ANKARA (AFP) - Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has asked the Constitutional Court to scrap much-criticized restrictions imposed on the media in the country’s new anti-terror law, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Among the articles which Sezer opposes is one that provides prison terms of one to three years for media organizations which publish or broadcast the statements of terrorist organizations, Anatolia said. He also wants the court to annul an article which calls for one to five years in jail for spreading propaganda in favor of terrorist groups, with the sentence increased by half if the offense is committed in the media.

BELGRADE (AP) - Serbia’s prime minister said yesterday that a massive wartime exodus of Serbs from Croatia in 1995, amounted to a “great, unpunished crime” that will never be forgotten. In a statement issued on the 11th anniversary of the Croatian army offensive that sent hundreds of thousands of Serbs fleeing the republic, Vojislav Kostunica called for the return of the refugees to their homes. “We will never forget the horrific refugee column... which forever will testify about the great, unpunished crime,” Kostunica said. “We must seek ways to lessen this injustice... and work to enable the return of the refugees to their homes.”

The Turkish army announced yesterday that it had expelled 17 personnel for pro-Islamist activities and lack of discipline. The sackings were decided in the annual three-day meeting of the Higher Military Council, which convenes under the chairmanship of the prime minister and decides on military promotions, retirements and expulsions, an army statement said. The statement said those expelled were found to be “involved in reactionary activities” or to “have acted immorally in a manner that weakened the prestige of the army, and ignored warnings to improve their behavior.” (AFP)