Filed at 10:11 a.m. EST

By The Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- In an effort to get Italy to extradite the leader of a Kurdish rebel group, Turkey's justice

minister submitted a draft bill today that would abolish the death penalty.

Italy, which last week detained Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, has refused to extradite people when there is a

chance they may face the death penalty. Ocalan (pronounced Oh-jah-lan) is seeking political asylum.

``If it is enacted by the Parliament, the death penalty will be lifted,'' Justice Minister Hasan Denizkurdu told reporters

after meeting with Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz. The Cabinet will discuss the issue in the coming days.

If enacted, the draft bill would replace the death penalty with a sentence of life in prison.

In Rome today, some 2,000 Kurdish supporters of Ocalan gathered outside a military hospital where he is believed

held. Many are on a hunger strike to protest his detention.

Kurds from across Western Europe have been streaming into the Italian capital to show support, and there have also

been protests and hunger strikes in Germany, Austria, Romania, and Russia.

Ocalan, 49, the leader of a 14-year Kurdish guerrilla war for autonomy in southeast Turkey, is the most wanted man in

Turkey. He is blamed for the deaths of thousands of people. Some 37,000 people have died in the conflict.

He was arrested in Rome upon his arrival from Russia last week. In a letter to Italian Premier Massimo D'Alema,

excerpts of which were published today in the daily La Stampa, Ocalan said he had been visited by legislators and

other government officials who had indicated he would be granted asylum.

Italian authorities plan to interrogate Ocalan on Tuesday to evaluate his asylum request.

Turkey has not carried out any executions since 1984 despite issuing death sentences.

Meanwhile, a group of Turks laid a black wreath at the gate of the Italian Embassy in Ankara today to protest the

beating of Turkish journalists in Rome by supporters of Ocalan on Saturday.

And Turkish prisoners in Istanbul took an Italian inmate hostage to try to pressure Italy to extradite Ocalan. The

Italian, Mauro Calascibetta, was taken hostage Sunday. He is awaiting extradition to Switzerland in connection with

an attempted killing. Authorities were negotiating today to try to end the standoff.

Under the current penal code Ocalan could face the death sentence for charges of leading a terrorist organization,

threatening the country's territorial integrity and ordering killings. He is being tried in absentia.

Ocalan's arrest has left the future of his movement, the Kurdistan Workers Party, in doubt. Turkey says it has expelled

Ocalan's forces from its borders, but the rebels have hideouts in Iran, Syria, and Iraq, and the fighting continues.