PRO-WESTERN TURKISH LEADER OZAL DIES AT 66

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 18, 1993                   TAG: 9304180008
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ANKARA, TURKEY                                LENGTH: Short
PRO-WESTERN TURKISH LEADER OZAL DIES AT 66
President Turgut Ozal, whose pro-Western policies helped modernize Turkey and gave the U.S.-led coalition a strategic ally during the Persian Gulf War, died Saturday of heart problems. He was 66.
The choice of a successor threatens to touch off a political crisis in a country beset with a Kurdish insurgency and governed by a delicately balanced coalition of parties.
But Turkey's close ties with the West are not expected to be affected by the succession.
Parliament Speaker Husamettin Cindoruk will be acting president until parliament elects Ozal's successor, which must be done within a month. The election of a president needs a two-thirds majority of the 450-member House.
President Clinton praised Ozal's leadership and former President George Bush called Ozal a staunch friend and ally.
"He crafted a new regional role for his country, stressing always the importance of democracy, trade and peace," Clinton said in a statement. "The alliance of Turkey and the United States is stronger today because of [his] personal leadership."
A Bush statement said of Ozal, "I will never forget his cooperation and leadership during the time leading up to Desert Storm and during the execution of Desert Storm. He was a loyal man with an enormous capacity for friendship."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB