Cablegate: Ankara Media Reaction Report

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 ANKARA 004861

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/SE, EUR/PD, NEA/PD, DRL
JCS PASS J-5/CDR S. WRIGHT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR TU
SUBJECT: ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2005

THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE
THEMES:

HEADLINES
BRIEFING
EDITORIAL OPINION
--------------------------------------------- --

HEADLINES

MASS APPEAL
Erdogan Praises Sharon over Gaza Pullout - Milliyet
Sharon Watches Gaza Evacuation in Tears - Aksam
Sharon: I am the one to Blame - Hurriyet
Sharon: Attack Me, Not Our Troops - Sabah
Islamic Jihad Celebrates Gaza Pullout `Victory' - Sabah
Turkish Anti-Terror Draft Contains Tough Measures Against
Terror - Vatan
Turkish Cypriot Airlines to Fly to Baku August 28 - Milliyet
350 Minor Blasts in Bangladesh: 2 Killed - Milliyet
Radical Islamists Claim Bangladesh Bombings - Aksam

OPINION MAKERS
Erdogan Congratulates Sharon, Abbas on Gaza Pullout - Zaman
Blood, Sweat, and Tears in Gaza - Radikal
Sharon: Pullout is Heart-Breaking - Yeni Safak
Jewish Settlers Burn Own Houses before Evacuating Gaza -
Zaman
Sharon Leaves Gaza, Turns to West Bank - Zaman
Hamas: Resistance Will Continue Until Occupiers Leave - Yeni
Safak
Khalilzad: Kurdish Independence in Iraq Out of Question -
Yeni Safak
Baghdad Bloodshed: 43 Killed in 3 Attacks - Cumhuriyet
Russia Advises Continuation of Dialogue with Iran -
Cumhuriyet
Washington Post: Bush's `Axis of Evil' Policy `Unsuccessful'
- Yeni Safak
British Police's `Right to Kill' Terror - Cumhuriyet

BRIEFING

Turkish Military `Fully Prepared' for Cross-Border
Incursions into Iraq: Turkey's Second Army Commander,
General Sukru Sariisik, said at a change of command ceremony
in Diyarbakir yesterday that the Turkish military has
completed `all preparations' for a cross-border incursion
into Iraq, "Milliyet" reports. `I have personally seen that
the 7th Army Corps, which serves in the most volatile region
of our country, has carried out flawlessly preparations and
planning for any possible duty in Iraq in a way that would
ensure the rapid transfer to duty locations and the
execution of an operation,' Sariisik said. The 7th Army
Corps, based in Diyarbakir and now commanded by Lt. Gen
Cahit Sarsilmaz, is comprised of 25,000 soldiers divided
into five brigades. It has air capabilities, can destroy
targets through the use of tactical attack helicopters, and
can transfer military personnel to operational areas. The
main zone of responsibility for the 7th Corps, which
actively engaged the PKK during the days of emergency rule
in the southeast, is along Turkey's border with Iraq. The
7th Corps is prepared in the event of the establishement of
a Kurdish state in Iraq and to deal with separatist
terrorism coming from Iraq. It would also deal with threats
to the existence of the Turkmen in Iraq, "Milliyet" claims.

PKK May Call Unilateral Cease Fire on Friday: Dailies
expect the PKK, under pressure to cease attacks following
Prime Minister Erdogan's reference to the `Kurdish problem'
in southeast Turkey, to announce on Friday its decision on
whether or not to lay down its arms. Papers cite the
"Mesopotamia News Agency" (MNA) as reporting that Kongra-Gel
chairman Zubeyir Aydar will clarify the terror
organization's position at a press conference at the
International Press Center in Brussels on Friday. It is
unclear if Aydar will be allowed to travel from northern
Iraq to Belgium to hold the press conference, given the fact
that the EU has declared Kongra-Gel to be a terrorist
organization.
Kurdish Intellectuals to Back Erdogan Efforts in
Declaration: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's former adviser
Mehmet Metiner said that the PM had the support of Kurdish
intellectuals for the democratic messages he issued in
Diyarbakir last Friday. Metiner told the press that some
prominent Kurdish intellectuals have drafted a declaration
calling on the PKK to lay down its arms. `I hope that Leyla
Zana and her colleagues will also sign this declaration,'
Metiner said. In the early 1990s, Metiner prepared for
Erdogan, then the mayor of Istanbul, a special report on the
Kurdish issue that included a series of proposals for
solutions to the problem.

