ANKARA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Turkey's Justice Minister was quoted on Tuesday as saying
Turkey might have to review a stay of execution for Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan if
he continued making "provocative" public statements.

Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk's comments followed a statement issued by Ocalan's
lawyers last week in which he warned that fighting between Kurdish guerrillas and Turkish
troops in northern Iraq could spread to Turkey.

Turk was quoted by Aksam newspaper as saying Ocalan's lawyers may face prosecution for
disseminating the remarks by Ocalan, held on a prison island near Istanbul since being
convicted of treason in 1999 and sentenced to hang.

Turkey has said it will not carry out the death penalty while the European Court of Human
Rights examines an appeal by Ocalan, known in Turkey by the name "Apo."

"A certain level of tolerance is shown for Apo," Turk was quoted as saying. "But it may be
an overall offence for him to engage in such a provocative attitude."

CRUCIAL WARNING TO OCALAN

Aksam quoted Turk as saying that Turkey had delayed carrying out the death penalty on
strict conditions. "There was a crucial warning in there -- the decision was taken on
condition that nobody would abuse it," he said.

"That was clearly stated in the third article. There it was said 'Whatever is necessary will be
done unless these (conditions) are fulfilled'," he was quoted as saying." We do not wish to
end up with this situation. We wish the continuation of peace and prosperity and that no new
problem emerges."

Executing Ocalan could re-ignite tensions in the mainly Kurdish southeast, where fighting
has subsided in the last year. It would also be condemned by the European Union, which
Turkey wants to join and which demands abolition of capital pubishment.

Public statements by Ocalan, dubbed the "baby killer" by the Turkish press at the time of his
capture in Kenya in 1999, are likely to inflame feeling in the nationalist wing of Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit's delicate left-right coalition.

Ecevit opposes capital punishment, but his Nationalist Action Party allies seek Ocalan's
execution for his part in a 16-year separatist campaign that cost over 30,000 lives. Any
conflict over the issue could upset a coalition vital to the prosecution of an
IMF-backed financial reform programme.

GENERALS ARE UNHAPPY

Another newspaper quoted the powerful Chief of General Staff, Huseyin Kivrikoglu, as
saying that 1,660 supporters of Ocalan's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had been
freed under an amnesty last month.

Clearly exasperated over the releases, he said they might now join around 500 armed PKK
men in Turkey or 4,500 abroad, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.

Turkey has said it provides technical support to two Kurdish factions in northern Iraq, the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani, and the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) led by Massoud Barzani.

"Now the PKK is concerned that Talabani and Barzani will organize an attack in spring and
that Turkey will support this. That is why it is nervous," Kivrikoglu was quoted as saying.

Turkey maintains a permanent presence in northern Iraq to combat PKK guerrillas who
largely pulled out of Turkey when Ocalan, facing death, called a ceasefire in 1999.

The breakaway enclave of northern Iraq has been out of the control of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein since the 1991 Gulf War and is controlled by erstwhile rivals the PUK and
KDP.

Turkey has denied reports it is building up its forces for an offensive against the PKK,
though it has vowed to wipe out the guerrilla group and has enrolled Iraqi Kurds in both
factions to join the fight against it.

Asked about the situation in northern Iraq, Kivrikoglu said: "Everything is under our control
there."
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com