Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: Kurdish killer on trial

TURKISH Prosecutors have been drawing political fire and advice from all over the world since they made clear they are seeking the death penalty for Abdullah Ocalan (OH-ja-lan). What? How dare they make such an outrageous demand for the conviction and death of a terrorist who is responsible for 35,000 to 40,000 deaths? That's right, Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) committed more terrorist attacks than any other guerrilla group in the world. The PKK is credited with 3,575 terrorist attacks between 1988 and 1998 with Algeria's Armed Islamic Group coming in second with 2,067 attacks during the same time period.

Ocalan, or Apo as he is known to many, has been a dynamic and bloody leader for the Kurds. When traveling from Diyarbakir, Turkey, to the Iraq border and back in 1992 I found my Kurdish escorts as concerned about the PKK as they were about the Turks or Iraqis. Once inside of Iraq, I heard many Kurds express their fears that Apo and his guerrillas were doing more damage than good for their cause. Nevertheless at that time, most also saw him as a heroic figure when his Marxist-Leninist followers were operating out of Syria and Lebanon. Most of his Kurdish critics agree with Ocalan's desire to develop a nation of Kurdistan. It's his methods of using terror rather than the political arena that bothers them. His slaughter of thousands of fellow Kurds, during raids, also has raised a level of fear among them.

The Kurds, mostly Sunni Muslims, number about 26 million spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia and Turkey. They speak their own language, which is more closely related to Farsi than Arabic, and several times since the 1920 Treaty of Sevres they have been promised a homeland. Each and every time their dream has evaporated, as the countries they live in insist on retaining their own borders. When they haven't been fighting the governments of Turkey, Iran and Iraq they have found time to fight among themselves. Personally I found the Kurds very special people who deserve better than they have received from the governments of other nations.

Despite my feelings for the Kurds, I can find nothing good about Ocalan other than his goal of a free Kurdistan. The Turks finally flushed him out of Syria and Lebanon by using the threat of military power and cutting off the flow of water to that area. Syria's Hafez Assad understood this and his guest left for Moscow, and then the chase began and that took him to Italy, Greece, Belarus, and finally to Kenya. That is where the Turkish commandos captured Ocalan in February and returned him for trial.

Within a matter of hours Turkey began to receive advice on how it should treat Ocalan. Immediately an Ankara official reminded them of the Turkish saying, "Long live the snake that doesn't bite me." All of the unwanted advice wasn't coming from Europe. The New York Times, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times all admitted that Ocalan is a bloody terrorist, but cautioned that he is also very popular among the Kurds and has millions of admirers around the world. The bottom line was that he's a killer but be nice to him because he is very popular.

Graham E. Fuller, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA, warned in the Los Angeles Times that Ocalan's trial is of the utmost importance. Fuller wrote that the trial, "... if not handled right, presents Ankara with major problems, attracting international press coverage, putting Turkish justice itself on trial and perhaps creating a national martyr for the Kurdish population. Handled correctly, however, his trial could also present a major opportunity for the government to demonstrate a new tolerance toward Kurdish political activity in the country among moderate, nonviolent and democratic Kurdish leaders. Turkey should have the self-confidence to move in this direction."

Now that the elections are over in Turkey, the trial of Ocalan isn't far off. I have learned over the years that advice not sought by the Turks won't make much difference in how they conduct the trial of a popular killer. Already being shunned by the European Union and denied membership, they owe those countries little or nothing. When all is said and done, I have to believe Ocalan will receive a fair trial with good legal representation. Then he will be hanged.

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