Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ANKARA7186
2005-12-07 15:42:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:  

ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

Tags:  OPRC KMDR TU 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 007186

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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, DECEMBER 7, 2005

THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE
THEMES:

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

HEADLINES

MASS APPEAL
Erdogan: There Are Kurds in the Turkish Parliament - Aksam
Merkel-Rice Get Along Well - Posta
Gonul Briefs Rumsfeld on the PKK - Sabah
FBI Chief Mueller in Ankara on Thursday - Milliyet
Talabani Supporters-Islamists Clash in Northern Iraq -
Milliyet
Bush Won't Give Ransom for US Hostages in Iraq - Hurriyet
Saddam: Israel Wants Me Executed - Vatan

OPINION MAKERS
US: Ecumenical Patriarchate Has Global Standing - Yeni Safak
Gonul-Rumsfeld Discuss the PKK - Cumhuriyet
Rice Signs Agreement to Establish US Bases in Romania -
Cumhuriyet
US to Set Up 4 Bases in Romania - Zaman
Merkel to Rice: We All Need the CIA - Zaman
CIA Transfers Secret Detention Centers to Africa - Yeni
Safak
Suicide Attacks against Police Academy Kill 56 in Baghdad -
Yeni Safak
Military Plane Crashes in Baghdad, 119 Killed - Zaman
20,000 Muslims Call for Global Peace in Britain - Yeni Safak
Tories Pick Young Leader Cameron - Radikal


BRIEFING

Gul: Outlanders in Kirkuk to be Removed from Ballot Lists:
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday that people
who are not residents of Kirkuk will be removed from the
ballot lists before the upcoming legislative elections in
December in Iraq. Gul told reporters at the Organization of
the Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit in Jeddah that many
Iraqis had migrated to the oil-rich northern Iraqi city
following the toppling of Saddam Hussein by US forces. Gul
said he had sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
on the issue, adding that the UN, backed by the US, has been
working on the issue. According to the Iraqi Constitution,
the final status of Kirkuk is to be determined by a
referendum in 2007.

Barzani Wants to Visit Turkey on Eve of Iraqi Polls: On the
eve of Iraqi legislative elections, the President of the
Kurdistan regional administration Massoud Barzani wants to
pay a courtesy visit to Turkey on December 12 following the
meetings of former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Turkmen
leader Sadettin Ergec and the Shiite Vice-President Adel
Abdul Mahdi in Ankara, "Cumhuriyet" reports. Barzani has

been drawing reactions with his statements regarding the
establishment of a Kurdish state in case of a civil war, and
the demographic structure of Kirkuk, according to diplomatic
sources, who expect Ankara to ask the KDP leader about his
attitude toward the PKK. "Cumhuriyet" says that Barzani
will visit Turkey in his capacity as the leader of Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP),not as the President of Kurdistan
regional administration. Iraqi sources said that if Barzani
is vetoed by Ankara, President Talabani may pay a visit to
Turkey. Kurdish representatives insist on visiting Turkey

ANKARA 00007186 002 OF 004


before the elections in Iraq, but Turkish Foreign Ministry
(MFA) officials told "Cumhuriyet" that Ankara preferred such
a visit to happen after the polls.

FBI's Mueller To Visit Turkey: The Director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert Mueller will pay a
`surprise visit' to Turkey on Thursday, "Milliyet" reports.
Mueller is on a tour of inspection of FBI units in foreign
countries. He will stop over in Ankara before returning to
the US. On Friday, Mueller will meet Turkish Security
Director General Gokhan Aydiner and will have lunch with
senior security officials. Anonymous sources say that the
Mueller visit is aimed at examining al-Qaida-linked
organizations in Turkey. "Milliyet" underlines that the
visit was occurring in a time of heated speculation about
CIA planes landing in Turkey. Meanwhile, "Sabah" reports
that deputy director general for security, Emin Arslan,
scheduled to hold a meeting with Mueller, had been recently
sacked. Arslan was in charge of the implementation of EU
projects on security issues.

