ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001227

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SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/SE, EUR/PD, NEA/PD, DRL
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TAGS: OPRC KMDR TU
SUBJECT: ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT
THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2006


In Today's Papers

Justice Ministry to Investigate Prosecutor Charging General
Buyukanit
All papers: The "mole" leaking information to the Van
prosecutor which led to a clash between the judiciary and
the military turned out to be the ruling AK Party lawmaker
Musa Sivacioglu, who also chairs the parliamentary
commission probing the Semdinli bombings. Sivacioglu
admitted that he sent the transcript of the testimony of a
local businessman who accused Land Forces Commander Yasar
Buyukanit of forming a gang in the region between 1997 and
2000 to Van prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya on February 16. The
main opposition CHP party leader asked Sivacioglu to step
down for leaking critical information to the prosecutor.
Justice Ministry on Wednesday ordered the investigation into
Prosecutor Sarikaya for attempting to undermine General
Buyukanit, tipped to become the chief of Turkish General
Staff (TGS) in August. Sarikaya had charged that the
illegal group allegedly set up by Buyukanit was behind the
bombing of a bookshop in the southeastern town of Semdinli
last November with the aim of provoking the government into
blocking freedoms for Kurds, thus jeopardizing Turkey's EU
membership talks. The Van Bar Association denounced the
investigation against Sarikaya as intervention in the
proceedings of the judiciary. In a snap poll commissioned
by Vatan, 70.5 percent of respondents said they do not
believe the allegations against General Buyukanit. The
survey, conducted by Sonar polling company, asked opinions
of 1211 people in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. Of those
polled 68.5 percent said Buyukanit should be appointed the
chief of the TGS despite the allegations.

Iranian Ambassador Proposes Uranium Enrichment in Turkey
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Cumhuriyet, Radikal, Zaman, Yeni
Safak and others report Iran's Ambassador in Ankara, Firuz
Dowlatabadi, as telling the English-language daily The New
Anatolian that Iran was ready to carry out uranium
enrichment in Turkey. Dowlatabadi invited Turkish companies
to join nuclear projects in Iran. He claimed that the US
had long-term plans for the disintegration of Turkey, Iran
and Saudi Arabia. Cumhuriyet comments that pressure from
the West prompted the offer.

Commenting on the Iran issue in the tabloid Star, Washington-
based Tulin Daloglu observes that two groups within the US
government are debating the Iran case from different
perspectives. Ms. Daloglu writes: "One group draws
attention to the ideology of the Iranian regime and talks
about a long standing struggle against the mentality
represented by Iranian official ideology. The other group,
on the other hand, expects a change of regime in Iran
without intervention from outside. The same group also
argues that the acquisition of nuclear weapons will start
the process of the demise of the current regime. Considering
Cheney's recent remarks on Iran, we still cannot argue that
the current debate is over between the two groups within US
agencies. However, there is something which both groups
agree on: they both believe that there is unprecedented
international support for the US on the Iran case. But this
view does not reflect reality. There is nothing at the
international public opinion at the moment to justify an
American military operation against Iran."

US Human Rights Report
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Vatan, Cumhuriyet, Radikal,
Zaman, Yeni Safak and others report that the State
Department Human Rights Report issued March 8 said torture,
mistreatment, and restrictions on free speech and press

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continue in Turkey. Yeni Safak criticizes the US for
reporting abuses by insurgents in Iraq while not mentioning
at all the torture inflicted by US troops. Milliyet says
the report cited the suits filed by Prime Minister Erdogan
against political cartoonists. Vatan underlines that this
year the report did not mention the influence of the
military in politics in Turkey.

Annan Criticizes US, Baghdad Administration in Iraq Report
Cumhuriyet, Radikal and Zaman carry international wire
reports that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a report,
accused the coalition forces and the Baghdad administration
of breaching international law by arbitrarily detaining
thousands of people in Iraq. Annan also expressed concerns
over the prison system in Iraq.

TV Highlights
NTV, 8 AM

Domestic News
- High Board to Combat Terrorism warned that the
fundamentalist Turkish Hizbullah had begun recovering, and
that thousands of PKK militants had spent the winter in
Turkey for the first time in long years on the eve of
Nevruz.

International News
- IAEA is to refer Iran to UN Security Council which will
probably impose sanctions against Iran at a meeting next
week.

- Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said the escape of
leftist militant Fehriye Erdal has created the impression
that Belgium was not pressing hard to fight terrorism.

- Britain's top military commander in Baghdad said the first
pull-out of British troops from Iraq could begin in a matter
of months, with a final withdrawal by mid-2008.

- The majority of Americans want Saddam Hussein executed if
convicted, AP-Ipsos polling said. In eight other countries,
where the death penalty was abolished, the majority of
people prefer that Hussein spend the rest of his life in
prison.

- The Labor Party and the Socialist Party were the biggest
winners in the Dutch local elections on Tuesday. Ninety
Turks were elected to Dutch city councils.

Economy News
- Current deficit reaches USD 2.5 billion in January - 70
percent above the figure for the same month last year.

- The tourism sector in Turkey demands state support
following the grant of government incentives to poultry
producers and textile sector.

WILSON