ANKARA, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Kurdish rebel Abdullah Ocalan, a focus of tension between
Ankara and EU capitals in 1999, returns to the international spotlight on Tuesday at a time
when Turkish anger with Europe over membership terms is already
running high.

The European Court of Human Rights will begin hearing a case against Turkey's treatment
of Ocalan, sentenced last year to hang for treason. The process could provide an extra irritant
in what could be a fraught enough week for Turkey and the EU.

"In Turkey right now there's a feeling that Europeans are working against them," said one
European diplomat.

The hearing comes a week after the European Union laid down economic and political
changes Turkey must make before membership talks can start in an "Accession Partnership
Accord."

Ankara was incensed that the document included a reference to the need for Turkey to
"strongly support" U.N. efforts to resolve the Cyprus dispute among the short term aims.

In what Turkey viewed as a further stab in the back, the European Parliament last week
approved a resolution formally accusing Turks of genocide against Armenians 85 years ago.

To top it all, Turkey fears EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday may bow to Greek
pressure to include a reference to disputes about Aegean islands. Prime Minister Bulent
Ecevit warned at the weekend Ankara might review ties with the EU if that happens
-- a reminder of past frosty chapters in ties.

In official Turkish eyes no figure more graphically represents European failure, even
unwillingness, to understand Turkish interests and sensitivities than Abdullah Ocalan.

When Ocalan, driven from a Syrian hideaway by Turkish pressure, was arrested in Rome in
1998, Turkish celebrations proved premature. Italy refused to extradite him, citing as
grounds the death penalty still existing here on paper.

There was a wave of anger against Italy, with commercial boycotts organised and Italian
goods burnt publicly. Germany, which has a large Turkish Kurdish community, also came
under attack for failing to expedite an arrest warrant against Ocalan.

Ocalan's dramatic capture in Kenya and transfer to Turkey sparked protests by Kurds at
embassies in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands two years ago. Now the case returns to
Europe.

Commentator Mehmet Ali Birand said it was a historic case. "The nature of the decision will
affect the balances both in Turkey and the international arena," he wrote in an editorial.

Turkey, which has effectively had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1984, is well
aware that resolving what is called here the "southeastern problem" is essential to EU
membership. Hanging Ocalan would be a severe, perhaps mortal, blow.

The distinction between EU opposition to the death penalty in principle and EU support for
Ocalan is often lost on those forces in Turkey who see the bloc as bent on at best excluding
Muslim Turkey and at worst undermining its security and unity.

A court ruling against the death penalty and criticism of the legal process would provoke a
harsh reaction in Turkey where nationalist feeling runs strong on the issue. It could also,
especially if coinciding with a rift with the EU on membership conditions, stir disunity
between governnment coalition parties.

Initially the court of seven judges will be asked to rule on admissability -- a decision it may
reach in a few days. If the case is admitted, no decision is expected before mid-2001.

Even then, either party can appeal and ask for the case to be heard by a grand chamber of 17
judges.

Among the key issues for the court will be the conditions of Ocalan's arrest and transfer from
Nairobi -- he was captured in a shadowy operation after taking refuge in the Greek embassy
and whisked away to Turkey on a special flight during which his lawyers say he was
drugged, blindfolded and abused.

"We have brought a case... on 21 violations (of the European Convention on Human
Rights). Of these the first and most important is the abduction and bringing to Turkey of Mr.
Ocalan as a result of a conspiracy that ignored international legal standards," said Mehmet
Erbil, one of his lawyers.

Erbil said Ocalan was denied the right to a fair trial, including proper and confidential access
to defence lawyers and an independent and impartial court.

If the trial violated the convention, the lawyers argue, it would be a breach of Ocalan's rights
to execute, even though the convention does not ban the death penalty per se.

Kurdish groups sympathetic to Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have declared
November 21 a day of "national mobilisation" and urged Kurds to lobby the court in
Strasbourg.

From his island cell, Ocalan has ordered the PKK to abandon armed struggle and seek
cultural rights by democratic means. Turkey has rejected the move as a cynical ploy to avoid
the noose. Some ex-allies, weighing renewed fighting, echo the view. Still, violence has
dropped sharply with 80 percent fewer clashes between security forces and guerrillas in the
southeast so far this year compared with the same period of 1999.

In a recent statement, the PKK made clear its views on what would happen if Ocalan
hanged. "The health and living conditions of our president Abdullah Ocalan... must be taken
as the guarantee of the developing peace process," it said.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com

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