kurdish rebel detonated bombs strapped to her body, killing herself and injuring 13 others near a police station (photo: AP)
One week after Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan was sentenced to death for treason, the initial public euphoria at the verdict is beginning to give way to nagging doubts that Ocalan's execution may not spell an end to the Kurdish separatist violence that has cost over 30,000 lives in the last 15 years.
In his rambling, and often intellectually incoherent, testimony in court, Ocalan alternated between what he termed an irrevocable commitment to peace and a thinly veiled threat of more violence. "I may not be worth a dime," he warned. "But I'll leave a legacy of 5,000 suicide bombers who are ready to die for me."
On Monday in the Mediterranean coastal town of Adana, a 19-year-old Kurdish girl detonated explosives strapped to her body, killing herself and wounding 14 bystanders. On Sunday evening, a bomb placed in a picnic area in the Avcilar neighbourhood of Istanbul exploded, killing a 38-year-old man and injuring 27 others, 10 seriously. On Saturday evening, a bomb left in the Dream Café, one of Istanbul's most popular bars, was defused by police.
In the aftermath of the announcement of the death sentence for Ocalan, the PKK warned of an escalation in violence. "This means attacks on economic targets. The war will spread inside Turkey," said a PKK spokeswoman in London.
The recent incidents appear to be the work of sympathisers rather than being coordinated by the PKK, which still lacks the infrastructure and expertise to conduct an effective urban terrorism campaign. But each death, whether of a civilian in the cities of western Turkey or a soldier killed in a clash with PKK militants in the mountains, brings Ocalan a step closer to the gallows.
Most Turks want to see Ocalan hanged, although many are also aware that it is an emotional, rather than a rational, reaction. "The choice is whether we are ruled by our heads or our hearts," said a leading businessman. "When our citizens are dying, it is our hearts which will decide."
While the violence continues, the chorus of calls from Europe to commute Ocalan's death sentence to life imprisonment is likely only to inflame bruised nationalist sentiment and increase public pressure for Ocalan to be executed.
"If Turkey would like the access to Europe, then it has to come closer to the standards that prevail here in Europe," said Ludger Volmer of the German Foreign Ministry. "And these standards include either abolishing or not implementing the death penalty."
"If we leave Ocalan sitting in jail, he will be like a time bomb," retorted General Kemal Yavuz, former commander of the Turkish Second Army. "There will be the danger of anarchists taking hostages or staging terrorist attacks to try to free him."
"And why should we allow European countries to tell us what to do?" he asked. "What will they do for us? Make us members of the EU? We have already made enough sacrifices for European countries and what good has it done us?"
His views were echoed by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who has made no secret of his personal opposition to capital punishment. "The EU has not even accepted us as a member," he said. "We are not going to make any political decisions just to please the EU."
The Turkish parliament will not have to decide whether to hang Ocalan until Autumn 1999 at the very earliest. On Monday, Ocalan's lawyers applied to the Supreme Court of Appeal for a retrial. No one seriously expects the request to be granted, but the procedure is nevertheless likely to take several months.
"The judiciary goes into recess in mid-July and doesn't return until September. So the Court of Appeal probably won't even examine the case until then," said lawyer Adil Yarimdag. "If it upholds the death sentence then it is up to parliament. Someone has to bring the case before the Parliamentary Judiciary Committee, which will then submit it to the full assembly. If they want they can push Ocalan's to the front of the queue. But it will still take time. Then parliament's decision has to be approved by the president before the sentence can be carried out."
But both the relatives of the more than 5,000 soldiers slain in the 15-year-old war with the PKK and the ultra-nationalist National Action Party (NAP), which is currently the second largest party in parliament, have sworn to maintain the pressure to have Ocalan hanged no matter how long it takes. Several NAP members of parliament have already announced that they will force the issue onto parliament's agenda.
If Ocalan's death sentence eventually comes before parliament, few MPs are likely to be brave enough to vote to commute it to life imprisonment. "No lawmaker in the Turkish parliament would put his future in jeopardy by pardoning Ocalan," commented international relations specialist, Professor Hani Koni.
"I don't think the hanging will come soon, unfortunately," said Altemur Kilic, Turkey's leading ultra-nationalist columnist. "But it will happen. He has to be executed."
