ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on March 11, 2004. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
------------------
GENERAL STAFF CONFIRMS NEWS
General Staff confirmed the news of the papers which said that Land Forces Command sent a letter to military centers and local governors asking them to collect information and intelligence about certain groups and persons like those who support European Union and the United States, Masonic groups, minorities and internet groups. General Staff confirmed the news and said the aim of the activity was to prepare plans beforehand to prevent the outcome of some unpleasant incidents. General staff also stressed that certain parts of the activity would be corrected.

GREEK CYPRIOTS: DENKTAS ASKS FOR GOLD
Greek Cypriot press claimed that TRNC leader Rauf Denktas presented a document in Cyprus negotiations demanding 4 billion dollars for Turkish Cypriots who would be asked to leave their territories. The Greek Cypriot press also alleged that Denktas asked the money to be paid in gold, not to be in cash.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
------------------
SO MANY TURKS APPLY TO ECHR
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is uneasy with the application of Turkish citizens who bring insignificant suits before the Court. As of last year 38,500 applications were made to European Court of Human Rights and 7,050 of them belonged to Turks. ECHR judge Feyyaz Golcuklu said that Turkish citizens brought improper suits before the Court. ECHR works now to bring a system to reject insignificant complaints in a shorter process.

TURKEY WITHIN BORDERS OF EUROPE
Spain extended support to Turkey's accession to EU. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar told a German newspaper that Europe ended at the end of Turkey's geographical borders. ''The debate on Turkey as to whether its geographical borders are within Europe or not is wrong, this discussion will end by the accession of Turkey to EU,'' he said.

SABAH (LIBERAL)
---------------
WAITER SAVES LIVES OF OTHERS IN MASONIC LODGE
Huseyin Kurugul, who was a waiter in Masonic Lodge in Yakacýk, Kartal for two years, saved the lives of 40 people dining in the restaurant part of the Masonic lodge when two suicide bombers raided the place. He held the suicide bomber tight and when the terrorist detonated the bomb, he and the terrorist were killed together.

REVISION SIGNAL IN RELATIONS WITH IMF
State Minister Ali Babacan said that relations with IMF for next year would be reviewed in the middle of 2004. Babacan stressed that the government would continue to implement strict fiscal policies until Turkey's public debts decrease to a reasonable level.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
-----------------
WARNING TO GOVERNMENT
Health employees started their strike yesterday asking for equal, accessible, qualified and free health service for everybody in the country. Turkish Doctors Union's Central Board President Dr. Sayek said that free health service should be the right of all citizens. The strike will also continue today.

FUNDAMENTALIST TERRORISM TRACE IN ATTACK ON MASONIC LODGE
In the attack launched on the Masonic lodge in Kartal district of Istanbul last Tuesday night, only four of the 14 bombs exploded. It was reported that the second terrorist who was hospitalized after the attack was of Afghan origin. Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said that the attack seemed to be the work of a fundamentalist terrorist organization.

RADIKAL (LEFT)
--------------
LAND FORCES VIOLATES LAWS
The directive on collecting information about separatist, Masonic, Satanist and EU-support groups is against provincial administration law and also against adjustment laws. General Staff confirmed the news, stating that ''some parts of the initiative would be examined and revised.'' Meanwhile, opposition party (CHP) deputy Mustafa Ozyurek brought the issue onto the agenda of the parliament.

TWO CRITICAL ISSUES FOR ANKARA
Turkey is uneasy about the approval of the interim constitution in Iraq. Also in Cyprus, Turkey tries to find a way to remove the deadlock in negotiations caused by the uncompromising attitude of Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos. Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal asked U.S and British Ambassadors to Turkey Edelman and Westmacott to put pressure on Papadopoulos. Ziyal also conveyed the uneasiness of Turkey about unwillingness of the U.S. in fight with terrorist organization PKK, the support given to Kurdish groups and the signing of the interim constitution in Iraq.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)
---------------
BOMBER IS AFGHAN
The eyes are on Al Qaida once again after Tuesday's terrorist attack on a Masonic lodge in Kartal district of Istanbul. The name of one of the two terrorists who attacked the Masonic lodge is Abdullah Islam. He is Afghan and trained in Afghanistan. In the attack, the other terrorist was killed and 10 of the 14 bombs didn't explode.

KIRKUK TURNS INTO POWDER KEG
Majority of the 13,000 Kurdish refugees who supported the terrorist PKK organisation and who settled in Mahmur camp of Iraq after escaping from Turkey, started to go and settle in Kirkuk. Some of the assailants who attacked the building of Turkmen Front together with peshmergas were PKK militants coming from Mahmur camp.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
--------------------
STUDENTS SKIP CLASSES TO WATCH OPENING OF FLOODGATES IN DAMS
As the level of water in dams in eastern and southeastern Anatolia has recently risen sharply as a result of heavy rains and melting snow, the floodgates of dams are opened one by one. Students of Firat University skipped classes in order to watch the opening of the floodgates in Keban Dam yesterday.

(ÖÞ-AÖ) 11.03.2004