The European Union has welcomed Turkey's decision to delay the execution of the Kurdish rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

The execution has been delayed while the European Court of Human Rights considers his appeal.

An EU spokesman said: "The commission welcomes the decision. We think it's the right way to handle this issue.

"It's in respect of democracy, human rights and the international commitments of Turkey."

In Rome, the Colosseum is being lit up to mark the Turkish Government's change of heart.

As part of a campaign against the death penalty which began in December, the Colosseum's illumination changes from white to gold for 48 hours whenever someone in the world is spared from execution.

But in Turkey about 100 people protested against the decision at one of Istanbul's main cemeteries.

And two relatives of soldiers killed by the PKK set fire to themselves.

Other demonstrators doused the flames and the two protesters were taken to hospital suffering from burns.

The decision to delay sending the death sentence to Turkey's parliament for ratification follows a request by the European Court of Human Rights not to execute Ocalan until it reviews the case, which could take up to two years.

Deep divisions

The European Union accepted Turkey as a candidate for membership last month - a huge step for the country, which has been working towards joining the union since 1963.

"We have decided to hold the [Ocalan] file at the prime ministry, but this period will not be indefinite," Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said after seven hours of talks with his nationalist and conservative coalition partners.

Mr Ecevit warned the process to execute Ocalan could begin again at any time.

"If [Ocalan's] rebel organisation and its supporters attempt to use this process against the high interests of the state, then the process of delaying will be halted and the process of execution will be started immediately," he said.

Turkey's three-party ruling coalition had been deeply divided, with Mr Ecevit saying Turkey had an obligation to heed the court's request while his nationalist partners had wanted to give parliament the chance to ratify the sentence as soon as possible.

Correspondents say a failure to resolve the dispute could have meant the fall of Mr Ecevit's government.

But one of the main supporters of executing Ocalan, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the hardline Nationalist Action Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli, stood by Mr Ecevit as he made his announcement.

Mr Bahceli, who was elected in April on a platform demanding Ocalan's death, declined to comment on his support for the suspension.

But there is grassroots nationalist support for carrying out Ocalan's death sentence.

The rebel leader was sentenced to death for treason by a Turkish court in June, a ruling upheld in November by an appeal court.

He had led a 15-year war for autonomy in overwhelmingly Kurdish south-eastern Turkey, in which some 37,000 people were killed.