CHP Lawmakers Support Erdogan's Southeast Policy: Two
opposition CHP lawmakers from southeast Turkey, Naci Aslan
and Esat Canan, announced their support for Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan's efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue. A
column in "Sabah" outlines proposals from the CHP lawmakers.
The proposals include a general amnesty, from which
imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan would also benefit,
and a political deal with DEHAP to achieve a lasting
solution. Canan said that the PKK is backed by DEHAP, which
received 2 million votes in the last elections. He advised
the AKP government to deal with DEHAP, NGOs, and
intellectuals in order to resolve problems in the Southeast.

New Kurdish Grouping Deemed a Front for Ocalan: The pro-
Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) announced in a
declaration that it is disbanding itself in order to join
the Democratic Society Movement (DTH) established by former
Kurdish lawmakers Leyla Zana and her colleagues. DEHAP
added that it wanted imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan
to be seen as an interlocutor in talks aimed at resolving
the Kurdish problem. The declaration noted that governments
in the UK and Spain had accepted a dialogue with
organizations such as the IRA and ETA. Several columnists
criticized the declaration, accusing Zana of fueling fresh
tensions, and describing DEHAP as a mouthpiece for the PKK.
`For DEHAP and Zana, the Kurdish issue seems to be limited
to the fate of Ocalan. They seem not to care about the
plight of 20,000 homeless children in Diyarbakyr, honor
killings, and economic backwardness in the region,' a column
in "Milliyet" argues. Another "Milliyet" column lashes out
at Zana and DEHAP for making `ethnic-chauvinist
provocations.' On September 11, DTH will file a petition to
establish a new party, which DEHAP members will subsequently
join. The new party will be co-chaired by two Kurdish
leaders, most likely Zana and her colleague Hatip Dicle.

Compensations for Terror Victims in Southeast Turkey: A
news commentary in today's "Cumhuriyet" reports that state-
funded compensation to victims of terrorism had been the
most significant move made by the ruling AK Party to resolve
problems in southeast Turkey. The AKP government, however,
has allocated only 10 trillion lira to fund the
compensations. 104,734 people applied for compensations,
but the government has only reviewed 5,239 applications.
5.7 trillion lira in compensation has been paid to 755
applicants, "Cumhuriyet" reports, while 4,049 claims have
been rejected.

Erdogan Letter Lauds Gaza Pullout: On Wednesday, Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Israeli Prime
Minister Sharon commending the `courage and determination'
of the Israeli government in implementing the disengagement
from the Gaza Strip. The Turkish PM voiced hoped that the
Gaza pullout would be a step on the road to peace.
`Creating an atmosphere of security and the rule of law in
the Palestinian areas, building the necessary
infrastructure, and implementing reforms in an effort to lay
the ground for a democratic state -- these are the
challenges that must be dealt with together,' Erdogan said
in his letter.

`Vaccine Crisis' with the US: The US has been debating
claims that child vaccines containing `thimerosal' cause
autism and other neurological disorders in young children,
Turkish papers report. Despite the fact that thimerosal was
banned in the US in 2003, vaccines containing the toxic
element have been exported to some `underdeveloped'
countries including Turkey, "Vatan" reports. The paper
claims that George Bush Sr. was a board member of the Eli
Lilly Co., which holds the patent for thimerosal. White
House Budget Planning Director Mitch Daniels worked as a top
executive at Lilly. The company's president, Sidney Taurel,
is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and
is closely tied to President Bush, according to the report.
Scores of lawsuits filed against Lilly by the families of
thimerosal victims have yielded no results. The Republican
Party allegedly received 1.5 million USD in political
donations from Lilly during the last election cycle, and
Republican Senators are preparing a bill to save the company
from compensation lawsuits. The Turkish Health Ministry
announced yesterday that almost all child vaccines in Turkey
contain thimerosal, adding that there is not yet conclusive
evidence proving that thimerosal causes autism.

Gul to Join EU Counterparts in Britain: Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul has been invited to attend the unofficial
meeting of EU foreign ministers in the UK on September 1,
"Hurriyet" reports. At the meeting, the EU will review the
framework for accession negotiations with Turkey, and
Turkey's recent declaration on the non-recognition of
Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriots to Open a New Border Gate with Greek
Cypriots: Turkish Cypriot `Prime Minister' Ferdi Sabit
Soyer said Wednesday that his government had decided to open
a second border crossing in Bostanci (Zodhia) to allow
passage between the two sides in Cyprus as of August 31,
papers report. Soyer rejected criticism from Nicosia that
the Turkish Cypriots were not authorized to open a new
border-gate, saying that he hoped that the Greek Cypriot
side would fulfill its obligations as well.

