Carrying out the death sentence passed on Kurdish rebel...

Carrying out the death sentence passed on Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan would simply enable him to do more damage to Turkey from beyond the grave, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said. He made the remark in response to calls from the National Action Party, his right-wing partners in the cobbled-together governing coalition, to have parliament vote immediately to ratify Ocalan's death sentence. "As long as he is alive, Ocalan cannot harm us any more," Ecevit argued. "Politically, he is already dead. But if we execute him, his death may harm the country. He may be resurrected politically if he is killed." The prime minister noted that Kurdish terrorist attacks had virtually come to an end following Ocalan's capture and stressed that the government should not do anything that would restart the violence.