Indications emerged from both Ankara and Rome yesterday of a possible easing of tensions between Italy and Turkey in their continuing row over the Kurdish leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan.
In Ankara a government spokesman suggested that Turkey might be willing to forgo its request that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (KPP) leader be extradited to Turkey. In Rome the Justice Minister, Mr Oliviero Diliberto, expressed the hope that the two countries could arrive at "a reasonable agreement".
Mr Ocalan is leader of the Kurdish struggle for autonomy in south-eastern Turkey and is wanted on murder and treason charges by the Turkish government. Italy has enraged Turkey by refusing an extradition request for him because of a constitutional ban on extradition to countries such as Turkey where the death penalty remains on the statute book. A Turkish government spokesman, Mr Ahat Andican, however, said yesterday that Turkey might accept that Mr Ocalan could be "prosecuted under international law against terrorism and punished in a third country such as Italy and Germany".
Mr Ocalan, who is currently being held under house arrest in Rome pending his request for political asylum, was originally arrested on international warrants issued by both Turkey and Germany. A court decision in Rome last week rejected the Turkish extradition request but ordered Mr Ocalan to remain in Italy while awaiting a similar extradition request from Germany.
The Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini, said earlier this week that Italy was now awaiting Germany's decision, implying that if Germany had issued an international warrant for Mr Ocalan then it ought to request his extradition. The German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, said on Tuesday, however, that Germany would not be requesting Mr Ocalan's extradition.
The German authorities, mindful of Germany's 1.5 million resident Turks and 500,000 resident Kurds, are clearly worried that Germany could become a Turkish-Kurdish battlefield were the KPP leader to be extradited there.
Meanwhile in Rome, Mr Diliberto expressed the hope that Italy and Turkey could still find a resolution to the crisis. He told Italian radio yesterday: "I hope that we'll come to a reasonable agreement with Turkey, based on respect for both states."
Further signs of a possible easing of tension came yesterday from the Italian helicopter maker, Agusta, with confirmation that the semi-state company is still in the running for a $3.5 billion order for 145 strike helicopters from the Turkish Defence Ministry. Mr Gian-Maria Gros-Pietro, head of the state holding giant, IRI, said yesterday that the Turkish government is not boycotting Italian goods.
The IRI chief's comments conflicted with remarks made last weekend by the Turkish Defence Minister, Mr Ismet Sezgin, who had said that Agusta would not be invited to tender for the contract.
Mr Ocalan said yesterday he wanted to follow the same road towards peace as the IRA in Northern Ireland and Basques in Spain. "We want to do as the Basques and the IRA. We ask for greater autonomy and freedom, respect for our language and culture, and democracy like in the rest of Europe," he said in a statement read by his lawyer.