U.S. President In Turkey
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| Sat, 06-26-2004 - 3:25pm |
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=21651
ANKARA - U.S. President George Bush arrived in Turkish capital of Ankara on Saturday to have official meetings.
U.S. President Bush and his wife Laura Bush are accompanied by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and his National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Security measures have been tightened at Ankara's Esenboga Airport.
Bush will meet with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday.
U.S. President Bush is scheduled to attend NATO Summit to be held in Istanbul between June 28 and 29.
Mean while in Iraq..........
Suspected supporters of an al-Qaeda leader have kidnapped three Turks in Iraq, the al-Jazeera TV channel says.
Militants linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to behead the men if Turkey did not withdraw its workers from Iraq within 72 hours, it reported.
Al-Jazeera aired a video warning from the group apparently showing the three men crouching before gunmen.
More.......... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3843155.stm


http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/06/26/turkey.protest.ap/index.html
Turkish police fired tear gas as more than 100 left-wing demonstrators hurled rocks and used sticks to try and break down a police barricade during a protest Saturday ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's arrival in the country.
The clash came amid intense security in anticipation of Bush's visit and the opening of a NATO summit in Istanbul on Monday.
Some 6,000 people, mostly members of trade unions and leftist groups, gathered in the center of Ankara, with some chanting "Murderer U.S.A. get out of the Middle East."
The area was completely closed off to traffic and surrounded by more than a dozen police armored personnel carriers.
Shortly after the protest began, about 150 people rushed a police barricade, hitting the blue iron barrier with sticks.
"We will go beyond barricades protecting Bush," the group shouted.
Police fired tear gas at the group from an armored personnel carrier.
A few minutes later the group, the "Socialist Platform of the Downtrodden," again attacked the barricade, throwing rocks at the police. The group is an umbrella organization representing several leftist labor unions in Turkey.
Police again responded with tear gas.
After the second clash, organizers of the main protest asked everyone to disperse and people began leaving the square.
Saturday, a small bomb attached to a banner protesting the summit and Bush's visit went off in downtown Istanbul, causing no injuries.
Two small bomb blasts overnight caused minor damage but no injuries in the southern city of Adana, and police defused a remote-controlled bomb placed under a car in the Black Sea port of Zonguldak, the Anatolia news agency said.
The bombings have been blamed on militant leftists, and Turkish police have detained scores of suspected members of radical groups.
Militant Kurdish, Islamic and leftist groups are active in the country, and security in Istanbul has been of special concern since November, when four suicide truck bombings blamed on al Qaeda killed more than 60 people.
More than 23,000 police officers will be on duty during the summit, which will be attended by NATO leaders including Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac.
Bush was to meet with Turkish leaders early Sunday before heading to Istanbul for the NATO summit.
Awwww....poor Bush. The world hates him. But shoot, he still has a 47% approval rating here. So...the whole world hates him except about 47% of his home country. What in the Helsinki (they hate him there, too)
Please visit my website!
http://www.stephworld.net
"Those who can make you believ
That was my first reaction!!