IMRALI ISLAND, Turkey -- Abdullah Ocalan received a death sentence Tuesday, a widely expected verdict against the Kurdish rebel leader whom many Turks hold responsible for 37,000 deaths in 15 years of war.
Ocalan, 50, looked somber but said nothing as Judge Turgut Okyay read out the sentence by the three-judge panel. The sentence was broadcast live from this prison island on state-run TRT television.When the judge finished pronouncing him guilty of treason and for leading a bloody campaign of separatism in southeastern Turkey, Ocalan turned to the door of his bulletproof and bombproof glass enclosure, waved to his 12 lawyers and left the room.
Some weeped in Kurd centers across Europe after the verdict but no trouble was reported. The families of Turkish soldiers killed fighting the rebels began singing the national anthem after Okyay read the verdict. The relatives were in court as part of a civil suit.
Others chanted obscenities at the attorneys as they walked out of the court.
The charges that the three-judge panel found Ocalan (pronounced OH'-juh-lahn) guilty of carry an automatic death sentence but it will likely be months before an execution could occur.
If executed, Ocalan would be hanged.
Every death sentence in Turkey is automatically appealed. If the appeals court reaffirms the verdict, it will go to parliament and then to President Suleyman Demirel for approval, a process that could take months.
Although no one has been executed in Turkey for years, public pressure to hang Ocalan is extremely strong. The last person executed was Hidir Aslan, a Kurdish rebel hanged in October 1984.
Germany, Switzerland and Norway joined the Council of Europe in appealing to Turkey to refrain from putting Ocalan to death for leading a guerrilla war for a Kurdish homeland.
Imposing the death penalty on Ocalan threatens a rift between Turkey and its European partners as it seeks closer ties, including membership in the European Union.
Authorities in Germany as well as Austria, the Netherlands and Greece, home to large Kurdish communities, beefed up security before the verdict, mindful of the angry protests that erupted after Ocalan's capture in Kenya by Turkish commandos in February.
After Ocalan's capture, Kurds also staged violent attacks in Turkey, killing more than a dozen people.
In Berlin and Amsterdam, Kurds assembled after hearing the verdict, but no trouble was reported. Nearly 200 Kurds, some tossing stones, gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Many Kurds believe the United States helped Turkey abduct Ocalan four months ago.
In Washington, White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said, "We have long believed that Ocalan is an international terrorist who should be brought to justice." However, with an automatic appeal of the sentence, "I'm not going to comment on the process until it's completed."
In his final statement to the judges before the verdict, Ocalan appealed again for a chance to forge peace between the state and his rebels, state television reported.
"I am repeating my call, the determined promise I made at the onset, for a fair and honorable peace," Ocalan said. "I call on humanity, the state and all societal forces to fulfill their duty. The future of the country lies with peace, not war."