DATE=5/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / IRAN (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262473
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has
accused Iran of failing to respond to evidence of
Iranian involvement in the murders of Turkish pro-
secular writers and academics. Amberin Zaman reports
from Ankara.
TEXT: Mr. Ecevit's remarks came after Turkish police
reported they arrested four suspects in connection
with the 1990 letter-bomb murder of Bahriye Ucok - a
woman professor who was a staunch defender of
secularism in Turkey.
The arrests follow those of 15 other men who are
accused of the murders of columnists Ugur Mumcu and
Ahmet Taner Kislali who worked for the left-leaning
daily newspaper Cumhuriyet.
Mr. Mumcu was killed in 1993 when a bomb placed under
his car exploded outside his Ankara home. Mr. Kislali
was killed in the same way last year.
Turkish officials say two of the prime suspects in the
Mumcu killing confessed that two Iranian nationals had
placed the bomb under the slain journalist's car.
Turkey and Iran are long-time rivals for influence in
the oil-rich former Soviet central-Asian republics and
the southern Caucasus states. Analysts say Turkey's
firmly pro-secular western-style democracy contrasts
sharply with Iran's Islamic government
Turkish officials have long accused Iran of seeking to
export its Islamic revolution by arming and training
extremist groups in Turkey.
Mr. Ecevit repeated accusations Iran also is
supporting separatist Kurdish guerrillas of Turkey's
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Iran denies all the charges. But Mr. Ecevit said
Turkey would, in his words - re-evaluate its ties with
Iran on the basis of concrete evidence of the ongoing
investigations.
In a related development, Turkey's newly elected
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer told reporters after his
inauguration Tuesday that he will not be traveling to
Iran on his first official trip abroad, as previously
scheduled. (SIGNED)
NEB/AZ/JWH/ENE/RAE
17-May-2000 11:15 AM EDT (17-May-2000 1515 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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