ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 005451

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, SEPTEMBER 20, 2005


THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE
THEMES:

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

HEADLINES

MASS APPEAL
General Ozkok: Ethnic Nationalism Aims at Dividing Turkey -
Hurriyet
Lagendijk: Kurds Should Forget Ocalan - Aksam
Turkish Votes Helped Schroeder to Catch Up with Merkel -
Hurriyet
Five Turks Enter `Bundestag' - Hurriyet
Elections Make Turks Noticed in Germany - Milliyet
North Korea Backpedals on Nuclear Program - Milliyet
Direct Flights between Germany-Northern Iraq - Milliyet
Sound Bomb Blast in Downtown Istanbul, Time-Bomb Deactivated
in Ankara - Sabah

OPINION MAKERS
AKP Blocks Terror Debate at Parliament - Cumhuriyet
Politics Deadlocked in Germany, Observers Expect New Polls -
Radikal
Turks Delighted with German Election Outcome - Radikal
Germany Looking for Its Chancellor - Zaman
Talabani: Interests of Kurds in Turkey Lie in Democracy -
Yeni Safak
Cyprus Prepares for New Diplomatic Initiatives - Zaman
One Billion USD `Flew' Out of Iraq - Radikal
EU to Take Nuclear Crisis with Iran to UN Security Council
-Radikal
North Korea Ends Nuclear Program - Cumhuriyet
North Korea Gives In - Yeni Safak
Israel to Set Up No-Man's Land North of Gaza - Yeni Safak
Afghans' 50 Percent of Democracy - Cumhuriyet
Egypt Releases 1,500 Inmates, to Free 500 More - Yeni Safak
Chavez Given a `Hero's Welcome' on His Return from US - Yeni
Safak


BRIEFING

EU Agrees on Turkey Counter-Declaration: EU ambassadors
agreed among themselves Monday with regard to how to counter
in a declaration Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus, an
issue that has cast a shadow on the scheduled EU entry talks
with Ankara beginning October 3, the EU presidency said.
The accord is to be approved by EU ministers on Tuesday. A
British spokesman said the EU presidency is confident that
talks will begin on time. The EU underlined in the counter-
declaration that recognition of all member states is a
necessary component of the accession process, noting that
Brussels will review Ankara's implementation of its
obligations next year. The declaration will also say that
Turkey is expected to normalize relations with all EU member
states in the shortest possible time. The draft added that
Turkey maintained its obligation to support efforts to find
a solution to the Cyprus problem through the goodwill
mission of UNSG Annan. Turkish papers comment that Nicosia
had made the EU meet their demands.

Gul to Ask Rice about Tal Afar: Foreign Minister Gul is to
ask Secretary Rice the reason for the `harassment' by
coalition forces of the Turkish Red Crescent convoy ferrying
humanitarian aid to the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar at a
luncheon hosted by the US Secretary in honor of the foreign
ministers of EU and NATO members in New York today, papers
report. The Turkish Red Crescent (Kizilay) said on Monday
that US troops in Tal Afar, discomfited by Turkmen ovations
for the Turkish humanitarian team, blocked the distribution
of aid material in their convoy of five trucks, ordered the
Turks to leave the area, "Cumhuriyet" reports. Kizilay said
it has called the International Red Cross and the US Red
Cross for help, noting that such American attitudes will
cause an international `scandal.' Kizilay said that the
issue was resolved soon after the calls, and that the
Turkish convoy distributed the humanitarian goods to the
Turkmen in the city.

European Parliament Kicks Off Kurdish Conference: The
European Parliament United Left Group kicked off the `EU,
Turkey and the Kurds' conference in Brussels Monday, papers
report. Former Kurdish lawmaker Hatip Dicle called for
economic measures to recover the damage inflicted by the 15-
year long fighting in `Kurdistan' and rights to allow `armed
guerrillas in the mountains' to participate in the political
process in Turkey. Another Kurdish lawmaker, Selim Sadak,
claimed that Kurds were supporting Ankara's EU accession
process more than the Turks and called for a `cleaning' of
all laws and regulations from their `uniform and
authoritarian' grounds. The EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary
Commission Co-chairman Joost Lagendijk said that he can
understand why the military and nationalist circles in
Turkey have been uncomfortable with Prime Minister Erdogan's
remarks in Diyarbakir. `What I cannot understand is,'
Lagendijk said, `that why the Kurds treat Abdullah Ocalan as
their sole leader, taking to the streets for the release of
Ocalan instead of for language and cultural rights.'
"Cumhuriyet" comments that `separatist' elements had come to
the forefront at the conference.

