Turkey Blasts German Court's Drug Claim

                  ANKARA, Turkey, Jan. 22 -- The government protested to
                  Germany today after two German judges alleged that
                  high-ranking Turkish officials, including Deputy Prime
                  Minister Tansu Ciller, have protected heroin traffickers.

                  "These accusations are very ugly and we denounce them,"
                  said Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel, adding that
                  protests had been made to the German Embassy in Ankara
                  and to German Foreign Minister Klaus Klinkel.

                  On Tuesday, a judge in Frankfurt, presiding over the
                  sentencing of three convicted drug smugglers, said the
                  court had found -- based on evidence presented in the
                  case -- that there were close ties between the Turkish
                  government and heroin traffickers operating in Turkey and
                  in Europe. Judge Rolf Schwalbe was quoted in press
                  reports as saying that two Kurdish clans known to be
                  involved in the heroin trafficking through Turkey had
                  "excellent relations with the Turkish government" and
                  "personal contacts with a woman minister in the
                  government."

                  Asked today to name the woman minister, another judge in
                  the case, Dox Neveling, was quoted as saying that the two
                  Kurdish clans had influence at "the highest levels of the
                  government, and the name of Mrs. Ciller was cited during
                  the hearing of the case."

                  The allegations come at a time when Turkey's government
                  is being shaken by accusations that officials in the
                  government and security apparatus have ties to a network
                  of criminal gangs. In exchange for helping the government
                  eliminate people deemed enemies of the state, including
                  Kurdish separatists, the criminals are said to have been
                  protected by officials and allowed to enrich themselves
                  through drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion and
                  other criminal activity.

                  The scandal emerged in November, when an automobile
                  accident revealed that a militant ultranationalist and
                  convicted drug smuggler had been riding in the same car
                  with a top police official and a member of parliament
                  from Ciller's True Path Party. The press and opposition
                  politicians claimed that the accident was an indication
                  of widespread corruption involving public officials,
                  including Ciller and Mehmet Agar, who was forced to
                  resign as interior minister.

                  A report from the prime minister's office has called for
                  a judicial investigation of Agar and Sedat Bucak, the
                  lawmaker who survived the car accident, but the report
                  cleared Ciller, saying it had found no evidence tying her
                  to any criminal gang.

                  Ciller, who is also foreign minister in Turkey's
                  coalition government, reportedly is seeking an apology
                  from the German government, but a well-informed source
                  said that Bonn is unlikely to comment on the case beyond
                  saying that the German government's general policy is to
                  respect the independence of the judicial system.

                  West European nations have signaled that they expect more
                  help from the Turkish government in stemming the flow of
                  heroin into Europe. A British official said last year
                  that heroin coming from Turkey accounts for more than 80
                  percent of all that is confiscated in Britain and urged
                  the Turkish government to crack down.

                  According to Western and Turkish officials, a number of
                  large Kurdish clans based in southeastern Turkey are
                  believed to control the heroin trade through Turkey and
                  into Europe. The Baybasin clan, one of the two clans
                  named in the German case, is from the town of Lice,
                  believed to be a center of the trafficking.

                  The clans have settled members throughout Europe,
                  officials say, as part of the smuggling operation.

                  The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), a Marxist guerrilla
                  group that is waging a separatist war against government
                  troops in the southeast, also is known to be involved in
                  drug smuggling.

                  Although Western officials acknowledge that Turkey has
                  stepped up its anti-drug efforts, they say privately that
                  corruption among public officials, especially in the
                  southeast, is the main obstacle to stopping the drug
                  traffic. A government policy of employing members of the
                  Kurdish clans as village guards in its 12-year fight
                  against the PKK has allowed the drug smuggling to
                  flourish, critics say.

                  A statement by the Turkish Interior Ministry today said
                  that allegations of government involvement in the drug
                  trade were part of a smear campaign begun by PKK
                  militants and known drug smugglers who are frustrated by
                  the government's "determined and successful fight against
                  [PKK] terrorism and smuggling."

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