ANKARA (AFP) - The organizers of the Turkish Grand Prix yesterday stood behind their controversial decision to allow the leader of an unrecognized country to present the trophy at the end of this year’s race. Turkey risks being stripped of its Formula One race in the row that erupted after Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat made the trophy presentation at last month’s event. “According to F1 podium ceremony regulations, Mr Mehmet Ali Talat, as a dignitary of international status, was the most senior (person on the protocol list) attending the event. For this reason, he was invited to present the award to the winner of the race,” the head of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO), Murat Yalcintas, said in a statement.

SARAJEVO (AFP) - The Bosnian capital Sarajevo suffered 14 billion euros in damage ($18 billion) during the 1992-1995 war, according to a local study, the first of its kind, released yesterday. “The damage done to Sarajevo during the (Bosnian-Serb) aggression between 1992 and 1995 is almost 14 billion euros,” said the study carried out by the Sarajevo University’s Institute for the Investigation of War Crimes. The study was counting the cost of rebuilding the capital’s infrastructure, economy, buildings and health services after the conflict and the 43-month siege of the city by Bosnian-Serb forces.

Turkey’s top military commander has said the country would not be contributing any combat troops to battle a widening insurgency in Afghanistan, a television report said yesterday. Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the new chief of military staff, told private NTV television late Thursday that NATO had requested troops from Turkey to back the alliance’s struggle against the Taliban in Afghanistan. “Not even a single soldier from the Turkish Armed Forces can go to Afghanistan for the purpose of the struggle against terrorism,” the station quoted Buyukanit as saying. (AP)

Croatia continued to lure a record number of tourists, visiting mainly its Adriatic coast, during the first eight months of the year, the national tourist board said yesterday. A total of 7.9 million tourists visited the Balkan country between January and August, which is 2 percent more than in the same period last year, the board said in a statement. (AFP)