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KurdistanObserver.com
Turkey Urged To Heed European Court Ruling On Kurdish Rebel
Leader
ANKARA, Nov 10 (AFP) The Council of
Europe expects Turkey to heed a European human rights court ruling condemning as
unfair the 1999 trial of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, a Council
official said here Thursday.
The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), a Council of
Europe body, ruled in May that the Turkish court which convicted Ocalan was not
impartial because it had included a military judge during part of the trial.
It recommended a retrial for Ocalan, head of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK), an armed militant group seeking independence for the Kurdish minority in
southeastern Turkey.
"We expect that the decisions and requests of the court will be honored," the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's president Rene van der Linden told
reporters here.
"I don't take positions on judicial cases... (but) I hope the Turkish
judiciary will follow up this request."
The Council of Europe, linking 46 nations including Turkey, is an east-west
European human rights and democracy watchdog.
Ankara has promised to respect the ECHR ruling, but so far failed to clarify
how it will proceed.
The ECHR also said in its May ruling Ocalan and his lawyers had been denied
sufficient time and facilities to properly prepare their defense. |