Turks in the US Help Katrina Victims: Turks living in the
United States made the largest donation, 500,000 USD, for
Hurricane Katrina victims at an aid concert organized by the
`Higher Ground Hurricane Aid Fund' in New York, "Zaman"
reports. Tickets were sold at 10,000 USD each. UN
Secretary-General Annan and leading US businessmen,

SIPDIS
politicians, artists and media representatives joined the
event. Turkey's Consul-General in New York, Omer Onhon said
before the concert that about 20,000 were killed in the 1999
earthquake in Turkey, and that Turks knew well natural
disasters and the pain inflicted by them.

Talabani Asks Erdogan to Denounce Zarkawi Actions: Iraq
President Jalal Talabani told the London-based Arabic daily
"al-Hayat" that the interests of the Kurds in Turkey lie in
the success of democracy, "Yeni Safak" reports. Talabani
said that he had asked Turkish PM Erdogan at a meeting in
New York last week to denounce the `sectarian' war declared
by Zarkawi in Iraq. Talabani said about Syria that
Washington aimed not at toppling the Assad regime, but at
changing Syrian policies with regard to Iraq, Lebanon and
other issues. In another talk with the BBC, Talabani
rejected the criticism that the Sunnis were barred from the
Iraq administration, saying that some of the high-level
administrators and six ministers in the cabinet were Sunni
Arabs.

Ozkok Warns Separatists, Fundamentalists: The Chief of the
Turkish General Staff (TGS),General Hilmi Ozkok, said in a
message on the occasion of Veteran's Day that the Turkish
military will confront the groups that want to open
discussion of Turkey's unitary structure as well as the
fundamentalists who use Islam for their `perverted'
intentions, never allowing them to reach their `evil goals,'
papers report.

AKP Rejects Parliamentary Debate on Terrorism: A motion
submitted to the parliament by the opposition CHP to hold a
debate on the increasing acts of terrorism, was rejected by
ruling AK Party votes on Monday. Opposition leaders
directed strong criticism against PM Erdogan for rejecting a
parliamentary debate on rising terrorism in southeast
Turkey. The parliament was recessed until October 1.

Shalom Wants HAMAS Prevented from Joining Palestine
Elections: "Jerusalem Voice of Israel Network B in Hebrew,"
the state-funded radio, reported Monday that during a
meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, Israel's
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom asked the Turkish FM to
pressure Mahmoud Abbas to block participation of HAMAS in
Palestine elections. Gul said that Abbas cannot be blamed
for the actions of extremists, warning against bringing the
political process to a halt in the face of such
developments. Gul also voiced Turkey's interest in taking
part in rebuilding the Gaza Strip, said the Israeli radio.

Police Foil PKK Bombing Attempts in Major Turkish Cities:
On Monday, Turkish police arrested two brothers in the
Aegean coastal city of Izmir, aged at 27 and 19 and
allegedly affiliated to the PKK, with 2 kg of RDX plastic
explosives set to be detonated by a mobile phone, papers
report. A small bomb exploded in a rubbish bin on Monday,
wounding a cleaner nearby in downtown Istanbul, police said.
In Ankara, a time bomb made of 12.5 kg of A-4 plastic
explosives and set to detonate during the rush hour
yesterday, was deactivated by police near the wall of a
traffic police office, only a few feet away from a busy
road. Following the discovery, security measures around
state offices and foreign missions have been enhanced, say
reports.

