Ocalan and Ankara's peace prospects

It's hard to imagine that the fate of one man sitting in a prison off the coast of Istanbul could influence the course of the world. But Abdullah Ocalan's future could do just that. Ocalan was condemned to death this summer for leading his fellow Kurds in a 15-year rebellion against Turkish rule, and last week an appeals court upheld his sentence. But the Turkish government would be foolish to carry out the punishment, and its friends must work to see that it does not.

Turkey's 12 million Kurds -- one-fifth of its population -- have much in common with ethnic minorities in other countries. They speak their own language, eat their own cooking and dance to their own music. Back in 1984, when Ocalan's fighters took up arms, Kurds who spoke Kurdish in Turkey's southeastern provinces ended up in jail. Children who spoke Kurdish in school were beaten. Kurdish music was banned.

The worst of the repression has now eased, in part because of Ocalan's campaign. But the rebellion itself has taken a great toll -- leaving more than 30,000 people dead and landing Ocalan in a Turkish prison. After the national appeals court upheld his death sentence last Thursday, joyous Turks took to the streets to call for his hanging.

The Turkish appetite for revenge against the man they call a terrorist is understandable. But indulging it would induce only momentary satisfaction followed by an enduring case of political indigestion. Ocalan's execution is bound to reignite Kurdish separatist fury, while keeping him alive could be the key to forging peace.

-- Star Tribune, Minneapolis, U.S.