Ocalan disowns PKK terror

The trial of Turkey's number-one public enemy, Abdullah Ocalan, the chieftain of the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), continued into its third day.  Presiding Judge M. Turgut Okyay on Wednesday adjourned  proceedings much earlier than the 4:00 p.m. deadline set previously, asking the prosecutor and defense to prepare their final presentations. 

The trial, described by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit as "a source of pride for Turkey," was progressing well, according to both Ocalan's lawyers and the victims of PKK violence. Although three of Ocalan's lawyers abandoned the case claiming that the PKK chieftain was not receiving a fair trial, Kemal Bilgic, one of the remaining defense lawyers, thanked Presiding Judge M. Turgut Okyay for "three days of distinguished and honorable proceedings." 

The court continued on Wednesday interrogating the separatist chieftain, who admitted overall responsibility for PKK terrorism, but denied responsibility for most of the gang's deadly attacks. 

Ocalan claimed he did not order any attack on the touristic or economic facilities of the country and blamed most of the attacks by PKK hordes on villages in southeastern Turkey on PKK members who were not obeying the orders of the gang leadership. 

The PKK chieftain also denied ever ordering the murder of disobedient gang members. However, he confirmed in court earlier that he personally gave death sentences for some leading gang members. 

Continuing to reveal the foreign collaborators of the gang, Ocalan, contradicting his earlier statement that Iran often confiscated the weapons sent to the PKK, told the court in relation to six TIR's loaded with weapons detained by Iran at Cilvegozu border gate: "Those weapons were for Hizbollah. Had they been coming to the PKK, Iran would have transferred them to us at the border." 

The PKK chieftain also denied ordering suicide attacks by PKK members. He said he was against such attacks and that he had tried to dissuade PKK members not to stage them. "I never approved such suicide attacks," he told the court. He said he was also against the hunger strikes staged in prisons by PKK members and sympathizers. 

Meanwhile a suicide bomber was blown to pieces in the southeastern city of Sirnak on Wednesday. His accomplice escaped and is still being sought by police. The bomb worn by an unidentified 22-year-old male apparently exploded before a planned attack on security forces. 

Reconfirming that the PKK was receiving financial assistance from Greece as well as being provided with training bases on Greek territory, Ocalan confirmed Wednesday that the Greek Cypriot administration was also sending money to the gang. Greek Cyprus, however denied the statement. 

Ocalan also claimed several other European countries were extending financial assistance to the gang. 

The PKK leader's testimony appeared designed to distance himself from the most brutal attacks attributed to his fighters. The Kurdish separatist chieftain faces death if convicted of treason. 

There is widespread support in Turkey for executing Ocalan, whom most Turks see as being personally responsible for all the suffering caused by the separatist insurgency.

On both Tuesday and Wednesday's sessions of the trial the presiding judge allowed over a dozen of the relatives of PKK victims to address the court. Most of the relatives appealed to the court to hang Ocalan. The mother of one slain soldier fainted after she spoke. 

Ocalan told the court that the 1993 slayings of 33 unarmed soldiers in the southeastern province of Bingol had been carried out by a regional PKK commander. 

The slaughter shattered the PKK's unilateral cease-fire and led the military to intensify its campaign aimed at annihilating the separatist group. "It is not possible to condone the death of these soldiers," Ocalan said. 

Ocalan stated that there were internal struggles within the PKK and that dozens of former PKK members had been executed for deviating from the organization's line. 

Ecevit: Conspiracy revealed 

Ecevit went on to say: "The Ocalan trial is a source of pride for Turkey. It is also a source of embarrassment for some certain countries which are trying to teach us lessons pertaining to human rights, democracy and becoming civilized. Those who refrained from putting Ocalan on trial have no right to bring dark clouds on the Turkish judicial system."