The Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Mesut Yilmaz, pressing Italy for the extradition of the Kurdish guerrilla leader Mr Abdullah "Apo" Ocalan, said yesterday that no country that set him free could consider itself a home to justice.
"This murderer is responsible for the deaths of 30,000 people," Mr Yilmaz told a news conference.
More of Italy's ruling coalition parties yesterday opposed the extradition to Turkey of Mr Ocalan and backed political asylum for the man at the top of Ankara's wanted list for nearly 20 years. If Italy's centre-left government decides to grant asylum, the issue could develop into a serious diplomatic row between Italy and Turkey, two NATO allies.
If Mr Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan People's Party (PKK) is sent back, police can expect serious trouble in Rome, where more than 1,500 Kurds are protesting at his arrest.
An influential Turkish business group said yesterday that failure by Italy to respond to Turkey's extradition request could lead to a boycott of products from Italy, the second largest foreign exporter to Turkey.
However, the former Italian president, Mr Francesco Cossiga, head of the key UDR centrist party, without whose support the Prime Minister, Mr Massimo d'Alema, could not have formed a government majority three weeks ago, said extradition was out of the question. "One cannot treat the head of the military resistance of a people, which was recognised by the international community as a nation and then abandoned through political expediency . . . as a vulgar terrorist," Mr Cossiga said.
Mr Ocalan was arrested at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Thursday. Kurdish protesters gathered outside Rome's Celio military hospital, but Mr Ocalan was believed to be at a hospital in Palestrina, south of Rome. Elderly women in Kurdish costume joined young girls and men in traditional dances in separate lines.
More Kurds were expected to arrive from outside Italy, while others staged hunger strikes in Germany, Russia and Lebanon. Italian television reported similar action in Australia.
Turkey accuses Mr Ocalan and the PKK of responsibility for more than 29,000 deaths in a 14-year campaign for self-rule.