PM Erdogan, Basbug attend safety drills

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug yesterday attended Safety 2008 National Crisis Management drills, meant to test Turkey's readiness to respond to a chemical or biological attack. Briefing Erdogan and Basbug on the drills, National Security Council (MGK) Secretary-General Tahsin Burcuoglu said that the Prime Ministry and General Staff are involved, along with 15 ministries, 25 public institutions, the governorships of Ankara, Istanbul, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kocaeli, Mardin and Sırnak, and three non-governmental organizations. He said that after the Cold War, new threats arose such as terrorism, ethnic conflict, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and technological attack. During the drills, Erdogan and Basbug tested a secure, coded communications system developed by the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK).