TURKEY: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and NATO Secretary-general Jaap De Hoop Scheffer arrive in Istanbul for NATO meeting

Record ID: 184743

  • Title: TURKEY: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and NATO Secretary-general Jaap De Hoop Scheffer arrive in Istanbul for NATO meeting
  • Date: 26th June 2004
  • Summary: (U4) ANKARA, TURKEY (JUNE 26, 2004) (REUTERS) SLV SECURITY AROUND HILTON HOTEL WHERE BUSH WILL STAY WHILE IN ANKARA LV OF HILTON HOTEL SV SECURITY AROUND PRIME MINISTER'S RESIDENCE
  • Embargoed: 11th July 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISTANBUL AND ANKARA, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA1LBON5KW6MO8NOSV41NGVO635
  • Story Text: U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer arrive in Istanbul for NATO meeting amid tight security and protests.
    A bomb on an Istanbul overpass exploded on Saturday (June 26) in an apparent anti-NATO protest as police secured the area, but nobody was injured.
    The blast, the latest in a series of explosions in Turkey, came amid heightened security worries ahead of a NATO summit being held in the city on Monday (June 28) and Tuesday (June 29). U.S. President George W. Bush is one of more than 40 world leaders attending the summit.
    Anatolian said police teams went to the scene after a tip-off, halted traffic and were setting up a security cordon when the device exploded. A banner suspended from the overpass read "NATO murderers".
    Earlier this week there was a similar blast on an overpass in the city which injured one officer as he seized the device, attached to an anti-NATO banner.
    The agency also said police had carried out a controlled explosion of a package in a park in the capital, Ankara. It said the package had been made to look like a bomb but only contained a stone wrapped in sheets of newspaper.
    Security has been stepped up in Turkey ahead of the Istanbul summit, with police conducting searches of pedestrians in the streets and searching passengers on the road to the airport.
    A bomb blast on an Istanbul bus killed four people, including the bomber, and wounded 21 others on Thursday (June 24) in an attack blamed on left-wing extremists.
    Kurdish separatists and Islamic militants are also active in Turkey.
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