Turkey jails informer in controversial bombing

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Nov 10 (Reuters) A Kurdish ex-rebel, who informed for the Turkish army, was jailed for almost 40 years today for a bombing that has raised accusations of high-level army involvement.

The controversial case has focused attention on the role of the military in Turkey -- which the European Union would like to see reduced -- and the case was mentioned in Brussels' latest report on Turkey's progress towards membership.

Two soldiers have already been sentenced for the November, 2005 attack on a bookstore in Semdinli that sparked riots in the mainly Kurdish southeast. Critics said the security forces may have planned the attack to stir unrest in the region, which has suffered separatist violence since 1984.

The court today sentenced informer Veysel Ates, a former guerrilla from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), to 39 years and 11 months in jail. His term was in line with sentences handed to the two non-commissioned officers in June for the attack, in which one person was killed.

Adding to controversy over the case, a public prosecutor was sacked in April after he accused the head of Turkey's land forces General Yasar Buyukanit -- now head of the armed forces -- of organising an illegal group which planned the bombing.

The prosecutor said the general was trying to foment unrest and undermine Turkey's EU entry bid -- which the army has denied. One person was killed in the attack.

The PKK -- considered a terrorist organisation by the EU, United States and Turkey -- launched its campaign for an independent homeland in 1984 and Ankara blames it for the deaths of more than 30,000 people.

Reuters SP VV1937