U.S. Warns Of Turkey Terror Attack

May 18, 2002

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- The U.S. says it has received "unconfirmed and fragmentary information" about a possible terrorist attack in the coming days in Turkey.

The State Department said on Friday that an attack could be aimed against civil aviation.

Despite the warning, Turkey's interior minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen said "all the necessary measures" had been taken to guard against any attack in his country.

"What I would like our people and the whole world to know is that today Turkey is the safest country in the world -- with its airports, with its seaside resorts ... I myself as the minister of interior am guaranteeing that," Yucelen said.

"Our citizens can keep doing their jobs and all the tourists who want to come to Turkey can easily come to Turkey feeling safe and comfortable."

Summer is Turkey's top tourism season. In 2000, Turkey's rapidly growing tourism industry directly accounted for 5.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product -- over $10 billion -- according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.

Yucelen refused to disclose whether Turkey's government had received intelligence information about a possible attack.

"From time to time, we may receive intelligence information -- sometimes it is misinformation, sometimes it is accurate -- but that is not to be shared with the public," he stressed.

In its announcement on Friday, the State Department said Turkey had "already taken all prudent measures to address this possible incident."

One senior State Department official said: "This matter was viewed at the highest level."

This official added that the U.S. government had sent a "warden message," or an e-mail warning, to Americans on a government list in Turkey.

Another senior State Department official was asked if the government was advising Americans not to fly in the coming days.

"No, we're not advising Americans not to fly. If we were telling people not to fly, we would just tell them," the official said.

The warning expires on Wednesday, the State Department said.

-- CNN Turk Correspondent Dicle Buharali in Istanbul contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/05/18/turkey.terror/index.html