Formula for further escalation:
Greece and Turkey, US allies but traditional enemies, still at odds over
possession of Mediterranean territories like Cyprus -- Greece, having "ties
with fellow Orthodox Christian Serbs dating back to the Byzantine wars against
the Muslim Ottomans [of Turkey]" and "Moslem Turkey, which has close
historical ties to ethnic Albanians" ...
ANKARA, March 29 (Reuters) - These are the leading stories in the Turkish
press on Monday.
SABAH : The secrets of U.S. ``stealth'' technology crashed with the F-117A
fighter jet that came down near Belgrade.
HURRIYET : Greece air defences locked onto a Turkish F-16 flying over the
Aegean Sea. Turkey has sent a stern protest note to its formal NATO ally
calling the action ``hostile.''
RADIKAL : The Butcher returns. The Serbian militia leader known as ``Arkan''
has joined Serbian forces carrying out massacres in Kosovo.
ZAMAN : Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit expresses worry about a possible
spreading of conflict between Yugoslavia and NATO.
_____
Kosovo weighs on Turk PM Ecevit
By Pelin Turgut
ISTANBUL, March 28 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Sunday
faced the double spectre of fears of a spreading Balkan conflict abroad and
mounting Kurdish separatist violence at home.
Elections are to be held in just three weeks.
Turkish officials have expressed growing fear that NATO air raids on
Yugoslavia could spread into ground fighting, or across Balkan borders.
Although Ecevit said on Sunday there was no immediate need to send in NATO
ground troops, he expressed concern over a wider Balkan conflagration.
``We have soldiers in Bosnia and Macedonia, so the possibility of this fire
spreading worries me greatly,'' Ecevit told a television programme.
Turkey is participating in the NATO operation against Yugoslavia with 11
fighter aircraft, and officials have said Ankara is ready to add ground troops
if needed.
Overwhelmingly Moslem Turkey, which has close historical ties to ethnic
Albanians, is also fearful that a protracted conflict in the volatile region
could lead to a mass influx of refugees.
Nearly 2,000 Kosovan Albanians arrived in Turkey through Bulgaria in the past
week.
At home, suspected Kurd rebel suicide bomber killed herself and injured 10
others in a bustling Istanbul square on Saturday.
Turkey, particularly its commercial capital Istanbul, has been swept by a wave
of unrest since the arrest of Kurd guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan last
month.
Police believe Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels seeking revenge for
Ocalan's capture are behind the attacks.
``A sad holiday,'' ran the banner headline on rightist daily Turkiye while the
mainstream Hurriyet said: ``The PKK wanted to bloody the holiday,.'' The
annual Moslem Eid al-Adha public holiday runs throughout this week.
But the governor of Istanbul told reporters that the attacks could have been
much worse.
``(PKK) orders to destroy Istanbul after Apo's arrest have failed due to the
people's sensitivity and the success of our security forces,'' Erol Cakir
said, according to Anatolian news agency.
Turkey is counting down to local and general elections on April 18. The polls
pit a powerful Islamist party against a handful of secular rivals, including
Ecevit.
