ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on July 8, 2003. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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PRIDE OF NATION AND ARMY TO BE PRESERVED
Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok gave a historical response to the United States following the crisis regarded with detention of our 11 soldiers in Iraq.
Gen. Ozkok said, ''our national honour and honour of Turkish Armed Forces are as important as the importance of relations. I hope everything will be put on the right track, and the best balance of our national honour will be provided.

I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO AN AUTHORIZED PERSON
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday.
Speaking to Cheney, who said he was not aware of the incident, Erdogan stressed, ''we asked Powell, he said he has not information, I ask you, you say you don't have information. Who does this if nobody knows it. Tell me who is the authorized person, so that I will talk to him.''

GUL: THIS CAN NOT BE DONE TO THE MOST POWERFUL ARMY OF THE WORLD
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul evaluated ''military crisis''. He said, ''this should not be done to the most powerful army of the world.''

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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U.S. MEETS PKK MEMBERS
According to an intelligence report which had been presented to the National Security Council (NSC) meeting which had taken place two weeks ago, three separate contacts had taken place between U.S. officials and PKK-KADEK in northern part of Iraq. The report also included the names of three KADEK members and the names of the three places where the meetings were held.
The meeting with Cemil Bayik, Osman Ocalan, and Ali Haydar Kaytan took place in Dolakoga camp, Opravil Hotel in Mosul, and in Halis township.
Officials of the NSC confirmed that the meetings had taken place.

REACTION OF INTELLECTUALS TO UNITED STATES
A group of intellectuals including Bedri Baykam, Adalet Agaoglu, Serap Aksoy, Prof. Dr. Rona Aybay and Hilmi Yavuz, released a statement on Monday and condemned detention of Turkish soldiers by U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq.
Noting that they had launched a campaign under the title of ''Independence Manifesto of Citizens of Republic of Turkey'', intellectuals stressed that they did not want to be called as strategic partner of the United States.
''We do not want to be stained because of our relations with an occupier. We want to be called as citizens of a democratic republic,'' they noted.

SABAH (LIBERAL)
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REPROACH OF A COMMANDER
General Staff Chief General Hilmi Ozkok met with U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson. During the meeting, General Ozkok criticized harshly detention of Turkish soldiers by U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq. General Ozkok stressed, ''the most serious confidence problem emerged between armed forces of the two countries and turned into a crisis. We expected the United States to inform us on the problem and propose us to solve the problem together. Turkish and U.S. soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder in Korea. Our national honor is as important as our relations with the United States.''

FIRES CLAIM 100 HECTARES OF FORESTED AREA
Fires broke out in Bodrum and Marmaris towns of western province of Mugla which are among the most important tourism centers of Turkey. A total of 100 hectares of forested area were burnt down to ashes in the fires. Two villages were evacuated in Marmaris town because of the fire.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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BIGGER CRISIS WAITS AT THE DOOR
Turkey waits for Washington to take step to adjust relations after detention of Turkish soldiers. Meanwhile, United States wanted establishment of a ''joint mechanism'' to examine all the activities of Turkish soldiers in the region. Possibility of Washington's forming pressure regarded with Turkmens, role of Kurdish groups and PKK-KADEK creates uneasiness in Ankara.
U.S. sources claim that Turkey ''acts independently'' in the region. U.S. officials did not hide their uneasiness about independent activities of the Turkish Armed Forces in the region.

DSP LEADER ECEVIT: THIS INCIDENT MAY ALSO SHAKE NATO
Describing detention of Turkish soldiers as an ''inhumane incident'', Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit said, ''this incident will seriously wound NATO.''
Ecevit stressed that the installations which the United States used in Turkey should be eliminated.

RADIKAL (LEFT)
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ANKARA: ''IT HAS NOT COME TO AN END YET''
The General Staff is uneasy about maltreatment against its personnel, U.S. officials' not setting up dialogue and their failure to return some documents. If the United States does not apologize, some measures can be taken against the United States.

SEVENTH EU ADJUSTMENT PACKAGE FINALIZED
The seventh European Union (EU) adjustment package was given its last shape. Under the package, cases about torture will be given priority, the National Security Council (NSC) will convene once in two months and the prime minister will chose NSC secretary general. The package is expected to be submitted to the parliament in the coming days.

IMF DELEGATION TO HOLD TALKS IN ISTANBUL
International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation headed by IMF Turkey Desk Chief Reza Moghadam will meet with directors of Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM), Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD), the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) and Union of Turkish Banks later today. The delegation will proceed to Ankara on Wednesday.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)
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WE WAIT FOR APOLOGY
Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, speaking about detention of Turkish soldiers by U.S. soldiers, pointed out that the incident crated the biggest confidence crisis between the Turkish and U.S. army. Gen. Ozkok said, ''I wish it should not happen like this. I would like to say that I have difficulty in evaluating this as only a local incident.''
Gen. Ozkok said, ''we fought shoulder to shoulder with U.S. Armed Forces since Korea. We can not accept an intelligence investigation to result in this way.''

GAZPROM STEPS BACK
Russia's Gazprom company said a change was made in Blue Stream agreement. According to the new change, Turkey will only pay the price of the gas it uses.

LETTER FROM A.A.
Anadolu Agency Executive Board President and Director General Hilmi Bengi sent letters to Foreign Ministry, U.S. Embassy in Ankara, and Ankara representations of Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Iraqi Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) upon the attack against A.A correspondents.
The letter that was sent to Foreign Ministry thanked to Turkish officials in the region for their close interest to A.A correspondents working there, and demanded necessary measures to be taken to prevent repetition of similar incidents.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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TURKEY WANTS UNITED STATES TO PUNISH THOSE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and requested him to punish those, who are responsible for detention of 11 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq. Turkey will reiterate its request at the meeting of the Joint Inquiry Commission to be held in Kirkuk later in the day. During the meeting, the Turkish side is expected to request the U.S. side to dismiss U.S. officials who detained Turkish soldiers and kept them under detention for 60 hours.

(AY-UK-AÖ) 08.07.2003