Turkish daily news papers covered in their Monday editions a fire in a correctional facility in Turkey's southeast that killed 13 convicts, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc's statements over remarks by Leyla Zana, an independent MP, US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's remarks over Turkey's role in Syria, and a forest fire in Istanbul's Heybeliada.

"Hell Wards," daily VATAN headlined over the killing of 13 convicts in a correctional facility in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa. The daily said 1057 inmates were kept at the prison which had only a capacity to hold 350, adding that the fire erupted after a fight between two groups of prisoners over the positioning of a cooling fan, a poor remedy to the temperatures that go as high as 45 degrees Celsius or 113 degrees Fahrenheit inside. The daily said the Sanliurfa Bar warned the Justice Ministry a year ago and presented a detailed report about the overcrowded prison where it said the wards were packed with prisoners thrice as many as they could house.

"Turkey should send weapons to Syrian rebels," daily MILLIYET headlined over remarks by US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney who criticized Barack Obama's policy on Syria. The daily said Romney urged Obama to encourage allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia to send weapons to the Syrian rebels.

MILLIYET said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc extended support to remarks by independent MP Leyla Zana who had said that Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan could solve "the Kurdish issue." "Zana said the truth. I wish everyone else thought same as Zana," the daily cited Arinc as saying.

Daily SABAH said a forest fire erupted at Istanbul's Heybeliada that houses the Halki Seminary. The daily said the fire consumed an area of 3.5 hectares forested with pines. The blaze was put out by fire fighting planes and helicopters before it could reach the seminary.

AA