ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002432 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 MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2003 THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE THEMES: HEADLINES BRIEFING EDITORIAL OPINION -------------- HEADLINES MASS APPEAL FM Gul: We Shall Take Part in Iraq's Reconstruction - Hurriyet Now it is Syria's Turn - Milliyet Saddam Might be Hiding in Beirut- Milliyet Baghdad Museum Looted-Sabah Syria Summit At the White House - Turkiye Turkish Military Officers are in Critical Region - Aksam, 4/12 Talabani Assigns his man to Kirkuk as Governor-Hurriyet, 4/12 OPINION MAKERS US Guns Aimed at Syria - Radikal Bush Threatens Syria and Iraq - Yeni Safak Cheney's Daughter Meets with Baath Party Members-Yeni Safak Kirkuk Puzzle - Cumhuriyet US Calls Saddam's Police for Duty- Zaman Israeli Foreign Minister Comes To Turkey-Zaman Peshmerges Withdraw-4/13 Looting, Chaos, Poverty in Baghdad-Radikal-4/12 BRIEFING Iraq: Saturday's "Cumhuriyet" reports that Turkey wants to play an active role in the reconstruction of Iraq. Within this framework, Turkey has already prepared a list of Arab and Turkoman officials who should definitely take place in the new Iraqi administration. Weekend papers report that Kurdish groups have started leaving Kirkuk and Mosul, but Turkish troops remain on the highest alert to intervene if necessary. Meanwhile, 15 Turkish military officials went to Northern Iraq to monitor developments in Mosul and Kirkuk. "Sabah" covers the military delegation's report, saying that `there have been no systematic attacks against the Turkomen.' The majority of peshmerge militants have left Kirkuk, but a few have remained to assist US troops until the arrival of reinforcements. "Radikal" reports that Syria has become the new US target following the fall of Iraq. The Bush administration accuses Syria of giving military support to Saddam, providing shelter to fleeing Iraqi officials, and hiding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Today's "Turkiye" reports that the US is considering launching a military operation against Syria. Sunday's "Hurriyet" reports that portraits of Saddam have been removed from the walls of the Iraqi Embassy in Ankara. "Yeni Safak" reports that during the first week of the operation against Iraq, the US administration , in order to change the war situation through diplomatic channels, sent a delegation to Iraq led of Dick Cheney's daughter Elizabeth Cheney. Elizabeth Cheney, who works for the State Department's Middle and Near East department, is also an advisor to Israeli PM Ariel Saron, according to "Yeni Safak." EU: "Radikal" reports that the Cyprus issue will be at the top of the agenda of Turkey-EU relations this week. Today the EU will approve an updated Accession Partnership Accord for Turkey. FM Abdullah Gul will go to Luxembourg today to participate at the EU Foreign Ministers meeting. EDITORIAL OPINION "The cost of war to the U.S." Cuneyt Ulsever opined in mass appeal Hurriyet (4/14): "The war with Iraq has brought the U.S. some long-term costs. . Unlike the Clinton-era understanding of the U.S. as a `gracious imperial state,' the U.S. has now become a state that will mainly be viewed from a position of pure fear. Coercion breeds coercion. Unfortunately, terrorist acts against the U.S. will increase henceforth, and without receiving the sympathetic reaction the world displayed against the September 11 attacks. . Palestinian-inspired terrorist acts will expand their area of legitimacy, and the U.S. will feel, more than ever, obliged to solve the Palestine problem. The U.S. has shattered essential organizational models such as the UN and NATO. However, America badly needs such organizations if globalization is to gain legitimacy. The U.S. will have to pay a high cost for its ambition." "After Saddam" Yasemin Congar wrote in mass appeal Milliyet (4/14): "A day before the collapse of the Baath regime in Baghdad, a U.S. official said to reporters that a democratic Turkey should be pleased with the change in Iraq. `Turkey will have the largest trade volume with the new Iraq. . Turkey has got no reason to be worried about the rights of the Kurds. We want the Kurds, as all other Iraqi ethnic groups, to get an equal share from Iraq's national wealth. If Turkey continues to implement democratic and economic reforms, the Turkish nation, and Kurdish-origin Turks, will live a more prosperous life. There will be no reason for Ankara to worry that Iraqi Kurds will act as a model in the region,' he said. . In a briefing for Arab and Muslim journalists, Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz said that Turkey's concern regarding Northern Iraq is legitimate, for terrorists who found shelter in the region have killed thousands in the 1990s. He noted that not only the U.S., but the KDP and PUK have also helped `a great deal' in Turkey's fight against the PKK. Wolfowitz stressed that both the Kurds and Turkomen have been targeted in Saddam's ethnic cleansing operations. He reminded that Arabs were settled in place of displaced ethnic groups, and claimed they would be allowed to return home through a `systematic legal process' instead of by `brute force.' . How does Ankara regard Wolfowitz's assertion? Is it possible for Turkey to establish a relationship of trust with the KDP and PUK in a new Iraq? . How many in Ankara believe that removal of Saddam will be the beginning of a much better future for Iraq and Turkey?" "Who is threatening world peace?" Semih Idiz commented in mass appeal Aksam (4/14): "Allowing the destruction of the National Museum in Baghdad, which stood witness to Mesopotamia's five thousand years of history, will be remembered as a crime against humanity by the U.S. Washington had planned measures for the protection of oil wells months before the operation, but did nothing to protect the museum. . It's gradually becoming clear that this war has got nothing to do with the welfare of the Iraqi nation. It is now understood that it is related with the `black gold' and Israel, a country essential for America's regional interests. The evidence for the latter is seen in U.S. statements that Syria might be next because of its support for Hizbullah, the enemy of Israel. It seems that the Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle `cabal' has developed an extremely dangerous master plan. Those who claim that Bush, not Saddam was a threat to world peace are right." PEARSON