"Nicosia, Jun 3 (CNA) -- The American Hellenic Institute has called for the indictment of Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit for crimes against Cyprus and the Kurds, stating the precedent of the indictment of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

In a letter to the US State Department Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, David Scheffer, the General Counsel of the Institute, Eugene Rossides, states that the decision for the indictment of Milosevic "creates an important precedent of indicting an incumbent Head of Government".

He says that "the obvious analogy is Turkey's Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit" with regard to Cyprus and the Kurds.

Rossides states that "Ecevit initiated the illegal 1974 Turkish invasion of Greek Cyprus with the illegal use of US-supplied arms, during which some 200.000 Greek Cypriots were forced from their homes by the Turkish armed forces".

He adds that "over 4.000 Greek Cypriots were murdered" during the invasion, "including five Americans, who had been kidnapped by the Turkish forces".

"In the course of the occupation"of the northern third of the island, he continues, "the few Greek Cypriots who were not ethnically cleansed from the areas under illegal Turkish occupation have been subject to persistent persecution on political, racial and religious grounds", adding that "Greek Cypriot religious and cultural sites have been devastated".

Referring to the Kurds, Rossides says that "during Turkey's 15-year war against the Kurds, over 2,5 million Kurds have been forced from their homes and 2.600-3.000 villages have been torched or razed".

He adds that "some 30.000 innocent Kurds have been killed by the Turkish army" and that "extrajudicial killings, torture and deprivation of elementary civil and human rights have been routine".

Rossides stresses that Ecevit and other senior military and political >officials are also culpable.

"I trust", he adds, "that the US will exploit the precedent provided" to institute proceedings to indict Ecevit and other Turkish officials in the International Criminal Court.

Rossides sent copies of his letter to US President Bill Clinton and US Administration and Congress officials."