ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000237 SIPDIS 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 FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2006 THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE THEMES: HEADLINES BRIEFING EDITORIAL OPINION -------------- -- HEADLINES MASS APPEAL Nuclear Support from Syria to Iran - Hurriyet Bin Laden Threatens the US Again - Hurriyet Threat Along with Ceasefire Offer from Bin Laden - Milliyet Avian Flu Summit in Ankara - Vatan Straw to Meet Talat in his Office - Hurriyet Arinc Support for Erbakan - Sabah Cem Uzan Meets with the Energy Minister - Sabah Greek Cypriot Electricity Gesture to Northern Cyprus - Sabah Tajikistan President in Ankara - Sabah Haluk Ulusoy Re-elected as the head of Football Federation - Milliyet Gas Flow from Iran Reduced - Milliyet OPINION MAKERS Straw to Meet Talat despite Greek-Cypriot Objections - Radikal Chirac issues Nuclear Warning - Cumhuriyet Conditional Ceasefire Offer from Bin Laden - Cumhuriyet Gul Urges Iran to be Transparent - Zaman Guantanamo's Lonely Turks - Yeni Safak US Ambassador Wilson: Turkey is Successful in Fight against Bird Flu - Yeni Safak BRIEFING Bird Flu Epidemic: "Vatan" reports that the Health Minister Recep Akdag is going to hold a summit on bird flu in Ankara today. Ministers of Environment, Agriculture and Interior will be attending the summit. All papers report that bird culling continues all over Turkey. "Yeni Safak" reports that, after his meeting with the Health Minister, US Ambassador Ross Wilson told reporters that the expert team from the US was highly satisfied with the Health Ministry's actions in the fight against the epidemic. Ambassador Wilson added that Turkey is playing an important role for the whole world in fighting the epidemic. Syrian Support for Iran: All papers report on the support Syria's Assad expressed to Iran's Ahmedinejad on Iran's nuclear program. Ahmedinejad is in Damascus for an official visit and the two leaders held a joint press conference after the meeting. Assad was quoted as saying 'we support the right of Iran and any state in the world to acquire peaceful technology. Countries who oppose this give no convincing reasons for the opposition.' Bin Laden's Threat: "Hurriyet" and "Milliyet" report that in a tape broadcasted by Al-Jazeera TV, Osama Bin Laden threatened the US with a new attack inside the US and offered a conditional truce. Bin Laden said that if the US pulls out of Iraq and Afghanistan they will agree to a ceasefire. Cem Uzan Meets with Energy Minister Guler: "Sabah" reports that Energy Minister Guler received the former chief of the Uzan Group, Cem Uzan, to discuss former Uzan Group assets, including the energy companies CEAS and Kepez. Reportedly, Cem Uzan urged the Minister to come to a settlement and stated that he intends to survive in the Turkish Energy Sector. ANKARA 00000237 002 OF 003 Gas Flow from Iran Reduced: "Milliyet" and "Cumhuriyet" reported that Iran has reduced the amount of natural gas shipped to Turkey by 80 percent. Iranian officials said that the reason for this was a technical failure. However, "Cumhuriyet" wrote that the cut was a result of the cold weather conditions in the region. Straw to Visit Talat: Today's papers carried the news that Greek Cypriot Leader Papadopulos refused to meet British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw during his visit to Cyprus next week in protest of Straw's plan to meet with Turkish Cypriot President Talat at his presidential office. Greek Cypriot Gesture to Turkish Cypriots: Greek Cypriots supplied Northern Cyprus with electricity yesterday after a major outage affected the power supplies of households in the northern part of Cyprus. Gul Urges Iran to be Transparent: "Zaman" reports that FM Gul sent a message to Iran urging transparency related to its dealing with the International Atomic Energy. Guantanamo's Lonely Turks: "Yeni Safak" gives extensive coverage on its front page to seven Turkic Uighurs going to be released from Guantanamo. The prisoners from 'East Turkistan' cannot leave the prison because no country will accept them. The US officials stated that these prisoners will not be given to China because of the risk that they may be tortured, but they could be sent to any other country willing to accept them. EDITORIAL OPINION: Iran, US-Turkey Relationship "The Target is Iran" Derya Sazak opined in the mainstream daily "Milliyet" (1/20): "The US has started lobbying for an attack against Iran's nuclear facility. It has been observed that following German PM Merkel's visit to the US, the EU and Russia increased their pressure to stop Iran's nuclear program. The UK continuously urges the UN Security Council to take action against Iran. And, there has been a noticeable increase in military visits to Ankara. The US is trying to convince the western world, including Turkey, that Iran's nuclear reactor will be a huge threat in the future. It will not be possible to launch an operation against Iran like the one against Iraq. The Saddam regime had been gradually weakened by the US since the first Gulf war in ¶1991. Therefore, it will not be possible for the US to open the same kind of front against Iran. There is only one other solution -- launching an air operation against the facility. The US will need Turkey's support for such an operation. Diplomatic traffic has started between Washington and Ankara. Already many military and political meetings have taken place between the two countries. These issues will play an important role in the re-structuring of Turkish policies." "The New Military Strategy of the US" Kamuran Ozbir wrote in the nationalist "Ortadogu" (1/20): "The planning and meetings taking place in the US recently, show that the US is changing its military strategies. The US has 200,000 troops in Germany, South Korea and Japan. These forces were deployed in these places during the cold war period. Today's political conditions and defensive needs have changed immensely. Reportedly, the Pentagon is working on a broader, more flexible strategy. As President Bush explained some time ago, with this strategy, a total of 70,000 troops will be withdrawn from certain bases, some ANKARA 00000237 003 OF 003 military facilities will be closed and others will be reconstructed for rapid operation use. Of course this doesn't mean that the US military presence in foreign countries will disappear. The 'advance base' system will be used (mainly in Poland, Romania, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Since the main threat regions have shifted to the Gulf, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus and Central Asia, it is natural to have such strategy changes. How will these changes affect Turkey? From the angle of security, US troop withdrawals from Europe will not cause any problem for Turkey. However, this new strategy will increase the importance of Incirlik air base. There might be one other base on the agenda. Washington wants to move two F-16 fleets from Germany to Incirlik. Under the new US military strategy, Incirlik is in a position of an 'advance base,' with facilities to launch an operation in case of emergency. The US has already conveyed its demands on this issue to Turkey and negotiations continue. Whether Turkey will meet these demands or not remains to be seen." WILSON