Скачать с ютуб TURKEY: OCALAN TRIAL NEARS CONCLUSION - UPDATE в хорошем качестве

TURKEY: OCALAN TRIAL NEARS CONCLUSION - UPDATE

(23 Jun 1999) Turkish/Nat Abdullah Ocalan began making his final statements on Wednesday before a Turkish court trying him for treason. On the prison island of Imrali, defence lawyers are making a last ditch effort to save the Kurdish guerrilla leader from the gallows. In six days of hearings, they have tried to portray him as a man who could bring peace to southeastern Turkey, but he is expected to be sentenced to death on charges of treason and separatism. Abdullah Ocalan's hearing on the Turkish island of Imrali was temporarily delayed after the boat carrying Ocalan's lawyers to the island was forced to turn back due to bad weather. Relatives came aboard coast guard boats in high seas. In earlier hearings, the Kurdish guerrilla called on the government to declare an amnesty for his rebels and lift bans on the use of the Kurdish language. He is widely expected to be sentenced to death on charges of treason and separatism. Turks almost universally blame Ocalan and his Kurdistan Workers Party, or P-K-K, for all of the 37-thousand deaths during 15 years of fighting. The vast majority of those killed have been Kurdish civilians or guerrillas fighting for autonomy in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast, home to 10 (m) million people. Serif Tepeli is a Turkish Kurd injured in an attack by the P-K-K. SOUNDBITE: (Turkish) "This terrorist (Ocalan) talks about a Kurdish problem but he's lying, I am a Kurd and if there was a Kurdish problem I don't believe he'd be killing Kurds. Those dying are Kurds and those doing the killing are Kurds. If he (Ocalan) was a true Kurd he would not have caused so many deaths." SUPER CAPTION: Serif Tepeli, Turkish Kurd injured in an attack by the P-K-K Serif says his clan has come under intense pressure to join the separatists. SOUNDBITE: (Turkish) "They wanted us to join the PKK but we are not separatist terrorists. Because we refused to join them they have continually threatened us and slain us, this is why we are pursuing a case against him and we want him to hang." SUPER CAPTION: Serif Tepeli, Turkish Kurd injured in an attack by the P-K-K The case has raised concerns of human rights. The removal of the military judge from the trial answers some of the complaints by human rights organisations, but is unlikely to satisfy some critics. They have repeatedly complained that Ocalan was held for nine days without legal counsel and has since been allowed to speak with his lawyers only in the presence of masked soldiers. Foreign observers - called 'visitors' by the Turkish authorities - are attending the hearings. UPSOUND: (English) Council of Europe representative Lawyers for the prosecution say the hearing will take some time. SOUNDBITE: (Turkish) "They will start the defence today but according to reports, the defence lawyers have a one hundred page statement and Ocalan himself has a 40 page defence. If this is the case, they will not finish their defence until some time tomorrow and we can expect the verdict soon after that." SUPER CAPTION: Mehti Keskin, Lawyer for martyr families Ocalan was abducted by Turkish commandos in Nairobi, Kenya, in February, after European states refused to grant him refuge following his expulsion from Syria. His trial began on May 31 and was adjourned for two weeks to give the defence time to prepare its case. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...