TURKEY LOOKING TO GET OUT

On the eve of her planned White House meeting Wednesday with President Clinton, Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller told TIME that her massive raids against Kurdish rebels across the Iraqi border are nearing an end, which should assuage growing nervousness on the part of U.S. and other Western allies concerning the military operation. Ciller also said that oil-producing nations are aiding Islamic opposition within Turkey, long a key democratic and economic Western ally. In an interview with TIME editors in New York, Ciller said she had begun to withdraw some of the 35,000 Turkish troops from the anarchic region of northern Iraq. "If they form their bases again, I will go in there again," she added. "But we're not going to stay there." Yet, asked today whether Turkish troops would be out of Iraq within a month, the prime minister was coy: "I can't give you a date, but relax about it."