Brussels, 04/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday evening a declaration by Commissioner for Enlargement, Günter Verheugen, welcomed the decision by the Turkish State Security Court to commute the death sentence against the leader of the Kurdish Workers Party, Abdullah Ocalan, to life imprisonment. The Commissioner said, "I welcome this decision which is clearly in line with the spirit of the recently adopted reforms in Turkey". The European Commission had earlier approved the reforms by the Turkish Parliament at the beginning of August, "particularly the abolition of the death penalty, the authorisation of television distribution in the different languages and dialects traditionally used by Turkish citizens in their daily lives and the improvement of education opportunities in minority languages (EUROPE 6 August). The Commission and the Presidency, however, are remaining very cautious, insisting on the implementation of these reforms. According to the Turkish authorities, the EU must now indicate the date for the launch of accession negotiations with Turkey but European authorities are for the instant refusing to comment. Director General for Enlargement at the European Commission, Eneko Landburu, declared to a gathering of students in mid-September, the sentiments of what was being whispered in Brussels and other capitals, "We haven't drawn any definitive conclusions yet but…it is probable that we will not propose a date for opening negotiations" because there are still, "extremely important grey areas" in the Turkish political system. He was alluding, in particular, to the role of the military (EUROPE of 20 September, p. 7).