PRESS DIGEST - Turkey - March 30

ISTANBUL, March 30 (Reuters) - These are the leading stories in the Turkish press on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

MILLIYET

- Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says he'll take a lesson from the message voters sent after his party sees its first decrease in support since coming to power in 2002. A cabinet reshuffle may be in store, he says.

SABAH

- Twelve people die and 27 are injured in election violence across Turkey. Three of the dead were candidates for neighbourhood posts. Supporters of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party and the ruling AK Party clash in at least two cities in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.

- Turkey is set to see record car sales in March as units sold reach 20,000 following a cut in the special consumption tax.

AKSAM

- The AK Party is unable to win mayoral races in three cities on which Erdogan had set his sights. It relinquishes control of Antalya and fails to take the opposition strongholds of Diyarbakir and Izmir.

RADIKAL

- Pressure from the opposition to hold early general elections will mount after local polls show a backslide in AK Party support. Erdogan will refuse but will reconsider his politics and behaviour.

VATAN

- The death of ultra-nationalist party leader Muhsin Yazicioglu results in an explosion of votes for his Grand Unity Party in the party leader's hometown of Sivas.

REFERANS

- Lenders heed the banking watchdog's recommendation late last year to hold on to profits. Publicly traded banks say they'll pay a total 900 million lira in dividends from a combined 2008 profit of 9.18 billion lira.