World #1 Terrorist Faces Execution -- or Diplomat Job

by Franz Schurmann

But he could just possibly end up alive -- and hailed as one of the greatest peacemakers in Middle Eastern history to boot.

Abdullah "Apo" Ocalan (pronounced etch-ahlan) is the charismatic leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which since 1984 has been fighting virtually the entire Turkish army. If he is executed the Turkish government will hail it as justice and Kurds will call it vengeance. And the war will go on.

Kurds number some 25 million, most living in eastern Turkey, northern Iraq and western Iran. They are descendants of ancient Mede warrior tribes who lost out to the Persians 2,500 years ago.

Though a Marxist-Leninist, Ocalan is sympathetic to religion. He has elicited astonishing loyalty -- thousands have been willing to lay down their lives for the PKK cause. In a region where women have long been repressed, many of the PKK's best warriors have been women.

Ocalan himself has a wife and children and even now, facing death, he talks about settling down with them to cultivate his garden.

And, like many Kurds, he is a fearsome warrior.

According to the Turkish journalist Ertugrul Kurkcu, who spent 14 years in prison for armed resistance against Turkey's military rulers, the PKK is much more than a rural guerrilla movement. It has considerable support not only among Turkey's 15 million Kurds but among Kurds (and non-Kurds) elsewhere.

But the moral support of millions of people alone won't save Ocalan from the hangman. Indeed, a death sentence is even more likely in light of the recent electoral victories of a "Pan-Turkic" party called the Nationalist Movement but mostly known as the "Gray Wolves." Theirs are the loudest voices demanding Ocalan's execution and they have close military and police connections.

Pan-Turkic movements, which go back over a century, preach a mystique based on the spread of Turkic languages from western China, through Central Asia and deep into the Balkans. The Gray Wolves want to unite this vast expanse of peoples into a single Turkic empire.

Nevertheless Ocalan -- who sees himself as both Kurdish and Turkish -- has a power that the Turkish military and the Gray Wolves lack. The PKK is the strongest political force in the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq.

More than 20 percent of Iraq's 21 million plus people -- around 4.5 million -- are Kurdish; the ratio in Turkey is even higher -- 15 million out of 52 million. Over the years the Turkish army has made repeated incursions into Iraq to root out the PKK, but the roots keep sprouting warriors.

The people and language are identical in both regions. The PKK has used Iraqi Kurdistan as its rear base area from the first, but has stepped into a power vacuum -- Saddam Hussein lost control of Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991. The Clinton administration wants to achieve a comprehensive Middle Eastern settlement during what remains of Clinton's presidency. This can never be achieved without Iraq, and Iraq -- whoever rules the country -- can never come into any peace process unless the Kurdistan issue is resolved.

There are good reasons to think many in the Turkish military favor dealing with Ocalan, partly because they recognize that their murderous campaigns against the Kurds have blocked their entry into the European Union. Executing Ocalan would only make a bad situation worse.

Ocalan, even before he was seized, offered a seven point peace plan. On the surface, his offer only applies to Turkey -- but he is also directing his offer to Washington.

Clinton cannot achieve a Middle Eastern settlement without Iraq, and that means resolving the Kurdish problem. If Clinton tells the Turkish military Ocalan must be alive to stabilize both Turkey and Iraq, then there is a good chance that Apo will live and continue to play a key role in history.