Thursday June 14, 9:00 PM ANKARA, June 14 (AFP)

A Turkish parliamentary commission has drafted a proposal to abolish the death penalty,
but has made sure that condemned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan remains outside
its scope, deputies said Thursday.

The draft, which can still be changed before reaching the general assembly for a final vote,
lifts the death penalty except in times of war, an immminent threat of war and for crimes of
terrorism, commission members told a press conference.

The "terrorism" clause was specially formulated to exclude Ocalan, the head of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 15-year war for self-rule in
mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

While Ocalan faces no imminent prospect of execution, the coalition's far-right Nationalist
Movement Party is firmly opposed to changes that could save him from the gallows, a
move also likely to spark public outrage.

No one has been executed in Turkey since 1984 under a de facto moratorium and
Ocalan's execution was put on hold after a request by the European Court of Human
Rights.

Among other major changes the commission proposed, is the lifting of a ban on using
"forbidden languages" in the expression and dissemination of thought, which could allow the
free use of Kurdish in the media.

The proposals are part of a draft of 37 constitutional amendments, prepared by a group of
MPs from the five parties in parliament in an effort to catch up with European Union
demands on Turkey's road to EU membership.

In another change, the inter-party commission proposed an amendment under which
banning political parties would become more difficult with tightly outlined criteria to prove
constitutional breaches.

It also envisaged the inclusion of more civilian members to the country's top policy-making
body, the military-dominated National Security Council.

Other proposals aimed to improve freedom of expression, expand workers' rights to
unionize and limit the president's powers.

Turkey, an EU membership candidate since 1999, must meet EU criteria on human rights
and democracy before it can start accession talks.

The changes agreed between the five party representatives have a long way to go before
being formally adopted.

The passage of the whole package is unlikely by the end of June when the assembly goes
into a recession until October, parliamentary sources said.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com