Gonul in the US: Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul told the
press in Washington yesterday that he has conveyed to
Secretary Rumsfeld Turkey's unease with regard to the

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terrorist PKK organization. Gonul said he also talked with
Rumsfeld about military equipment purchases. `We discussed
the ways to overcome the financing of Seahawk helicopters
and how to increase Turkey's share in production of the
Joint Strike Fighter (JSF,) Gonul said. Gonul noted that
Turkey was ready to meet Iraq's construction, fuel oil,
water, food, and electricity needs. Gonul also said that
the annual conference of Southeastern Europe Defense
Ministerial (SEDM) held in Washington will discuss issues
such as WMD, border security, peacekeeping, exchange and
technology sharing, regional maneuvers for 2006, and
reorganization of KFOR in KOSOVO. Gonul said Turkey has 17
officers assigned in Southeastern Europe Brigade's HQ, and
30 staff in communications unit. 255 Turkish troops will be
assigned to the brigade when its mission starts in
Afghanistan next year.

Turkey Had Nuclear Bombs During the Cold War: CNN-Turk
reported on Wednesday that Turkey had kept NATO nuclear
bombs on its territory from the beginning of the Cold War
until the 1980s. The US-made 20 kiloton nuclear bombs were
deployed at four military airports in Turkey to be used for
NATO operations. CNN-Turk claimed that a special nuclear
fleet had been established at the eastern province of
Malatya airport against a possible Soviet threat. The bombs
were reportedly as strong as the bombs dropped on Nagasaki
during World War II.

Tuzmen Meets Iraqi Housing Minister Jafar: State Minister
Kursad Tuzmen said after meeting with the Iraqi Minister of
Housing and Construction, Jasim Muhammad Jafar, on Tuesday
that Turkey wanted to increase bilateral trade with Iraq to
10 billion USD in the next two years. Tuzmen also noted
that the amount of money owed by Iraq to Turkish oil
products exporters has exceeded 800 million USD, and asked
Jafar that the payment be made as soon as possible. Tuzmen
asked Jafar to solve the problem concerning the fees
collected by Iraqi authorities from Turkish businessmen and
companies at the Halil Ibrahim border crossing. Tuzmen said
the fees impaired the competitiveness of Turkish companies.
He added that Turkish contractors working in northern Iraq
carried their money in bags, and urged Iraq to improve
banking services in the region. Tuzmen also stressed that
an agreement on the prevention of double taxation must be
signed between the two countries. Jafar indicated that Iraq

ANKARA 00007186 003 OF 004


needs three million new homes by 2010, adding that a market
of 120 billion USD awaits Turkish firms. Jafar stressed
that Baghdad allocated 500 million USD for highway
construction, and invited Turkish contractors to join the
project.

Erdogan Tours New Zealand, Australia: Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan, in New Zealand on a state visit, told a conference
on Turkey and the EU held at Canterbury University that all
Turkish citizens, including Kurds, can enter parliament or
become businessmen. Turkey's only problem, he said, is
separatism. `There are Turks, Kurds, Georgians, Abkhazians,
Albanians and Bosnians living in Turkey, and they are all
intermingled. It is religion that links these ethnic groups
with each other. Kurds are represented in parliament and
are appointed as senior officials in Turkey. There are also
Kurds among the leading businessmen of Turkey,' Erdogan
said. On Cyprus, Erdogan said Turkey supports solution and
called on the Greek Cypriots to do so as well. Erdogan
added that he would do his best for a settlement on the
divided island. On Turkey's EU drive, Erdogan said the EU
can become a global power only by admitting Turkey as a
member. Erdogan later moved on to Melbourne to meet with
officials and to participate in a conference on the
`Alliance of Civilizations' at Melbourne University.
Erdogan will travel today to Canberra to meet Prime Minister
John Howard and Australian cabinet ministers.

