Öcalan is a secret witness in Ergenekon coup trial, CHP claims

ISTANBUL

leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan, Hürriyet photo

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has claimed that the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan is one of the 44 secret witnesses in the ongoing Ergenekon coup trial, daily Hürriyet has reported.

"On Aug. 8 2008, Öcalan addressed the prosecutor of the trial, Zekeriya Öz, saying: 'The Ergenekon prosecutor can come to see me. I can offer him my knowledge and opinions about the case. My point of view must be requested.' It was revealed a short time ago that Şemdin Sakık, the leader of a terrorist organization who gave death commands to 33 soldiers, was a secret witness. Obviously, therefore, another is Abdullah Öcalan," CHP vice president Bülent Tezcan said.

The identity of a secret witness in the ongoing Ergenekon coup trial was revealed Nov. 6 to be Şemdin Sakık, a former top militant of the PKK and a close aide of its convicted leader, Abdullah Öcalan.