Ocalan hearing adjourned after stormy session 

• Defense lawyers are back in court, plaintiffs' lawyers ejected from court by Judge Okyay 

GOKHAN KAZBEK 

Separatist terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan's defense team was back in their seats on Friday, but this time it was the plaintiffs' lawyers turn to stage a walkout. 

When the defense attorneys started reading a statement demanding a more in-depth trial and making some pro-Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) statements, the lawyers for the plaintiffs objected, saying they were being fed propaganda. The defense lawyers also said there were several people whose militant sons had been killed in the anti-terrorist campaign and who wanted to attend the trial. That created an uproar. Judge Turgut Okyay ejected one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, prompting a walkout by all the plaintiffs and their lawyers. 

A veteran of the 15-year-long terrorist campaign removed his prosthetic limb and held it up in the courtroom. "Where is my human right?" shouted Naim Karapacik, who lost his leg after stepping on a mine during an anti-rebel offensive in northern Iraq in 1995. Another veteran, Mahir Akcelik, took the leg and asked: "Who will account for this leg?" 

Later the judge rejected the defense lawyers' requests and adjourned the hearings, which will resume on Tuesday in order to allow time for the prosecutors to prepare their closing arguments following Ocalan's week-long disclosures. 

The Turkish Daily News was told that the prosecutors have already prepared their closing arguments and will present them on Tuesday, and that by Thursday the defense can have the floor. The defense has the right to ask for a 15-day recess to prepare its case, and sources say they may exercise this right to the fullest. So the trial may then be adjourned for two weeks, to start up again in the final weeks of the month. The defense is expected to present its case for two or three days, and the court may take one day to reach a verdict. 

The verdict is expected to automatically go to the Supreme Court of Appeals. 

Ocalan continued his disclosures on Friday.  Ocalan  disclosed that the PKK rented training centers in suburban areas of the Netherlands. He said young people were given "political education" and that associations friendly to the PKK had helped the organization rent these places. 

He denied having met Dutch or Belgian officials but said the PKK did meet German and Italian officials. He said the ERNK, the political wing of the PKK, is strong and active in Belgium and the Netherlands, noting that the officials of both countries are aware of the fact that the ERNK is directly linked to the terrorist organization. 

Ocalan also said he met with Lord Avebury two or three times in 1998. He claimed that Avebury told him a cease-fire would be positive but that Britain does not have any warm feelings towards the PKK. 

He said a man named Ali Homan Gazi had mediated between the PKK and the German government for an end to PKK-inspired violence in Germany. He admitted that even PKK officials in Europe did not want him to come to the continent for fear that he would spoil their contacts.