Leading Article: Some answers to the Kurdish question

THE KURDISH PKK party which has organised the mass take-over of Greek embassies around Europe, is a hard outfit. No one should be in any doubt about that. Nor should there be any doubt about the party's leader, Abdullah Ocalan, whose rapid ejection from the Greek embassy in Nairobi and extradition to Turkey has set off this explosion of protest. The leader of the PKK for the last 14 years, he is a terrorist with an appalling record of murder and torture.

But, like the IRA, the PKK is a mirror image of the forces that have suppressed it. There are peoplse for whom history has shown no remorse. The Kurds are one of them. Caught in their mountain homeland at the point where Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran all meet, they have suffered the fate of being continually hounded by those nations.

On the whole the Iraqi Kurds have come out with a degree of dignity and some democracy, with their suffering at the hands of Saddam Hussein rightly condemned and their interests partially protected by the allies. The Kurds from Turkey have been less fortunate. Oppressed with the utmost brutality by the Turkish army, they have responded in kind, matching terror for terror. They have also, as we see now, taken their cause to Europe, in demonstrations, assassinations and hostage-taking that have shown as much organisational sophistication as ruthlessness. Seizing Greek official buildings in 10 cities simultaneously cannot be interpreted as an outpouring of spontaneous anger. It is clearly the result of a plan long laid, probably directed originally at Italy when it was considering extraditing the PKK leader, now directed at Greece.

The demonstrations and occupations must be ended decisively, and Turkey and Greece must be supported. Whatever the rights and wrongs of causes, the principles of extradition and the sanctity of diplomatic representation are far too crucial for compromise to be acceptable.

That said, Europe must also accept that the Kurds have been forced to take their struggle outside their own countries, and have the means to do so. There are now Kurdish communities throughout Europe, most of whom are genuine victims of political oppression at home with a right to asylum abroad.

At the same time, Turkey, a determined applicant for European Union membership and a stalwart ally in Nato, must be considered as part of a wider Europe.

The one fact needs to be balanced with the other. Turkey should be encouraged in its drive to join the EU. It should be supported in its extradition and trial of Ocalan. But at the same time it should be quietly made clear that the trial must be fair, and seen to be fair and that, in the end, the Turkish government will have to exercise democratic control of its security forces in the east of the country and deal by negotiation with Kurdish demands for autonomy. That is what being part of modern Europe means.