Turkish Cypriot Plane to Fly Directly to Baku: Turkish
Cypriot Airlines (KTHY) will begin direct flights to the
Azerbaijani capital of Baku on August 28. The flights will
be the first from northern Cyprus to a foreign country other
than Turkey. A delegation of Turkish Cypriot `officials,'
businessmen, and journalists will meet President Aliyev and
some cabinet ministers in Baku to discuss economic and
cultural cooperation as well as tourism issues.

Uranium Seized in Istanbul `Not Dangerous': Turkish police
said Wednesday that the 173 grams of partially enriched
uranium seized from two suspects in an operation last week
in Istanbul was not pure enough to be used in either weapons
production or energy production. The suspects were arrested
as they were trying to sell the uranium to police for 7
million USD. Reports say that the seized uranium, which was
apparently smuggled to Turkey from Russia, had a market
value of 1,500 USD.
Another Turkish Truck Driver Killed in Iraq: Papers quote
the Baghdad-based independent news channel "Al-Sharqiyah TV"
as reporting that three truck drivers, including a Turkish
national, were killed in an attack by gunmen against their
convoy near Bayji in northern Iraq yesterday.

EDITORIAL OPINION: Iraq

"Dancing with the Kurds"
Soli Ozel commented in the mass appeal "Sabah" (8/18):
"Given that Turkey's Kurdish issue is being shaped according
to what is happening in Iraq, Turkey will need to develop a
serious policy for Iraq and the entire region. Along with
the Iraq issue, Turkey also has to define and structure its
relationship with the US by considering both mutual
interests and differences. . A majority of the Turkish
public probably believes that the US had an independent
Kurdistan in mind before the start of the Iraq war. But the
very same public rejected Turkey's involvement in the Iraq
process that would have enabled Turkey to prevention the
formation of an independent Kurdish state. . Turkey's
rejection of the March 1 motion naturally resulted in an
alliance between the Iraqi Kurds and the US. But Turkish
public opinion has not been able to digest this. The
current US reluctance to take action against the PKK only
feeds growing anti-American sentiment and leads to
speculation that Washington intends to divide Turkey or to
force it toward a federal structure. It will be interesting
to see what kind of relationship Turkey will manage to
establish with the Iraqi Kurds in light of these
developments. A federal structure in Iraq will end up
leading to Islamist administrations in both the Shiite and
the Sunni regions. Moreover, Iran has an excellent chance
to influence Iraq through the Iraqi Shiites. It remains to
be seen whether Turkey will be able to accept the Iraqi
Kurds as partners and act together with them on behalf of a
more secular regime and to minimize Iranian influence."

"Democracy in Iraq"
Yilmaz Oztuna wrote in the conservative "Turkiye" (8/18):
"President Bush must have been joking when he expressed
satisfaction about the stage of democracy in Iraq.
Seriously, democracy in Iraq can only be defined in Middle
Eastern terms. It remains debatable whether democracy is
the best thing for these countries. Human rights and free
elections are certainly good indicators of democracy, but on
the entire Asian continent, these concepts are only applied
in Japan, Israel and Turkey. Others have tried and failed.
For instance, democracy in Armenia meant the rise to power
of a terrorist organization.. Unlike Iran, Iraq has never
been a real state. It emerged as a pre-designed country at
the end of the colonial period. The US has effectively
divided Iraq. This will not be changed by the US-imposed
constitution."

"Is Iraq Going to Disintegrate?"
Sami Kohen wrote in the mainstream daily "Milliyet" (8/18):
"The new Iraqi constitution definitely foresees a federal
system. The Kurds and Shiites have already on this, and the
Sunnis are at least considering it. This process, which
could also lead to the disintegration of Iraq, started after
the US occupation and the demise of Saddam's regime. Is it
possible that Iraq will maintain its integrity under a
federal system without splitting into pieces? There is no
doubt that this needs to be guaranteed by the constitution.
But whether it will last over the long run depends on
developments in Iraq and the international environment. In
this context, foreign, domestic, and economic factors will
play an important role. The main foreign factor is the
level of US pressure and influence. . Turkey is another
foreign factor that will remain opposed to the
disintegration of Iraq. The level of prosperity achieved by
the federal state structure could play a uniting role. If
oil revenues are distributed fairly in Iraq and the living
conditions of Iraqis improved, the Kurds, Shiites and the
Sunnis could opt to live happily together under the same
roof. Logic and the common sense would be on the side of
maintaining Iraq's territorial integrity. I hope that the
new constitution will consider these facts."

MCELDOWNEY

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