ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said yesterday he had urged Syria to pull all its forces out of Lebanon during a state visit to Damascus which had stirred unease in Turkey’s NATO ally the US. “We stressed the importance of withdrawing Syria’s soldiers from Lebanon under the UN Security Council resolution,” Sezer told a news conference on his return. “We were pleased to be told of the political will in Syria on this issue.”

SOFIA (AP) - Bulgaria’s top police official warned yesterday that pockets of Islamic fundamentalism in the Balkans are creating a favorable environment for the establishment of terrorist groups. Speaking at a regional police anti-crime conference, Gen. Boiko Borisov warned that despite the elimination of several al-Qaida bases the level of threat remains high. “The Balkans as a part of Europe are a potential target, a possible ground for terrorists,” he said, without mentioning any specific threats. “Our countries are backing the anti-terror coalition and this makes them possible targets of terrorist attacks.”

Bulgaria said yesterday there are no documents indicating it was involved in the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II, contrary to reports in Italian newspapers which said the attack on the pope was ordered by the Soviet KGB and organized by the Bulgarian secret service. “Nothing in the documents (of the Stasi, the secret police of former East Germany) points to any sort of connection between Bulgaria and the attack,” said Tsveta Markova, the head of Bulgaria’s state panel handling classified information. (AP)

Slobodan Milosevic will not take the stand at his own war crimes trial, the former Yugoslav president, who is presenting his own defense, told judges yesterday at the UN tribunal trying him. “I do not want to testify because I will have to take a sworn declaration before an institution I consider illegal,” he said yesterday. (AFP)

Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov has called for legislative elections on June 25, his office said yesterday. (AFP)

Turkish troops killed at least 10 Kurdish rebels in a clash in the Besta area, southeast Turkey, and three soldiers died in the fighting yesterday, military sources told Reuters. (Reuters)