Imrali - The Kurdish rebel leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan, on trial for treason in Turkey, yesterday accused Greece of having for years obstructed his efforts to make peace with Turkey, the Anatolia news agency reported from the trial at the prison island.
"They tried to sabotage us since we began considering peace in 1993," Mr Ocalan told the court. Mr Ocalan said the Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, had decided in 1996 to drop him because of his efforts to persuade his Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to try for peace.
Lawyers for Mr Ocalan boycotted yesterday's hearing, saying they faced an atmosphere of hostility and police pressure but said they would attend today.
Meanwhile, Turkey's leading human rights activist, Mr Akin Birdal (50), was sentenced in Ankara yesterday to serve two one-year jail terms for sedition, a spokesman for the Turkish Human Rights Association said.