ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000512 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, JANUARY 27, 2004 THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE THEMES: HEADLINES BRIEFING EDITORIAL OPINION HEADLINES MASS APPEAL Erdogan proposes QIZs, Mideast peace conference to AJC - Sabah Erdogan: Turkey has a headscarf problem - Milliyet Erdogan warns Kurds against attempts in Kirkuk - Hurriyet Athens against a new mediator for Cyprus - Aksam Denktas, Papandreou agree: Solution unlikely before May - Milliyet Cheney, Powell, Blair take U-turn on Iraqi WMD - Sabah Powell criticizes Russian democracy - Sabah Kurds cry war for Kirkuk - Turkiye OPINION MAKERS Erdogan wants American investors in Turkey - Cumhuriyet Erdogan tells international investors to trust Turkey - Zaman AJC's Courage Award for Erdogan - Yeni Safak Greeks, Greek Cypriots dragging feet on Cyprus - Radikal Peshmerge insist on controlling Northern Iraqi oil - Zaman PUK's Salih: Kirkuk may turn into Bosnia, Kosovo - Yeni Safak KDP launches signature campaign for Kurdish federation - Radikal Blair may quit post - Cumhuriyet BRIEFING PM Erdogan in US: In an exclusive interview with `Newsweek' magazine, Prime Minister Erdogan warned the US against allowing Iraqi Kurds to take the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Erdogan said that Turkish institutions must reach a social consensus over the headscarf issue. He also criticized France's recent decision to restrict the public use of the headscarf as a religious symbol. In a meeting with representatives of the American Jewish Coucil (AJC) in New York, Erdogan said Turkey wanted to set up qualified industrial zones (QIZ) along with the US and Israel in order to boost investment. He reassured the AJC that Turkey's Jewish community is safe despite last November's car bomb attacks at two synagogues in Istanbul, which have been blamed on fundamentalists. Erdogan also suggested holding a regional conference for Middle East peace in Turkey. Cyprus: Prime Minister Erdogan told UN Secretary General Annan that Cyprus peace talks could be accelerated if an abridged version of the Annan Plan were taken as a basis for discussion. Turkish Cypriot leader Denktas, however, said on Monday that a solution before May 1 was `unlikely.' Turkish dailies agree that Ankara's willingness to see a peaceful settlement on Cyprus has put Athens and the Greek Cypriots in a difficult position. Greece's Prime Minister Simitis characterized Erdogan's statements as `vague,' and urged Ankara to change its attitude. Foreign Minister Papandreou objected to the proposed appointment of a new Cyprus mediator, saying that it would waste time and delay a solution. `Milliyet' reports that Papandreou and Denktas agree on one thing -- that it will be difficult to forge a deal before the island joins the EU on May 1. Foreign Minister Gul said on Monday that Turkey `strongly preferred' a powerful mediator who can facilititate and accelerate efforts to achieve a solution on Cyprus. PM Erdogan to convey message from Syria: Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan will convey to President Bush some messages from Syrian President Bashar Assad, "Vatan" reports. Syria is ready for peace talks with Israel, but is demanding Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Syrian Foreign Minister al-Shara also reiterated Syrian concerns about the preservation of Iraq's territorial integrity. RTUK regulation on broadcast in mother tongues: The Diyarbakir Bar Association will appeal to the Council of State for cancellation of a Radio and Television High Board (RTUK) regulation allowing only national media outlets to broadcast in languages other than Turkish. Bar Association President Sezgin Tanrikulu notes that the regulation promulgated by RTUK restricts the content of such programs to adult audiences only, and discriminates against loval and regional broadcasters. The Association also complained about the daily and weekly time limitations on non-Turkish programs included in the new regulation. EDITORIAL OPINION: WMD; US-Turkey Relations "The Suspicion War" Fikret Ertan commented in the Islamist-intellectual Zaman (1/27): "The Iraq turmoil was created by a war based on a suspicion about the existence of WMD that allegedly posed a global threat. . In the post-war situation, no weapons of mass destruction have been identified and it looks like they never will. This is because Iraq had been eliminating such weapons since 1990. There are also credible facts to make us believe that there were actually no WMD in Iraq before the war. . The resignation of David Kay is a significant event in this regard, and Secretary Powell has failed to come up with a convincing argument against the claims made by Kay. . Nevertheless, Kay also pointed the finger at Syria for having WMD. This war of suspicion might be moving towards Syria." "What Kind of Strategic Partnership Is This?" Ozgen Acar argued in the social democrat-intellectual Cumhuriyet (1/27): "The US has some other strategic partners like the UK, Israel, and Australia which enjoy a full-scale working relationship with the United States. For instance, Israel has only 2 percent voting support in the Congress, yet the benefits provided to Israel are ten times this much. Strategic partnerships deserve to be treated equally in all senses. Turkey is making important contributions to the US in Afghanistan, in the Caucasus, and particularly in the transportation of oil to the West. But none of these mutual interests are making Turkey an equal partner with the US. Given the pro-Greek or Armenian lobbies in the Congress, we cannot talk about equal treatment or even about a genuine partnership. We still need to consider the question of whether there really are mutual interests in the Turkish- American relationship or whether the interests are more in conflict." DEUTSCH