On June 29, apropos of the death sentence awarded to...

On June 29, apropos of the death sentence awarded to Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan, the Blair Government said that the sentence was a question that concerned the Turkish authorities, but that the Government and the European Union would continue to insist until all death sentences, including this one, were commuted to life imprisonment - but this should happen at the end of the entire legal proceedings. Labor MEP Pauline Green, leader of the Socialist group in Strasbourg, launched an appeal to Turkish parliamentarians not to confirm the death penalty for Ocalan and thus prevent relations between Turkey and the EU from deteriorating. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook also said he was against the execution of the leader of the PKK. Acknowledging that it fell into the realm of Turkish internal affairs, he affirmed that he hoped Ankara would keep in place the moratorium introduced in 1984 and confirmed that the United Kingdom "is strongly opposed" to the death penalty "as a matter of principle", as was the European Union.