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Turkish mothers grieve for their sons, who were killed in Turkey's ethnic RELATED VIDEO CNN's Matthew Chance looks at the progress of the trial Windows Media 28K 80K

June 29, 1999
Web posted at: 2:38 a.m. EST (0738 GMT)

MUDANYA, Turkey (CNN) -- Hundreds of grieving families who have lost a son in Turkey's bitter ethnic war were gathered Monday in Mudanya on the Sea of Marmara to await a verdict in the treason trial of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Ocalan is expected to be sentenced Tuesday to hang for his part in organizing the Kurdish resistance to Turkey's government. The families waiting in Mudanya believe such a sentence would be just.

Nearly 30,000 have already died in the war. One more, they said, could make a difference.

"Abdullah Ocalan must die," said one woman, "so that more mothers will not have to suffer like we have, and so that their children can live in peace."

Their sons, all Turkish soldiers, were killed in fighting between government forces and rebels of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), the ethnic Kurd separatist group whose leader's fate now lies in the hands of his enemies.

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Turkish police have been put on alert across the country in preparation for the verdict. Security has been reinforced, according to a Turkish official, at airports, embassies and tourist sites. More than a dozen people died in violent protests after Turkish commandos captured Ocalan in February.

Throughout his trial, Ocalan has remained seated in a bulletproof cube in a courtroom on Imrali, a heavily guarded prison island across from Mudanya. Facing charges of treason and murder, his testimony has rested not on denial, but on an offer to call off the Kurdish insurgency he leads in the country's southeast.

"Just imagine the fighting, the violence and the chaos in Turkey if he is executed," said Niyazi Bulgan, one of Ocalan's attorneys. "The guns will never stop. But if his life is spared, the whole problem of the Kurdish issue in this country could be solved."

Ocalan's lawyers have more than just a courtroom to convince. The entire country and its government are watching closely.

"The $65,000 question there is how credible they are," said political analyst Prof. Kemal Kirisci. "There is no way, absolutely no way of measuring the credibility of those statements."

No way, that is, except by giving them a chance. And the Turkish government has not been prepared in the past to take such a chance.

Following Ocalan's capture, a wave of Turkish nationalism spurred the governing coalition to victory in April's elections. Many politicians fear sparing his life now may damage their public support.

There have been accusations from human rights groups that political bias and public anger have made this an unfair trial. The Turkish government denies that.

But the overriding sentiment on Turkish streets is that if justice is to be done, Ocalan must be sentenced to death.

Ocalan will be given a chance to make a final statement before the verdict and sentence are handed down by the three-judge panel hearing the case. The Kurdish leader's lawyers say they will immediately appeal a death sentence to the European Court of Human Rights.

Correspondent Matthew Chance contributed to this report.

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