TURKEY AND DRUG TRAFFIC

Sir, - I read Jim Cusack's report on illicit drug trafficking (The Irish
Times, March 10th) with keen interest. However, I think it needs some comments.

As he rightly puts it, the heroin travelling to Europe is produced in
refineries in many countries, but not mainly in Turkey. The local production
and consumption of drugs in Turkey is negligible. Turkey is actually a
transit country on the route from Far East-Central Asia to Europe.

Regarding the production sites, as there exists no country as "Kurdistan", I
think he was referring to the production places controlled by the Kurdish
terror organisation PKK (namely as Kurdistan Workers' Party). This
organisation, which fights against the territorial integrity of Turkey, has
many production facilities in Northern Iraq and the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon
(under effective Syrian control).

Let me also give some figures to complement Mr Cusack's report. The amount
of heroin seized in Turkey in 1996 makes up 64 per cent of the total seized
in Europe and 40 per cent of the global total. In other words, 4.5 tonnes of
the total 11 tonnes of the heroin seized in the world and of the 7 tonnes
seized in a total of 28 European countries have been captured solely by the
Turkish police forces.

That is why the Turkish drug enforcement agencies have gained a praiseworthy
reputation. They are currently hosting 21 drugs liaison officers from
various European countries and have many of their own in Europe. However,
even though Turkey has successfully carried out many joint drug or
drug-related money-laundering operations with the US, Italian, Spanish,
Danish and Dutch drug enforcement agencies (a total of more than a dozen in
1996), it cannot be argued that it is receiving full international co-operation.

There are many examples of this. But worst of all is the chemicals route,
which, just like the one between the Golden Triangle and Europe, never
stops. The crucial chemical substances such as acidic anhyditrin vital for
heroin production are mainly produced in European Union countries. Although
the production of those materials are strictly prohibited under the relevant
UN charters, the production and transportation of those materials stemming
from Western Europe fuel the vicious circle. Furthermore, there are some
European Union countries still not willing to put a stop to PKK activities
in their territory. - Yours, etc., SELCUK UNAL, Third secretary, Embassy of
the Republic of Turkey, Dublin.