Debt Increase During the Reagan-Bush Years

In the article "As Bush Campaign Stalls, Baker May Take Charge," July 22, the author intimates that the Republicans will again try to discredit the Democrats with that old "tax and spend" accusation. The "borrow and spend" Republicans, in their 12-year control of the executive branch, have pushed the national debt from $1 trillion to $4 trillion dollars. In the Reagan years that $1 trillion dollar debt of the "tax and spenders" should have been, and could have been, reduced. Instead, tax breaks were give n to the least needy, and corporate America. Now we are living with the results - a situation remarkably similar to the period that ended with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Alex F. Livingstone, Tilton, N.H. `Holding' the Golan Heights

I was dismayed by the author's reference to the Golan Heights in the article "Arabs Watch Intently as Israel Shapes Policy," July 17, as being territories "held by Syria until 1967." This statement is ambiguous and misleading at best. It gives the impression that the Heights were "terra nullis" held by Syria, and not what they really are, a part and parcel of Syria, unlawfully annexed by Israel in 1981. Such a misrepresentation is akin to stating, for instance, that in 1940 Paris, until then held by Fran ce, was occupied by the Nazis in the course of World War II. Omar Altaher, Miami Turkey's human rights record

Regarding the Opinion page column "Turkey: Caught in the Vortex of History," July 8: The column is correct that Turkey has positive opportunities in the new Muslim republics of Central Asia as well as with the European Community, and also in its identification of internal threats from both Kurdish separatists and fundamentalist Muslims.

It does not, however, point out that Turkey's atrocious human rights policies contribute to the domestic unrest. The Kurdish minority is driven to separatism by strict curfews, torture, and restrictions of basic freedoms. Our State Department might think it irrelevant, but Turkey's record with regard to its Kurds, students, journalists, and loyal opposition continues to weaken the infrastructure of its society. Demetrios Matsakis, Takoma Park, Md.