PKK Landmine Kills Technician in Bingol: A landmine
believed to have been planted by the outlawed PKK went off
in the Genc town of the eastern Turkish province of Bingol,
killing one person and injuring two others, papers report.
The blast killed Fehmi Dogan (39),a technician making a
survey, and injured two people.

Ankara Governor Wants Gay Organization Closed: The Ankara
Governor's Office applied to the prosecutor to close the
"Kaos Gay-Lesbian Organization" (Kaos-GL) in Ankara on
grounds that the organization `contradicted' Turkish moral
values, "Milliyet" reports. Kaos-GL works to defend gay
rights through legal action in Turkey, says the report,
warning that the `prohibiting' mentality in Turkey has re-
emerged on the eve of the accession talks with the European
Union.

Roots of the US Congress in Patara in Turkey: Dailies carry
a story by Richard Bernstein in Monday's "New York Times,"
`A Congress Buried in Turkey's Sand,' which said that
Turkish and German archaeologists working in the small
Mediterranean seacoast town of Patara in Turkey, uncovered a
`parliament building' which has `rows of stone seats
arranged in a semicircle, like the chambers of the American
Congress.' `The Lycian League was mentioned twice in the
Federalist Papers, once by Alexander Hamilton and once by
James Madison, so it could safely be said that it entered
into the history of the formation of the United States,'
said the article. It added: `Patara is a Greek ruin, a
Roman one and a Byzantine one as well, which is what makes
the site, buried in sand for centuries, likely to take its
place alongside Troy, Pergamon or Ephesus as one of the most
important. An impressive necropolis, a Roman bath, a large
semicircular theater, a broad main avenue leading to the
agora, a Byzantine basilica and a fortified wall have been
largely rescued from the sand and scrub brush so far.' The
Bernstein story stressed that money is needed urgently to
preserve the many stone inscriptions that, no longer buried
by sand, face the danger of erosion, and concluded: `Of
course, there is also the parliament building, linking this
dusty place to the United States, 7,000 miles and 1,800
years into the future.'


EDITORIAL OPINION: German Election; United Nations

"Colorful Scenarios"
Sami Kohen wrote in the mass appeal "Milliyet" (9/20): "The
German election result is filled with contradictions and
uncertainties. The two main rivals are winners and losers
at the same time. Merkel was hoping to gain a comfortable
ruling majority but it did not happen. Schroeder gained a
significant increase in his party's votes but it did not
help him to ensure his PM seat. . The current composition
of the Bundestag makes it difficult to predict the nature of
the coalition. It is not clear who will be the next PM.
The only certainty is the fact that the German parliament is
now open for every type of coalition scenario. . Germany
now enters into a period of uncertainty. Every delay in
forming a new government will have a negative impact on
politics and the economy."

"Hard Bargain in Germany"
Zafer Atay wrote in the economic-politic "Dunya" (9/20):
"The election results in Germany indicate a crisis. At
present, there are many different coalition scenarios but it
is not certain yet which one will come to pass. . In short,
Germany now enters a period where hard bargaining will take
place for weeks. There is another problem hidden in the
upcoming bargain: who takes the premiership? If the big
coalition plan is implemented, the position of prime
minister will be a problem because both Schroeder and Merkel
consider themselves winners. . There is one more point about
the German elections. Merkel underestimated the strength of
the Turkish-German voters and looked as if did not care
about them. Schroeder, on the other hand, managed to get
support from Turkish and other foreign citizens."

"Bush Prevents the UN Reform Process"
Sahin Alpay commented in the Islamist-intellectual "Zaman"
(9/20): "UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's reform package
did not receive support from the Bush Administration. It
was unlikely that the US would support Annan, particularly
given his differences with American plans during the Iraq
crisis. It was not a coincidence that President Bush
appointed John Bolton, a well-known anti-UN figure, as the
American representative in the UN. Annan presented some
comprehensive and fundamental reforms in the UN organization
but no consensus was achieved on them. John Bolton
expressed content after that. . The gist of the issue lies
in the ruling mentality of the Bush administration. The neo-
cons are after American hegemony on a global scale and they
do not care about equality among UN members."

MCELDOWNEY