Greece fears Turkish threat

Premier Costas Simitis blamed the military threat from Nato ally Turkey for his decision to go ahead with a massive four trillion drachma (pounds 10bn) arms modernisation programme.

Mr Simitis said the Greek people "will have to make sacrifices" to meet the goals of the eight or nine-year modernisation programme, which could surpass pounds 15bn after debt payments. His announcement came as the Turkish parliament was debating a 1997 budget that includes pounds 5bn in defence expenditure as compared to pounds 2.5bn in 1996. Athens - AP