Editing Abdullah Öcalan (section)

==Capture and trial==
[[File:Cyprus_Passport_of_Abdullah_Öcalan.jpg|thumb|274px|PKK leader Öcalan allegedly used this Cypriot passport to enter Kenya where he was taken in and protected by the Greek embassy.]][[File:PKK_Supporters_London_April_2003.jpg|thumb|212px|Öcalan supporters in London, April 2003]]Until 1998, Öcalan was based in Syria. As the situation deteriorated in Turkey, the Turkish government openly threatened Syria over its support for the PKK. As a result, the Syrian government forced Öcalan to leave the country, but did not turn him over to the Turkish authorities. Öcalan went to Russia first and from there moved to various countries, including Italy and Greece. In 1998 the Turkish government requested the extradition of Öcalan from Italy. He was at that time defended by Britta Böhler, a high-profile German attorney who argued that he fought a legitimate struggle against the oppression of ethnic Kurds.

He was captured in Kenya on February 15<sup>th</sup>, 1999, while being transferred from the Greek embassy to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport inNairobi, in an operation by the Millî İstihbarat Teşkilâtı (Turkish: ''National Intelligence Organization'') reportedly with the help of CIA.George Costoulas, the Greek consul who protected him, said that his life was in danger after the operation.

Speaking to Can Dündar on NTV Turkey, the Deputy Undersecretary of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, Cevat Öneş, said that Öcalan impeded American aspirations of establishing a separate Kurdish state. The Americans transferred him to the Turkish authorities, who flew him back to Turkey for trial. His capture led thousands of Kurds to protest at Greek and Israeli embassies around the world. Kurds living in Germany have been threatened with deportation if they continue to hold demonstrations in support of Öcalan. The warning came after three Kurds were killed and 16 injured during the 1999 attack on the Israeli Consulate in Berlin. Öcalan stated that his mother is of Turkish origin and that he was ready to serve the people of Turkey in any way.

After his capture, Öcalan was held in solitary confinement as the only prisoner on İmralı island in the Sea of Marmara. Although former prisoners at İmralı were transferred to other prisons, more than 1,000 Turkish military personnel were stationed on the island to guard him. A state security court consisting of three military judges was convened on the island to try him. Öcalan was charged with and convicted of treason and separatism, and sentenced to death. This sentence was commuted to life imprisonment upon the abolition of the death penaltyin Turkey in August 2002. No one had been executed in Turkey since 1984. The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) may have aided this case's decision.

Following the commutation, Öcalan remained imprisoned on İmralı, and was the sole inmate there. In November 2009, Turkish authorities announced that Öcalan would be relocated to a new prison on the island and that they were ending his solitary confinement by transferring several other PKK prisoners to İmralı. They said that Öcalan would be allowed to see them for ten hours a week. The new prison was built after the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture visited the island and objected to the conditions in which he was being held.

In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkey had violated articles 3, 5 and 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights by granting Öcalan no effective remedy to appeal his arrest and sentencing him to death without a fair trial. Öcalan's request for a retrial was refused by the Turkish court.