April 30, 1999
Web posted at: 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT)

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan will be tried on treason and other charges on May 31, under a ruling handed down in a tense Turkish security court on Friday. He faces a possible death penalty.

Ocalan has been indicted for all acts of violence perpetrated by his Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, blamed for the deaths of 9,818 civilians, soldiers, police officers and government-paid village guards.

For safety reasons, the trial will take place on Imrali, the prison island in the Sea of Marmara where Ocalan is being held as the sole prisoner.

Authorities fear possible attacks by Turks who lost relatives in the Kurds' 15-year war for autonomy.

Some of the relatives staged an angry demonstration outside the courtroom Friday, draping themselves in Turkish flags, carrying pictures of their dead and shouting anti-Ocalan slogans. A few broke through a police escort and punched one of Ocalan's 14 lawyers as he walked into the building.

Ocalan was already being tried in absentia in various cases. The cases have been combined.

Ocalan launched PKK's armed struggle for autonomy in Turkey's southeast in 1984. Some 37,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Turkey hoped that his capture in Kenya would deal the final blow to his rebels, but the PKK has launched several deadly attacks to avenge his arrest.

Clashes between army and the rebels are continuing in the southeast. The military also frequently launches cross-border offensives in northern Iraq to hunt down rebels who maintain bases there.

If Ocalan is sentenced to death as expected, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party has said it will push parliament to approve the execution, something it has not done since 1984.

The party's campaign posters for the recent election depicted Ocalan as a devil devouring a child. Read the slogan: "Turkish nation made its decision: Execution."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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