IMRALI ISLAND, Turkey -- Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan pleaded for his life and declared himself ready to cooperate with the Turkish state for peace and brotherhood Monday at the opening of his trial.
For 15 years, Ocalan's guerrillas have battled Turkish soldiers in the barren mountains of southeastern Turkey, fighting for the Kurdish people and their right to self-determination.But the battle now facing the iron-fisted leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, is in the courtroom, where he sat behind bulletproof and bombproof glass to defend himself against treason charges.
"For peace and brotherhood, I am ready to serve the Turkish state, and I believe that for this end I must remain alive," Ocalan told the court in his opening statement. He is widely expected to be convicted of treason and sentenced to die by the state security court.
The trial opened Monday in a converted movie theater on the heavily guarded prison island Imrali, where Ocalan is the only inmate.
During his statement, parts of which were shown on state-run TRT television, a somber-looking Ocalan, who appeared to have lost weight during his three months of detention, told the court he had not been tortured or mistreated.
Before prosecutors began reading from his 139-page indictment, Ocalan asked for forgiveness from the families of more than 5,000 soldiers who died in the 15-year war with his rebels.
"I share the grief of the families of the martyrs, and I promise here that I will from now on work for the establishment of peace," Ocalan said.
Several hundred more soldiers' relatives demonstrated at Mudanya, the port closest to the island, demanding the rebel leader be put to death. "Imrali will be Ocalan's grave," they chanted.
The court rejected a defense request for a delay in the trial.