ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002940 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 TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2003 THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE THEMES: HEADLINES BRIEFING EDITORIAL OPINION -------------- HEADLINES MASS APPEAL Bush conveys Sezer condolences, offers help - Sabah Bush makes surprise call to Sezer - Milliyet Arab mayor for Mosul, w/ Kurd deputy - Hurriyet Mosul polls first free election in Iraq - Aksam Garner: Barzani in interim Iraqi administration - Turkiye `Ms. Anthrax' under arrest - Aksam Poll: No Democrat candidate came close to Bush - Milliyet TGS strongly denounces speculation on NSC - Vatan Turkish companies feeling pulse at Equity International meeting - Turkiye Rumsfeld: Finding Iraqi WMD might take time - Sabah OPINION MAKERS `Interim mayor' for Mosul - Cumhuriyet Shiites, Sunni alliance against invaders - Yeni Safak Turkish Cypriot opposition: Political solution essential - Radikal Papadopoulos appeals to conscience of Greeks going North - Zaman Gul to meet with EU envoys in Crete May 25 - Yeni Safak North Korean missiles `locked' on U.S. - Cumhuriyet FINANCIAL JOURNALS Government vows to step up fight against corruption - Dunya Pentagon hurdle for Turkish contractors - Finansal Forum BRIEFING Bush calls Sezer: Dailies report President Bush's phone call to President Sezer on Monday, offering condolences for the Bingol earthquake but also asking for Turkey's support for a solution on Cyprus. Sezer said Ankara expected some positive steps forward from the Greek Cypriots, and that the new openings on both sides of the island inspired hope. Bush also assured Sezer that the U.S. was acting in line with Turkey's sensitivities in Iraq, papers underline. Earthquake/corruption: The prosecutor in Bingol has issued a search and arrest warrant for the corrupt contractors of buildings wrecked in the recent earthquake. Dailies claim that the AKP government was planning to take advantage of the disaster to make swift changes to the public procurement law. Government officials want housing and energy tenders to be excluded from the new law, so that houses for earthquake victims can be completed before winter. Papers suspect that the AKP government had been considering changes to the public procurement law so that it can give its supporters a larger share from lucrative state contracts without the transparency required by the new law. Iraq jobs for Turks: Papers say that the hawks in the Pentagon were putting pressure on American companies to refrain from cooperating with Turkish subcontractors in Iraq's reconstruction. Turkish companies, particularly giants like Koc and Sabanci groups are alarmed by this negative course of developments in Washington. The Washington Administration will force Turkish businessmen to form partnerships with Northern Iraqi Kurdish companies if they want to win contracts `easily,' "Star" claims. The paper goes on to say that both the PUK and KDP leadership have given Ankara the message that Turkish companies could bypass the negative attitude of Americans against Turks only through partnership with Kurdish firms. "Star" comments that Washington, striving to decrease tension between Ankara and the Northern Iraqi Kurdish groups, might be using the Iraqi contracts as a trump card. TGS uneasy about speculation: The TGS (Turkish General Staff) issued Monday a strongly worded statement to `show the military's decisiveness in facing enemies of republic who attempt to undermine unity.' The statement said that the military was the foremost guarantor of Turkey's secular democratic regime. The statement also harshly criticized foreign and domestic press reports alleging disagreement among military commanders. The TGS message was aimed at press reports claiming a duel of words between the government and military wings of the NSC during meetings. It declared these reports to be untrue,. Mainstream papers see the statement as the strongest message issued by the TGS under Gen. Ozkok's command. EDITORIAL OPINION: US foreign policy in post Saddam Iraq "Pax-Americana in the Middle East" Sami Kohen wrote in mass appeal Milliyet (5/6): "In the aftermath of the Iraq war, we have been observing the steps taken by the US in the Middle East as its new strategy. Washington has started implementing an American order, the Pax Americana if you will, in the Middle East and beyond. . These are the current steps that are being taken: The restructuring of Iraq is underway in its all dimensions, and it is happening in the way the US desires. . The US is revising its current alliances with old friends, but also has started establishing new alliances in the region, such as with Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. . Syria is the new target for the US, which was pronounced as part of axis of evil. Yet it seems things are moving to a direction where Washington sees no point for a military operation at least for the moment as proven with the SecState Powell visit. . The Bush administration has also started dealing with the Palestine issue, which happens to be the major source of tension in the Middle East. . All of this indicates that President Bush's doctrine or the Pax Americana in a broader sense, is now coming true." PEARSON