EU health commissioner says bird flu-hit Turkey still not safe

Turkey has its most recent outbreak of deadly &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/360/14372_birdflu.html' target=_blank>bird flu under control, but faces a persistent danger from the virus, European Union Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said Thursday.

"The virus continues to move around us," Kyprianou said, according Turkey's Anatolia news agency. "Until it has been eliminated from the environment, we cannot feel safe."

Kyprianou and a team of veterinary experts met with authorities in Turkey Thursday to ensure the country was taking appropriate steps to stop the virus from spreading.

Meeting with the teams in Ankara, however, Turkish Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker repeated that the virus had already spread to neighboring countries.

"This disease is in these countries, but because of their own regimes, they don't declare it," he said.