``protest to the death'' for Ocalan

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Kurds promise ``protest to the death'' for Ocalan 
08:33 a.m. Nov 17, 1998 Eastern 

By Philip Pullella 

ROME, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Leaning over the bonnet of the white car
where he sleeps with three other Kurds, Mehmet Emin brushes his teeth
with mineral water and begins another day of life on the street to
demand the release of Abdullah Ocalan.

Emin, a 30-year-old who drives a bus at the airport in Duisburg,
Germany, is one of some 4,000 Kurds who have come to Rome from all
over Europe. They are holding what they call a ``protest to the
death'' until the Kurdish leader gets political asylum.

Emin's current home, a dusty old Opel Kadett with German plates, is
among the best housing for Kurds camped out around Rome's Celio
military hospital.

He is lucky. Many of his comrades sleep on the street, covered by
blankets dispensed by local charities.

``There are more than 40 million Kurds and they don't have their own
state. They should have a state or at least their democratic rights,''
said Emin.

After a quick cup of weak but hot tea dispensed by a Rome communist
organisation, Emin, a native of Batman in Turkey, took his place among
the demonstrators.

The chanting among the crowd rose with the early morning temperature.

``An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth! We are with you until death,
Ocalan,'' they chanted, their fists clenched and eyes red with fatigue
and passion.

Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which
Turkey holds responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in a
14-year fight for self-determination, was arrested at Rome's Fiumicino
airport on Thursday.

Italian leaders across the political spectrum have supported his
demands for political asylum, creating a vexing political problem for
relations with NATO-ally Turkey.

Ocalan, known by his nom de guerre -- ``Apo'' -- is considered a
terrorist by the Turkish government. But on the pavement in front of
the military hospital, he is a saint, his flower bedecked pictures
icons.

For many in the crowd, the yellow, green and red banners of the PKK
also served as a inadequate blanket against the morning chill.

The five-day vigil has been largely peaceful, though some Turkish
journalists have accused the Kurds of roughing them up.

In the middle of the crowd, Asiyon Can, 28, a Kurdish woman with a
slight body but fire in her eyes picked up a red battery-operated
magaphone to lead the morning cheering.

``We will stay here until Ocalan's political situation is cleared
up. We will stay here until the last drop of our blood,'' she told a
reporter in Turkish, speaking through an interpreter.

``Every Kurdish woman is like a bomb. If they don't do what we want,
if they don't release our leader, we are going to explode like a
bomb. We are ready to die. It has been known to happen before,'' she
said.

``Ocalan represents 40 million people and if he is not released it is
like jailing 40 million Kurds,'' she said.

People trying to get close to the demonstrators are frisked by members
of a self-styled Kurdish security operation.

``We don't want anyone to try to do something and then blame it on
us,'' said Dogan, one of the Kurdish security men wearing red arm
bands.

Like many men and women in the crowd, Dogan, who would not give his
last name, said he was willing to die for Ocalan. The possibility of
losing his factory job in Switzerland was the last thing on his mind.

``How can I care about my job if he represents my life?'' Dogan said
in the broken Italian he has picked up in an Italian canton of
Switzerland.

``I am willing to burn myself right here for Apo. He is my first and
only boss.''
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