European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 14, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday july 14, 1987 the stars and stripes o 133 merchant ships lost in Gulf War Nicosia Cyprus a iranian and iraqi attacks in the persian Gulf have destroyed 3 million tons of ship Ping one third of the total merchant shipping tonnage sunk in world War ii pens a. The statistics underscore he ferocity of the Eye for an Eye attacks on shipping in the Ulf. The figures were compiled by the International association of inde pendent Tanker owners the British Council of shipping and Lloyd s Mari time information service. Iran and Iraq have been at War since september i960 longer than world War ii lasted. They began attacking foreign ships in february 1984, when Iraq launched a sustained Campaign against Iran s Oil installations and tankers to choke off Teh ran s economic lifeline. With Iraq s ports closed since the Earl Days of the War Iran retaliated against Iraq s main backers particularly Kuwait and saudi Arabia. Both sides have attacked More than 330 unarmed merchant ships since May 1981, according to statistics prepared by London based Lloyd s and the Tanker owners association based in Oslo nor Way. The association said 133 merchant vessels ranging from Oil Rig Supply boats to tankers of More than 100.000 tons have been declared lost. Ii said More than a nillion tons of shipping have been damaged. Forty one tankers have been declared total losses. The allies Tost s.i50 merchant ships during world War ii accounting for 20million of the total 24 million tons of shipping destroyed during the War. The Tanker War has killed More than 200 seamen and wounded As Many in attacks that Range along the the gulfs entire 600-mile length Lloyd s said. Lloyd s has paid out More than $1 bit lion in loss and damage claims. The War has pushed insurance Rales up. It has forced Iran desperate to get its Oil out o buy or charter a Fleet of 17 tankers to make the dangerous runs South from the Kobarg Island Oil terminal. Vessels with no connections with i ther of Floc belligerents Are being attack Din flagrant contravention of he rights of navigation on he High seas and the Situa Tion continues to deteriorate said Adri an swire the chairman of the London based International chamber of ship Ping. The attacks on innocent merchant vessels Are nothing More than a form  terrorism and must be condemned accordingly he said. Mos governments have been conspicuously reluctant to voice such  a score of tankers have been hit at least twice. One ship the 176,000-Lon iranian Tanker Dana has been hit lifetimes. In the last attack july 1, the Dana was set afire when an iraqi plane fired an exocet missile into it As it shuttled crude Oil from the heavily bombed Harg Ter Minal to makeshift terminals to the South. Iraq carries out most of its air attacks with French built Mirage Al Righter bombers. They fire sea skimming radar guided exocet a into their targets. At least 40 ships have been hit by the French made exocet a the same kind of missile used in the May 17 iraqi attack on the . Warship Stark which killed 37 crewmen. Iraq said hat attack was a Accident. The United Stales accepted Iraq s apology. The Eso Ceis have sunk Only one  Perls say this is because when an to Cal s 360-Pound warhead explodes in a fully loaded Tanker the thick crude Oil lends to absorb the Force of the blast. The iranians initially used their War depleted Force of .-made phantom f 4 jets to hit ships. They later switched 10helicopter gunships which operate from abandoned Oil platforms and Are armed with wire guided Maverick missiles. Before the summer of 1986, the Lum Bering tankers used to make their runs during the night because iranian aircraft were not Able to operate then. But the ships lost the Protection of darkness when the iranians switched to used British built frigate. With italian made Saki incr anti ship missiles which work at night. Marauding revolutionary guard using Small highly Mancu Merable Speed boats armed with rocket propelled Gre Nades and machine guns have carried out Many of he recent iranian attacks. Tie guards fanatical followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini operate Jay and night from a Chain of Island base running from the Strait of Hormuz to tiny Nasirah Island in the Northern Gulf. The Strait is a favorite ambush zone. The guards latest lactic is laying mines in the Tanker lanes Oft Kuwait. . Navy demolition squads have cleared some of the soviet made mines but at least four ships have been hit in recent weeks. Boat oads of asians land on Canadian Shore Halifax Nova Scotia up about 174 asians Sorte wearing stylish clothes and carrying leather briefcases landed in lifeboats sunday on the Ca Nadian Shore the second group to arrive by Lifeboat in leu than a year. The asians believed to be either from India or sri Lanka landed on the Beach in Clarkville Nova Scotia before Dawn Sun Day and were taken by bus to Halifax. Cay Stoddard chief of the Woods Harbour fire department near Charlo Ville said about 174 people All but on of them men landed in dense fog in Small lifeboats. John Stone a spokesman for the immigration department in Halifax said an indeterminate number of individuals from an undetermined Point of Ori Gin landed on the shores of the Island province in Eastern Canada. Because the men were wearing turbans authorities supposed that they were from either India or sri Lanka. Last August the German fishing vessel Auriga dropped 155 sri lankan Refu gees into lifeboats in the Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland the tamils were Given special permits to remain in Canada and find work and they now live in major cities across the country. The government earlier this year eliminated a list of countries including sri Lanka to which refugee claimants would not be deported because of fear of Perse cution. Officials said individuals claim ing refugee status now have to prove they would be in physical danger of persecution if deported. Tamils Are seeking Refuge from religious violence in sri Lanka with the Buddhist sinhalese who control the gov. Erna Cut of the Island nation off India s Southeast coast. Curfew keeps turks Home for voter registration Ankara Turkey a most turks were prisoners in their own Homes for 14 hours sunday under a curfew for voter registration that has drawn increasing criticism. An estimated 250,000 government officials went door to door registering each Turk 19 years of age or older. Streets in this capital of 3 million people resembled those of a ghost town. Occa Jonal optic ii cars broke the silence. Foreign tourists originally included in the curfew were allowed to go out after culture and tourism minister Mosul Yil Rumz intervened saying tourist should be exempt from the order. But there was Little for tourists to do. Museums restaurants and other Public places remained closed during the head count period from s am. To 7 . Every five years the government announces an Alt Day curfew for a general census. The tame system is used for voter registration. The last general Cen sus count was in 1985 and the last curfew for voter registration in 1982. A new count was not expected until before general elections scheduled for the fall of fag. But in May parliament reduced the voting age to 19 from. Then ordered a referendum to be held sept. A. It pro poses lifting a constitutional provision barring some 100 former politicians from running for office. The change in the voting age mean about 2 million new voters must be registered officials say. Eligible voters Are expected to be 25 million out of a total population of 52 million. The political ban was included in a temporary article of the 1982 Constitution promulgated by generals who seized Power in a 1940 coup. Turkey returned to civilian Rule with 1983 general elections. But former politicians including sex premiers Balente Levit and Suleyman Demieri remained barred from politics until 1992. Turkish Media commentators have denounced the curfew As undemocratic and archaic. We Are like hens in a Coop wrote Mulaz so Sal in the Independent Istanbul daily Mill yet. He said the system would remain in Force As Long As turks quietly accept the forced  Metin Toker lamented the Lack of a press Campaign to urge people to protest the curfew. If the administration were Ted to fear that in Istanbul alone 1 million people could defy the curfew and take to the streets they would not have dared slapped the curfew on people he wrote. Are nil but deserted during Sunda s cur sctt imposed in conjunction Nith a Toter registration Dri