Kurd Protest: Triumphant Turks hold Ocalan in jail

THE KURDISH rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was in a Turkish island prison yesterday as officials refused to comment on reports that the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, had been involved in his capture. "I can't give full details," Bulent Ecevit, the Turkish Prime Minister, said. "I myself don't know all the details."

Turkish officials are bursting with pride at the success of the military in snatching the country's most wanted fugitive from Greek diplomats in Nairobi. Yesterday they pointed an accusing finger at Greece for giving it "incorrect and misleading" information on Mr Ocalan's whereabouts, when he was actually being sheltered in the Greek embassy in Kenya.

The Kurds are a constant irritant in Turkey's fraught relations with Greece, which has long supported their struggle against Turkish rule.

The Turkish military yesterday pressed home its advantage against the demoralised Kurds, sending tanks and troops into the enclave of northern Iraq controlled by Mr Ocalan's Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).

In Ankara Mr Ecevit confirmed the Kurdish leader was being held on an island in the Sea of Marmara, and that a prison there was being evacuated to make way for him.

Turkish television yesterday broadcast video footage of Mr Ocalan on the flight that took him from Kenya to Turkey. A visibly distressed Mr Ocalan was shown secured to his seat and talking to three of his captors, their faces masked with balaclavas. There was no obvious sign of his being ill treated.

"Abdullah Ocalan, welcome home," said a member of the special forces. "You are our guest from now on."

"Thank you," said Mr Ocalan. "I really love Turkey and the Turkish people."

Reports of the capture in Turkish newspapers said it was carried out by Turkish special forces. But the vital questions, of whether Mossad was involved and of whether Mr Ocalan was kidnapped or handed over to Turkey by Greek or Kenyan officials, both remained unanswered.

According to Turkish reports, Turkish intelligence learnt that Mr Ocalan was in Kenya on 4 February, two days after he is believed to have arrived there. Special forces travelled to Nairobi on a private jet. Mr Ecevit said yesterday that the team involved numbered no more than five, excluding the jet's crew and a medic.

The reports say Mr Ocalan left the Greek embassy by car early on Tuesday morning. The special forces followed the car and apprehended the Kurdish leader. He was immediately flown to Turkey.

As protests continued across Europe, the Turkish Prime Minister was defiant. "Many European countries ignored the fact that Turkey suffered from terrorism," he said. "Now these same countries are suffering the same ill effects."

He reacted angrily to calls for a fair trial from the Italian, French and Spanish governments. "No European country has the right to lecture us on the subject," he said. "Despite prosecutors' warrants for Ocalan they were too afraid to try him."

Turkey refused Mr Ocalan's Dutch lawyers entry to the country, saying he would be represented by Turkish lawyers.

"Nobody can deny Turkey has an independent and functioning legal system," Mr Ecevit said. Last year a Turkish judge resigned, saying that the judiciary was not independent. Mr Ecevit said yesterday he was opposed to the death penalty.

The storm of publicity Mr Ocalan's capture has provoked may yet prove unwelcome to Turkey. Security forces as well as the PKK are accused of grave human rights abuses. Despite repeated ceasefire claims from the PKK, most recently last September, Turkey has steadfastly refused to talk with the rebels. The publicity could also focus on the plight of Turkey's Kurdish population, caught between security forces and the PKK.

Turkey's emergence as a major power, Review page 4