Ocalan Capture Unites the Fractious Kurds

Left to their own devices, Kurdish organizations have always been prone to fighting one another. But nothing unites adversaries like a common enemy, as continued protests across Europe and even inside Turkey showed Friday. "Many Kurds who have never actually supported Abdullah Ocalan appear to be rallying to his defense," says TIME U.N. correspondent William Dowell. "And the curbs Turkey is placing on the trial will likely fuel their anger." Ocalan will be tried on a remote prison island, and has been denied access to his European lawyers. Arguments in his defense will be released to the public in summary form rather than verbatim.

Across the border, Turkey's offensive against Ocalan supporters in northern Iraq has Baghdad hopping mad. "Saddam has limited control over the Kurdish territories in the north, and he fears that Turkey may simply annex the region in order to stamp out Kurdish challenges," says Dowell. Saddam tends to be a little monopolistic about the right to beat up on Kurds under his jurisdiction.