ABSTRACT
In February 1999, the leader of the PKK, Abdullah O¨calan, was captured in
Nairobi, Kenya, and was brought to Turkey by Turkish security forces. Following
his trial, in summing up the accusations against Mr. O¨calan, the prosecutors of
the Ankara State Security Court no. 2 asked for the capital punishment of
O¨calan under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code. Article 125 of the Turkish
Penal Code titled ‘‘Treason and Crimes Against the State’s Country and Sover-
eignty’’ states that ‘‘[t]he person who commits crimes aiming at putting the whole
or a part of the state’s territories under a foreign state’s sovereignty, diminishing
the state’s independence, or separating a part of territories which are under the
state’s sovereignty from the state’s administration, will be sentenced to death.’’
The court sentenced Abdullah O¨calan to death on June 29, 1999. Kurds around
the world objected to the decision; several European nations voiced their con-
cerns about the penalty and expressed their desire that the penalty not be
imposed. On July 2, 1999, Mr. O¨calan’s lawyers asked the European Court of
Human Rights (ECtHR) to request the Turkish government to stay the decision
to impose the death penalty until the Court could decide the merits of their
complaints. The ECtHR, on July 6, 1999, asked Turkey ‘‘to take all necessary
steps to ensure that the death penalty is not carried out so as to enable the Court
to proceed effectively with the examination of the admissibility and merits of the
applicant’s complaints under the Convention.’’
