ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 003305 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 WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2003 THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE THEMES: HEADLINES BRIEFING EDITORIAL OPINION -------------- HEADLINES MASS APPEALS Talabani: U.S. determined to eliminate all terror groups in Iraq - Turkiye Talabani: I know whereabouts of Saddam's family - Hurriyet Barney Frank (D): Turkey a model country - Turkiye ABC TV: Al-Qaida militants in Turkey - Sabah Wolfowitz visits Turkish peacekeeping troops in Tuzla - Aksam U.S. to change Iraqi currency - Sabah U.S. considering fingerprint, iris scan for visitors - Aksam Parliament to do overtime for EU - Milliyet Gen. Ozkok: TGS not against EU - Vatan OPINION MAKERS Human bomb in the heart of the capital: 1 dead - Cumhuriyet PKK militia moves toward Turkish border - Cumhuriyet Britain's Sawers: Kurdish zone must be expanded - Zaman Heavy diplomatic traffic between Turkey, Israel - Zaman Gul: We won't miss EU opportunity - Yeni Safak 20,000 Turkish Cypriots apply for Greek Cypriot passport - Radikal Amnesty International: BTC project a humanitarian catastrophe - Radikal FINANCIAL JOURNALS JP Morgan: If adheres to IMF program, Turkey can break debt cycle - Dunya Dollar keeps diving - Dunya BRIEFING Bomb blast in Ankara: Dailies give extensive coverage to a bomb blast in a caf in downtown Ankara Tuesday morning. Extreme leftist DHKP-C (Dev-Sol) member Songul Alpyurt was killed when the bomb accidentally went off while she was trying to set the mechanism in the caf toilet frequently visited by students. Investigation continues to find out the real target of the suspected suicide attack, papers say. IMF: An IMF team begins the fifth review of Turkey's package on Wednesday. Ankara has made key pledges to the fund to revise a public procurement law, pass legislation encouraging foreign investment and reduce public sector employees. The U.S. Treasury's John Taylor has announced last week that the $1 billion American grant for Turkey depended on Ankara's commitment to the IMF program. "Cumhuriyet" claims that the AKP government was hiding from m the public an IMF staff report drawing attention to troubles in implementation of the economic program, saying Turkey has missed a chance for stabilization. The report stressed that the AKP government has made a gross mistake by trying to abandon the IMF-backed program in the bargain with the U.S. during the Iraq campaign, according to Cumhuriyet. Meanwhile, "Milliyet" reports that a parliamentary commission was drafting a report to investigate corruption charges against former center right ANAP and DYP leaders, Mesut Yilmaz and Tansu Ciller, and former ministers Cumhur Ersumer, Koray Aydin and Recep Onal. The former politicians might be taken to the Supreme Court for irregularities in the Blue Stream project for transport of Russian natural gas to Turkey, and for several other corruption charges as well. Iraq: A MFA delegation was sent to Baghdad to meet with regional leaders, papers report. The team met with the PUK leader Talabani, who said in the face of Turkish warning on Northern Iraq that Kurds would not allow terror actions on Iraqi soil. Talabani also claimed he knew whereabouts of Saddam Hussein's family. Saddam has written a letter to me urging protection for his family, and they are being sheltered somewhere in the Kurdish controlled area, Talabani said. Meanwhile, in an attempt to become the third significant actor in Northern Iraq and thus gain an advantageous hand in bargaining with the U.S., the PKK/KADEK has moved about 300 of its militia to the Iraqi border with Turkey, papers report. Legislators to work overtime: Prime Minister Erdogan has announced on Tuesday that the parliament would work in summer to pass EU adjustment laws, dailies say. AKP has submitted a proposal to the parliament for reducing the summer recess from three months to one month. Justice Minister Cicek said on Tuesday the EU reforms package would be sent to the cabinet for approval on Thursday. Cicek noted that despite objection from the military, the Article 8 of the Law on Struggle Against Terrorism, banning propaganda and demonstrations against the integrity of the state, would be scrapped soon. In a meeting with Prime Minister Erdogan on Tuesday, TGS Chief General Ozkok has voiced the military's sensitivity regarding EU adjustment reforms while stressing that the TGS was not against the EU. Opposition party CHP and Turkey's powerful businessmen's group TUSIAD have announced support to the government's EU initiative, all papers report. Jewish lobby in U.S. upset with Turkey: All-news broadcaster NTV reported on Wednesday that the Jewish lobby groups in the U.S. were reconsidering their relationship with Turkey. The Jewish lobby is expected to withdraw for a while its support from Turkey in the U.S. Congress, NTV claimed. Israel, too might reevaluate strategic ties with Turkey, NTV commented, saying that after the war with Iraq, concern was raised in U.S. and Israel that Ankara was moving toward Iran and Syria. NTV believes that particularly JINSA, the powerful Jewish group with close ties to the hawks of the Pentagon, was upset about Turkey. EDITORIAL OPINION: Iraq in the post war era "The US should make a self criticism as well" Cuneyt Ulsever commented in mass appeal Hurriyet (5/21): "The US should go through a process of self criticism in order to fix up its image. There are certain points about Iraq and Middle East policies that put the US into a deadlock. The Iraq operation was basically designed to bring order in Iraq. Yet so far a functioning social order to meet the basic needs of Iraqi people could not be established, not to even mention the lack of political order. . In spite the official statements from the US side, terrorism is not yet under control, and it seems the terrorist organizations, including Al Qaida are more active than before. . The US failed to comprehend the sociologic structure of Iraq and the region. Any measures for the region only is shaped from a military perspective. The US plan for social re-structuring of Iraqi identities, including Shiite, Kurd, Arab and Turkoman is still unknown. There is also no indication of a settlement on the Palestine issue. US efforts are likely to fail if that issue is not resolved. If not the US will have to dictate its authority via forceful means, and that will only aggravate terrorism. . The US is the winner militarily speaking, but the political struggle already contains many mistakes." "Issues and more" Gunduz Aktan wrote in liberal-intellectual Radikal (5/21): "The Shiite factor is emerging as a colossal problem in Iraq. This issue can be resolved by shaping an overall policy against the Shiite influence. Iran on one hand is trying to influence the Iraqi Shiites, and on the other hand supporting Shiite-led Hizbullah in Lebanon. By doing that, the Iranian regime hopes to ensure its legitimacy vis--vis the Iranian people. It seems the Syrian regime tends to pursue a similar policy as Iran. In the eyes of Damascus, this is the only way to survive both politically and militarily - not only in-country, but in Lebanon as well. That brings a chain of issues for US policy in the region, not only for Iraq-related policy, but also US policy related to Shiites in Iran and Lebanon, and the Alowites in Syria." PEARSON