FEBRUARY 18

TURKEY: Turkish government divided over lifting death penalty

Nationalists in Turkey's coalition government said Sunday they opposed lifting the death penalty, a key European Union demand for the country's membership in the group.

 In September, Turkey limited the death penalty to cases involving terrorism and those that happen during times of war. The EU, though, has demanded that Turkey eliminate capital punishment altogether and not hang Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, now on death row.

 The EU's demand to abolish capital punishment would amount to giving concessions to Kurdish rebels, the nationalists said. Ocalan is the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

 "Yes to EU, but you can't accept demands which overlap with those of the PKK," said Ismail Kose, deputy chairman of the Nationalist Action Party. "We will certainly continue to oppose lifting the death penalty in crimes committed against the state."

 Ocalan was sentenced to death in 1999 on charges of treason for leading a separatist rebellion against the state for autonomy in the country's Kurdish-dominated southeast.

 Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit is hoping to lift the death penalty by reaching a consensus in parliament for the sake of EU membership.

 Turkey has not executed anyone since 1984.