Ocalan's death sentence

Hanging Abdullah Ocalan will not improve Turkey's relationship with its Kurdish minority. Making a martyr of him could ignite new Turkish violence.

Hanging Ocalan would also put more strain on Turkey's already tense relationship with European neighbors who reject the death penalty. The most imaginative route for Turkey now might be to wait until today's passion and polemics fade away. Formally commuting the death sentence might, for now, strike Turkish voters as weak.

But if Ocalan was alive, in prison, with a death sentence over his head, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) might exercise more restraint; meanwhile, the Turkish Government would win time for a broader approach to the Kurdish question. This would let Turkey move toward taking its pragmatic interest, close ties with Europe, as seriously as its principles.

-- The Times, London