Turkey's government coalition decided yesterday to postpone hanging Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan until a European rights court has given its judgment on the case.
"We have decided to hold the [Ocalan] file at the prime ministry, but this period will not be indefinite," the left-wing Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, said after seven hours of talks persuading his partners to adopt this course.
Mr Ecevit, who personally opposes the death penalty, was flanked at a news conference by his hardline nationalist partner, Mr Devlet Bahceli, and Mr Mesut Yilmaz, leader of the smaller centre-right Motherland Party.
Mr Bahceli swept to power in April polls pledging to hang Ocalan, seen responsible for the deaths of 30,000 people in a 15-year armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule in the south-east.
The nationalist politician declined to answer reporters' questions as to whether differences had been fully overcome. "Our prime minister has spoken. It would not be right for us to comment," he said.
The European Court of Human Rights has asked Turkey to stay any execution while it considers Ocalan's appeal that the death penalty breaches European law - a process which could take up to 18 months.
"When the process required under our international obligations is complete, the file will be sent swiftly to parliament," Mr Ecevit said, adding that any ruling would not change the verdict itself.
The assembly's 550 deputies would then vote on whether to carry out the execution. Turkey has not executed anyone since 1984.
The Ocalan issue is widely seen as the first real threat to the unity of the left-right coalition, which is credited with giving Turkey its most stable government in years.
A delay postpones a potentially divisive debate between the coalition partners that could threaten their alliance and jeopardise a three-year programme of fiscal reform backed by $4 billion in IMF loans.
Portugal, holder of the EU presidency, yesterday sent a thinly veiled warning that executing Ocalan could jeopardise Ankara's bid to join the bloc.
"We would not be starting on the right foot in the effort to bring Turkey and the EU closer together if Turkey takes decisions which are not compatible with European principles," the Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Mr Francisco Seixas de Costa, said.