Trial of Turkish Terror Suspects Continue in Belgium:
Turkish papers report that a court in Bruges, Belgium turned
down a request by the defense counsel of 11 members of
Turkey's outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-
Front (DHKP-C) to transfer the case to the High Criminal
Court, ruling that a trial of members of a criminal
organization is within its jurisdiction. Fehriye Erdal, one
of the suspects in the killing of prominent Turkish
businessman Ozdemir Sabanci and his two colleagues in 1996,
is among the 11 DHKP-C members charged in the case.
Ankara's earlier requests for Erdal's extradition was
rejected by Belgian authorities over concerns that she may
be sentenced to capital punishment in Turkey. The Bruges
court will continue hearing the case on January 10.

EU Not Happy with Babacan, Slow Pace of Talks with Turkey:
European Union (EU) diplomats are complaining about the slow
pace of talks with Turkey, stressing that the efforts of
Turkey's chief negotiator, Ali Babacan, are `inadequate' in
coordinating the accession process, "Cumhuriyet" reports.
The diplaomats claim that accession negotiations can not be
carried out by someone who has other responsibilities at the
same time (Babacan is also a state minister responsible for
the Turkish economy). EU diplomats want Turkey to carry out
its relations with the EU through a single institution. In
Turkey, each of the 23 ministries has its own EU unit, plus
monitoring groups and integration boards. `As a result, it
takes quite a long time to complete a task. The tasks
should be carried out by a single institution, such as the
General Directorate for EU Affairs,' EU sources told
"Cumhuriyet."


EDITORIAL OPINION: Rice in Europe; Iraq

"Torture and Terror and the CIA"
Hasan Cemal opined in the mainstream "Milliyet" (12/7): "The
issue of CIA planes and CIA secret prisons is not something
that one can simply consider the dark side of fighting
against terrorism. The issue is too serious to argue that
`the values of human rights sometimes are lost while

ANKARA 00007186 004 OF 004


fighting against terrorism.' However the Bush
administration thinks that way. Secretary Rice, on her
European tour, did not use different rhetoric. She not only
defended the administration's practice regarding CIA prisons
and planes but also left the door open for out-of-law
implementations. She also attached the official American
rhetoric about respecting human rights and standing against
torture to her CIA-related arguments. And she was not
convincing at all. The Bush administration has a very bad
record on the issues of law and human rights for a long
time. In democracies, the state binds itself with law and
respects human rights. A democratic state should not
conduct terror and must remain within the boundaries of law
and values of human rights."

"The Value of the Sunnis"
Abdulhamit Bilici wrote in the Islamist-intellectual "Zaman"
(12/7): "As a tactical step, The US has to cooperate with
the Iraqi Sunnis. Everybody agrees that insurgency cannot
end and stability in Iraq cannot be achieved unless a full
integration of Sunni Arabs is ensured. President Bush is
desperately in need of a success story in Iraq particularly
after the decline of his popularity and the emergence of
other scandals, including the CIA planes. Given the current
situation, the only chances the White House has for good
news are Sunni participation in the elections, a gradual
decrease in insurgency incidents and a pull out of American
forces. Therefore the US has finally started working on a
dialogue with Sunni Arabs, overcoming their Sunni-phobia
following the events of September 11."

"Upcoming Elections in Iraq"
Yilmaz Oztuna wrote in the conservative-nationalist
"Turkiye" (12/7): "Elections will be held in Iraq next
week. Te US is waiting for the new government to be formed
after the elections to pull out of Iraq. This way, the US
will be able to say `Iraq was freed from Saddam and a
democracy was established in Iraq'. Of course, the concept
of democracy in Iraq is debatable but, never mind, the
initiatives for democracy should be started from somewhere.
No one should look down on these initiatives. Washington
will relax if the Sunni Arabs participate at the elections.
This way the resistance to the occupation will weaken,
terrorist actions will decrease and the international-
professional terrorist organization members will leave the
country gradually. Turkey supports this American plan.
Turkey wants the occupation in Iraq to end and the Iraqis to
take over the administration. Will the Americans really
pull out of Iraq? The answer is yes. Actually they are
getting impatient to leave Iraq. But, they are waiting to
complete the deployment of their forces in four main bases
in Iraq. This way the US will be able to control Iraq, and
its oil reserves will be under its control as well. And
this situation will continue until the last drop of oil
comes out of Iraqi reserves, which will be around the end of
the 21st century."

WILSON