These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on March 12, 2002. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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BABY DISASTER AT KARADENIZ UNIVERSITY
A total of nine babies who had been treated in incubator at the Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Medicine in northern province of Trabzon died one after the other in three days between March 7 and 9. Death of the babies created a shock among residents. The New-born Intense Care Unit was closed down. The doctors revealed that these babies died of sepsis.

TURKEY TO TRAIN 20 AFGHAN DIPLOMATS
Turkey that has been supporting Afghanistan in reconstruction, military security and health, will undertake the training of 20 Afghan diplomats. Within this framework the training will start on March 14. Meanwhile, five Afghan doctors will also receive training at the Gulhane Military Academy of Medicine (GATA).

MILOSEVIC SENDS A LETTER TO PERINCEK
Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Yogoslavia who has been tried by the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague for alleged war crimes and genocide in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia during the violent breakup
of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, sent a 36-page message to Workers' Party (IP) leader Dogu Perincek. In his message, Milosevic said that both Perincek and he had been defending the same case and that case was their countries. He called on Perincek to defend the fact of Yugoslavia as a socialist.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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SECURITY GUARD PUT IN PRISON
Security Guard at Finansbank's Kazasker branch in Istanbul, Engin Bozkurt (25) was arrested yesterday for killing two people who robbed the bank last week. Bozkurt who was also injured during the incident had been taken to the hospital. Bozkurt, after being discharged from the hospital, was taken to Kadikoy Court House on Monday. After being interrogated by Prosecutor Mehmet Kocum, Bozkurt was arrested by the court for killing two persons. The lawyer of the suspect will object to the decision by applying to a higher court.

QUAKE SHAKES HATAY AND AFYON
Two tremors took place in Iskenderun town of southern Hatay province and Cay town of western Afyon province yesterday. Bogazici University Kandilli Observatory and Seismology Centre said that the epicenter of the quake in Iskenderun was 4.2 on the Richter scale. The quake which was also felt in the neighbouring provinces didn't cause any causalties. After the quake the power was cut off. A tremor measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale shook Cay town of Afyon province at 00.17 local time.

SABAH (LIBERAL)
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HERE IS TURKEY'S DIFFERENCE
U.S. President George W. Bush come together with ambassadors of 100 countries during a ceremony held at the White House to commemorate victims of the terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York on September 11, 2001. President Bush seated near Faruk Logoglu, the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, in order to underline the importance attributed by the United States to Turkey. Speaking at the ceremony, Logoglu said, ''Turkey has also suffered much from terrorism for long years. Our support to the United States in its fight against terrorism will continue.''

KIVRIKOGLU: ''KILINC'S STATEMENTS WERE TOTALLY HIS PERSONAL OPINIONS''
General Huseyin Kivrikoglu, the Chief of General Staff, said in a message that National Security Council (NSC) Secretary General Tuncer Kilinc's stataments about the European Union (EU) were totally his personal opinions, and did not bind the Turkish Armed Forces.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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INTERNATIONAL YOUTH PLATFORM TO BE HELD IN ANKARA
Nearly 100 thousand young people from all over the world will come together at the International Youth Platform to be held in Ankara between April 24 and 28. Students from universities in Turkey, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Italy, Austria, Germany, the United States, Britain, France and the Netherlands will discuss problems in their regions and in the world.

MILD EARTHQUAKE JOLTS ISKENDERUN
A mild earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale jolted Iskenderun township of southern province of Hatay at 03:19 a.m. on Monday. Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory Seismology Institute said that the earthquake was centered on Iskenderun. Meanwhile, an earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale occurred in Cay township of western province of Afyon at 00:14 a.m. The earthquakes did not cause any casualty or damage.

RADIKAL (LEFT)
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AIRPORTS BUILT IN VAIN
The airports which were constructed upon the order of politicans to get the votes of electors are empty in many provinces. Last year only 13 passangers came to Sinop Airport by 28 planes and only 15 passangers came to Usak airport by 48 planes. No single plane landed at Zonguldak airport. The situation of airports in other provinces are not very different. Trillion liras were spent on construction of these airports. The construction of Sinop airport costed 1,37 trillion liras, while the construction of Usak airport costed 2,98 trillion liras according to prices of 2001.

TURKEY INSISTS ON ISAF
The third round of talks between Turkish, American and British military officials regarding the transfer of the International Security Assistance Force's command (ISAF) in Afghanistan will start in Ankara. General Yasar Buyukanýt who heads the Turkish delegation met with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit yesterday. Turkey can give up taking over the command if the U.S. and Britain can't give it clear answers. Turkey wants the expenses to be met, the mission to be defined clearly and the support of all allies when needed in order to get the command of ISAF.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)
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RED TAPE IN TURKEY BORES U.S.
Defense News, one of the leading magazine of the defense circles in the U.S. said that the American defense companies which do business with Turkey are concerned about the prolonged tenders. The magazine asserted that the American companies were particularly concerned about the fact that although the sides started to discuss the contracts of attack helicopter and early warning plane project 1,5 years ago, the sides didn't come to the stage of signing the contract. Defense News recalled that Brent Scowcroft, the Chairman of Turkish-American Councils wrote a letter to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit last month telling that if the contract negotiations were not resulted in a short time, the reliableness of Turkey to do business with its American partners could be questioned.

COMPLAINT TO IMF
State Minister Tunca Toskay received International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation headed by IMF Turkey Desk Chief Juha Kahkonen. Toskay said after the meeting that they discussed the issues of growth and exportation and stated that he explained these problems, which should be solved immediately, to the IMF delegation during the meeting. Toskay said, ''I said that there is decrease in exportation and he said it is true. We talked about the reasons of that. We explained in detail the measures which should be taken to increase the export stably and solve the problems. Firstly, the exporters have been suffering from revaluation of Turkish Lira (TL). Secondly, the production should be increased. The relations between banking sector and especially Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (KOBI) should be improved rapidly'', he said. Toskay added ''Finance Ministry's inspections cause psychological pressures on exporters and we asked for help from IMF.''

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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SECURITY GUARD ARRESTED
Engin Bozkurt, a sucurity guard who killed two people as they were trying to rob Finansbank's branch in Istanbul's Kazasker district, was arrested. His brother reacted to arrest of Bozkurt and said that he had done nothing wrong.

BAHCELI DUE TO KAZAKHSTAN
State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), will pay an official visit to Kazakhstan as the guest of President Nursultan Nazarbayev between March 18 and 23. Bahceli's contacts in Kazakhstan are expected to focus on international and regional problems and on the efforts to further develop cooperation and political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries.

PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEOS ASKS HELP FROM BUSH
Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos said that he asked U.S. President George W. Bush for help regarding the solution of the problem related to the opening of the Clergy School in Heybeliada, Istanbul. ''This school issue is very important for us, because it is directly connected to the future of our Patriarchate,'' he said who returned to Turkey from the U.S. the same day.
Speaking at Ataturk Airport, Bartholomeos said that he visited Orthodox churches in Washington D.C., Boston and New York for a week. Recalling that he was also received by U.S. President George W. Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Bartholomeos said that ''I paid courtesy visits to both Turkish and Greek embassies and I also attended the dinners hosted in my honour. We discussed the issues of interreligious dialogue, fight with terrorism, the situation of our patriarchate in Istanbul, the closed clergy school in Heybeliada with Bush. I also informed him about my visit to Iran.''