Shipowners hope that, if they do not succeed in getting rid of the payments by negotiation, a new convention on seafarers' rights being drafted at the International Labour Organisation, a United Nations body, will put an end to the scheme.

ECONOMIST: Shipping

Despite calling for a PKK cease-fire and peaceful negotiation following his capture, Ocalan was sentenced to death in 1999 following a trial condemned by the European Court of Human Rights.

CNN: PKK's decades of violent struggle