European Parliament voices concerns over Ocalan trial

NAZLAN ERTAN
Brussels - Turkish Daily News
The European Parliament has once more urged Turkey to allow international observers at the trial of Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader whose trial will start at the end of the month.
In a resolution penned by Austrian Socialist Hannes Swoboda, and supported by the seven main political groupings in the European Parliament (EP), the EP called on the European Union’s two other bodies, the Council and the Commission, to „provide the Parliament with regular and detailed reports on the trial.“
Reiterating Parliament’s „firm opposition“ to the death penalty, the resolution repeated the reservations of the European deputies towards the State Security Court (DGM) that will try Ocalan.
„The Parliament underlines its concern that a State Security Court is being used in the trial of Ocalan, as the involvement of military judges compromises the independence of the process,“ the resolution said.
The resolution made reference to the „significant nationalist gains“ in the last elections, but added that the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) had also increased its votes „despite harassment and imprisonment of many of its leaders and activists.“
The resolution also asked the would-be government of Turkey to „address the causes of the conflict in Turkey by promoting both the urgent and the necessary reforms to the political and legal system and economic and social development in the Kurdish areas of Turkey.“
It also urged the European Council and Commission to take measures to assist the promotion of constitutional and legal reforms guaranteeing the right of free expression, as proposed by the chief of Turkey’s Constitutional Court.