-Caveat Lector-
NATO, on the side of the Octopus -- er, I mean, the angels ...
NATO To Launch Strikes From Turkey, Hungary-Report
May 11 8:05am ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - NATO's air commanders plan to launch
air strikes from Turkey and Hungary in an effort to encircle
Yugoslavia militarily and further isolate it politically, the
New York Times reported Tuesday, quoting unnamed allied
officials.
Until now, NATO has launched attacks from bases in Western
Europe, the United States and from aircraft carriers in the
Adriatic, the newspaper said.
But NATO air war commanders plan to attack from the east,
using air bases in western Turkey, and position warplanes in
Hungary, which would bomb Yugoslavia from the north, according
to the newspaper.
The aim is to intensify political pressure on Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic and help NATO warplanes counter
Serbia's damaged, but still viable, air defenses, the Times
said.
NATO officials quoted by the newspaper said fewer than half
of Yugoslavia's 40 SA-6 and SA-3 surface-to-air missile
batteries were still functional. But the Times reported that the
Serbs have been moving the SA-6 batteries to conceal them and
position them along the allies' expected attack routes.
Creating a new front in the air war would make it more
difficult for Yugoslavia to defend itself and help the alliance
cope with air traffic congestion over Yugoslavia, the newspaper
said. NATO planners have worked hard to reduce the chances of a
collision by allied warplanes.
Turkey is expected to formally approve the arrangement, NATO
officials told the Times. Hungary has agreed to a similar
deployment.
But a spokesman for Turkey's General Staff said Tuesday they
had no such information.
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said last month that it was
risky for Turkey, as a Balkan country, to play a more active
role than the air defense patrols its 11 fighter jets have so
far played in the conflict in Yugoslavia.
Turkey has a small stretch of Balkan territory. It has a
number of airbases there and on its Aegean Sea coast that could,
theoretically, be used to launch NATO raids on Yugoslavia.
Europol points to Turkey as primary transit route for heroin
Athens, 28/01/1997 (ANA)
An EDU/EUROPOL report on illegal narcotics has adopted all
the views expressed by the Greek delegation, which stated that 80
to 90 per cent of heroin confiscated in the European Union comes
from southeast Asia and is transported primarily by Turkish drug
smugglers.
According to a public order ministry announcement, more than
1,100 Turkish nationals were arrested in the EU for heroin
smuggling in 1995.
The report states that Turkey-based smuggling rings have
full control over the trafficking of heroin through the Balkans
to the countries of the west, cooperating closely with other
groups with which they have political or religious ties, adding
that smuggling rings fully utilize Turkish minorities in EU
countries, while their operations also function along family
ties.
As Turkey does not have legislation regarding money
laundering, income from the drug trade is also invested in
legitimate businesses in that country, the announcement reads.
Additionally, chemicals and raw materials needed for the
production of synthetic narcotics are shipped to Turkey from the
west.
Drug seizure figures for Kipoi border post revealed
Athens, 07/01/1997 (ANA)
The Kipoi border post on the Greek-Turkish frontier had
apparently become a favorite entry point for illegal narcotics
smugglers, according to officials, as several large drug seizures
have occurred at the crossing over the last six years.
Specifically, during the 1990-96 period, 78 drug-related
arrests were recorded, while 697 kilos of heroin, 2,918 kilos of
hashish and nine kilos of opium were confiscated.
Along those lines, customs officials at the Kipoi border
post were honored in 1992 as "United Europe's Best Border Post
in Terms of Drug Interdiction."
According to customs officials, a significant contribution
to the more effective search of vehicles and cargoes entering
Greece through Kipoi has been the implementation, some two and
half years ago, of the "Nark Control" electronic narcotics
detection system.
Officials noted that increased security and vigilance on
Greek borders has been responsible for a shift of smugglers'
routes elsewhere, namely, along a Turkey-Bulgarian-Romania road
axis, and a "Mediterranean" route, using ferry boats from
Turkey to Italy.
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