Fugitive Kurd Not Quite Ready to Quit, He Says

ROME —  Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was quoted Saturday as saying he would be prepared to step down as head of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, only if that would bring about the decisive change he feels the party needs.

The Italian news agency AGI said that Ocalan, who was arrested in Rome a month ago, clarified remarks he made to the Communist newspaper Il Manifesto in which he had appeared to be on the brink of resigning from the party he founded in 1978.

“I simply meant to say that I came to Italy to begin a peace process. . . In order to lead to concrete results, a radical change is needed in the PKK’s capacity for political intervention,” AGI quoted him as saying.

Ocalan was arrested after he flew to Rome from Moscow on a false passport. Italy has rejected Turkey’s demand for his extradition because its constitution forbids handing over suspects to a country where they could face the death penalty.