The H5N1 virus is the most deadly of a number of known versions of bird flu.

The Commission said it was taking no steps at the moment over a suspected outbreak of bird flu in Romania.

EU veterinary officers from the 25-nation bloc will meet in Brussels on Wednesday when the results of bird flu tests in Romania and Turkey should be known. They can decide further trade restrictions and tougher EU action.

"We do not know yet whether this (bird flu in Turkey) is the same virulent virus that has caused such widespread destruction in Asia," EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said in a statement.

"We have offered assistance to Turkey and the measures we have taken against imports will be reviewed in the coming days, when we have the final test results."

Turkey has so far culled about 3,000 turkeys and chickens after reporting its first outbreak of avian flu at a farm in the district of Manyas, near the Aegean and Marmara Seas.

It has clamped a 3-km (2-mile) quarantine zone around the farm, where 1,870 turkeys died of the disease last week. Teams of veterinary experts in white overalls and gloves are hurriedly burying the slaughtered birds in lime-drenched pits.

"The precautionary measures are continuing but this outbreak of disease is not an epidemic. It is not spreading at the moment," veterinary surgeon Arif Zorlu told Reuters.

"To prevent any spread, our technical team in the area is killing poultry and we will continue doing so for 21 days to avert the possibility of an epidemic," he said, adding the slaughtered birds had not shown any symptoms of illness.

Government spokesman Cemil Cicek said there were no reports of any other outbreaks of the disease in Turkey and he pledged state compensation for farmers affected by the cull.

"There is no need for concern," he told a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting at which bird flu was discussed.

ROMANIAN BIRD DEATHS

Romania was also conducting a widespread cull after detecting an outbreak in the Danube delta.

Private television station Realitatea TV reported dozens of birds, including swans and poultry, had been found dead in the village of Maliuc in the delta on Monday.

Quarantine orders were imposed on seven affected Romanian villages, hunting was banned in the delta and the agriculture minister said the country would cull about 45,000 birds.

He said scientists there had ruled out avian flu in some of the stricken birds found and were trying to isolate the virus in others to discover which strain they were infected with.

Bulgaria, sandwiched between Turkey and Romania, announced a ban on imports of poultry and poultry products from its Black Sea neighbours on Monday. Ukraine, Croatia, Bosnia and Switzerland followed suit.

Earlier, Hungary had announced a ban on Romanian poultry products and Greece banned imports from Romania and Turkey. Bulgaria, Greece and Hungary also toughened border checks.

Turkey's Poultry Producers and Breeders Association said samples of the dead birds had been sent to a specialist laboratory in Britain to identify the strain of the virus, and the results should be known within a week.

"BIG BLOW"

The H5N1 avian influenza virus has killed millions of birds across Asia and infected 116 people, killing more than 60 of them. Scientists fear the virus, known to pass to humans from birds, could mutate and be passed among humans.

Turkish producers said the outbreak could be costly.

"This is a big blow to Turkey's poultry exports and could also hurt domestic sales," said Yuce Canoler of the Turkish Poultry Producers and Breeders Association.