Letter: This is no way to protect Kosovars

Sir: The Turkish people will be disappointed by the report by Andrew Buncombe (7 April) on the Kosovo refugees (" 'The plane is going to Turkey,' said the official. 'But don't tell the refugees. They might refuse to get on' ").

It may well be that some refugees would prefer to go to a rich country like Germany than a not so rich country like Turkey. Many of our own people are living in conditions which are much in need of improvement, and we do not have huge resources to spend on refugees. Nevertheless we have taken in many thousands of Kurds, driven out of northern Iraq by Saddam Hussein, and have now agreed to take 20,000 people from Kosovo, which will be providing more than our fair share of shelter.

We will do our best for the refugees and perhaps your reporter might recognise the hospitality which the people of Turkey are extending to them.

OZDEM SANBERK

Ambassador, Turkish Embassy

London SW1