Judges at the treason trial of Kurdish rebel leader Mr Abdullah Ocalan, adjourned proceedings yesterday and said they would deliver a verdict on Tuesday.
Mr Ocalan's defence lawyers completed their case at the end of a trial which, by Turkish standards, has been remarkably quick, lasting less than a month.
A death sentence appears almost inevitable for Mr Ocalan (50), who offered no legal defence but said he was willing to negotiate peace in the troubled south-east of Turkey if his life was spared. The sentence could have profound national and international repercussions for Turkey.
Mr Ocalan says his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas will mount a broad campaign of violence if he is executed. Protests by Kurdish groups, like those which followed Mr Ocalan's capture in Kenya in February, might also be expected in Europe.
Washington warned US citizens earlier this week of possible violence following the verdict.
The trial has been the focus of high emotion, with Mr Ocalan giving evidence in a glass box in a courtroom on the high-security Imrali Island. Mothers of dead soldiers have been present holding pictures of their sons.
Mr Ocalan offered his apologies to them and bowed to one woman, saying several times: "I share your pain."
More than 29,000 people have been killed in a 14-year campaign for Kurdish self-rule, spearheaded by Mr Ocalan.
The military has claimed major successes since the high point of the PKK's campaign in the early 1990s.
Mr Ocalan's capture crowned an aggressive military-backed diplomatic effort to entrap the PKK leader.
If a death sentence is passed, Mr Ocalan may appeal. If that appeal is rejected, his fate is in the hands of politicians who must vote in parliament to confirm the death penalty. In a country dominated since the general election last April by nationalists, a vote for execution would seem inevitable.
A greater test of Turkey's political leaders would then follow. Recent local polls showed deep discontent in the mainly Kurdish south-east, with a group known to be sympathetic to the PKK taking power in several cities.
Mr Ocalan's only recourse after the parliamentary vote would be to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. That appeal, challenging the fairness of the trial or the conditions of his capture, could take a minimum of six months.