In a statement read out by his lawyer Giuliano Pisapia, Öcalan unveiled a seven-point peace plan.

"We want to do as the Basques (in Spain) and the IRA. We ask for greater autonomy and freedom, respect for our language and culture, and democracy like in the rest of Europe'', said the statement, which also reiterated a pledge made last week by Abdullah Öcalan to renounce terrorism and violence. "All of the PKK agrees with this...and from Italy I ask Europe to support our peace plan'', it added.

At a Rome press conference, Akif Hasan, representative of the European Section of the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan, ERNK, emphasised that the front and the PKK agreed with Öcalan's peace proposals, as did the guerrilla fighters. Hasan said that anger and indignation had been consigned to the past and that a solution was in sight.

Responding to questions concerning international conventions, Akif Hasan stressed that while the PKK had always complied with the Geneva Conventions and had released all Turkish soldiers it had captured, the same could not be said of Turkey who had not released Kurdish prisoners of war.

Öcalan proposed seven ideas to resolve the PKK's 14-year armed struggle for self-rule in Turkey's southeast:

- The end of (Turkish) military operations against Kurdish villages;
- The return of forcibly displaced Kurdish refugees to their villages;
- The abolition of 'village guard system';
- Autonomy for the Kurdish region within Turkey's existing borders;
- The granting to the Kurdish people of all democratic rights enjoyed by Turks;
- Official recognition of Kurdish identity, language and culture;
- Freedom of religion and pluralism.

The statement also said the PKK is urging Europe to help facilitate an international conference on the Kurdish question.

The PKK was planning to hold a congress next month to approve the plan officially, the statement said, but did not specify where the congress would be held.

Öcalan said the PKK was ready to accept any position Europe would adopt to resolve the Kurdish question. "We ask for the start of dialogue and a political path, which should be monitored by the United Nations and the European Union", his statement said.

Turkey reacted furiously last week when an Italian court ruled against recognising Turkey's arrest warrant for Öcalan because the Italian constitution forbids extradition of suspects to a country where they could face the death penalty. Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema said on Wednesday Italy wanted "a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue, based on the security of Turkey and the recognition of the rights of the Kurdish people.''

The Bonn government has said it has no plans to seek Öcalan's extradition despite apparent pressure from Italy, Turkey and the United States that he be tried in Germany. Hans-Ulrich Klose, a senior member of Schroeder's Social Democrats, warned on Wednesday that Germany, which is home to half a million Kurds and two million Turks, would be "importing Turkey's war'' along with Öcalan. Schroeder, speaking at a joint news conference in Brussels with the EU's Executive Commission President Jacques Santer, said he supported as "completely correct'' the Commission's position that any official Turkish boycott of Italian goods over the Öcalan affair could lead to EU retaliation. Santer said on Tuesday that any such boycott would be a breach of the EU's association and customs agreements with Ankara and could bring retaliation. D'Alema told Turkey to respect European democratic standards and human rights and to resolve the Kurdish problem peacefully if it wanted to join the European Union. An Italian Interior Ministry commission is examining Abdullah Öcalan's request for political asylum. 26/27 November 1998