The joy may be premature, however, with the verdict having first to be upheld by an appeals court, then parliament, the president and somewhere in between the European Court of Human Rights.

Turkish politicians will come under immense pressure from European countries to commute the death sentence to one of life in prison.

Various European politicians came out before the trial asking that Ocalan be tried in a fair manner, and many have been disappointed.

Turkey's relationship with Europe has often stumbled on the issue of human rights and hanging Ocalan will only make things worse with a possibility that Turkey could be kicked out of the Council of Europe.

In a vacuum there would be no doubt as to how the parliament would vote. Popular support to hang Ocalan is huge insideTurkey and the two biggest parties in parliament rode to prominence in April's national elections on a wave of nationalist fervour that swept Turkey following Ocalan's capture in Africa last February.

Rather then voting to save Ocalan themselves, Turkish politicians may prefer the European Court of Human Rights to do it for them.

During the trial, Ocalan's lawyers complained a number of times that they did not have adequate access to their client, that all meetings they did have were supervised and that notes taken were photocopied.

Other questionable procedures that an appeal to the human rights court could be based on is that Ocalan was held incommunicado for nine days after his capture and that one of the judges on the state security court panel was replaced midway through the trial.

During what he termed his ``political defence,'' the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) leader said he could end the war that has claimed 30,000 lives since 1984 within three months if his life was spared.

He said that thetime had come for an end to the war and that Kurds and Turks should live together in an undivided Turkish republic.

While this was seen by the Turkish media as a desperate attempt to save his neck, the PKK leadership council came out in total support.

The message itself has not been seriously debated in Turkey and the chances that Turkish authorities would be willing to cooperate with the man who newspapers continue to dub ``the baby killer'' is almost unthinkable.

As long as the authorities and the media continue to think of the bloody conflict in the southeast as ``a terrorism problem'' and not a ``Kurdish problem'', it is doubtful whether real reforms will be implemented.

Teaching, broadcasting or publishing in the Kurdish language is banned, unemployment in the region is astronomical and the area has been under emergency rule since 1987.

Not all Kurds see Ocalan as a hero. Many are disgusted at the terrorist tactics that his organisation have used in the past and have continued to use. Ocalanis, however, a symbol for Kurds in a country where to peacefully call for a democratic solution can often lead to a stiff jail sentence.