ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 002897

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
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006


In Today's Papers

The Deadly Attack on the High Court and its Aftermath
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Cumhuriyet, Radikal, Zaman, Yeni
Safak and others: Over the weekend, Turkish police detained
nine suspects in connection with Wednesday's deadly attack
on the top administrative court, the Council of State
(Danistay,) in which a lawyer burst into the deliberation
room and shot dead judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin and wounded
four others. One of the judges said that the gunman,
Alparslan Aslan, shouted that he was a `soldier of God'
during the attack. The mastermind of the attack, Muzaffer
Tekin, a captain sacked from the military in 1982, was
hospitalized with a knife wound near his heart after he
reportedly attempted suicide on Saturday. Monday papers
speculate that the attacker was linked to a coalition of
extreme nationalist and Islamist groups. Police said he
also took part in the recent bomb attacks on Turkey's
staunchly secular Cumhuriyet daily.

The day after the Danistay raid and over the weekend, up to
120,000 people walked to Ataturk's mausoleum and tens of
thousands took part in a ceremony at the court in the
largest secularist protest in Ankara since those following
the 1993 car bomb killing of a newspaper columnist. The
fatal shooting brought a harsh and intense public reaction,
and angry demonstrators hurled insults and plastics bottles
at members of government who attended the funeral of Judge
Ozbilgin. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek was chased out of
the funeral ceremony by people carrying Turkish flags, and
deputy PM Abdullatif Sener was booed by protestors who also
chanted slogans against PM Erdogan.

Top government officials issued calls for common sense.
Foreign Minister Gul and Deputy Prime Minister Sener
stressed that an escalation of tensions would harm national
interests, and warned the nation against a return to the
'old days of turmoil,' saying the government had 'the power
to overcome paranoia.' In Egypt's Sharm al-Sheikh over the
weekend to participate in a World Economic Forum meeting,
Prime Minister Erdogan said the police were close to
revealing the details behind the mysterious attack. Erdogan
had earlier criticized general Hilmi Ozkok, chief of Turkish
General Staff, after Turkey's top general called on Turks to
continue their protests in defense of secularism.
'Expecting such protests and reactions in the future and
commending such actions is not the right thing to do.
People holding positions of responsibility should know well
what to recommend and how,' Erdogan said, referring to
comments by Ozkok. Ozkok's call was seen as a warning to
the government from the military, which forced an Islamist-
leaning government to step down in 1997.

Erdogan Meets Zoellick, Mubarak in Egypt
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Cumhuriyet, Radikal, Zaman and
others: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan met on Sunday with US
Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick on the margins of
the World Economic Forum summit meetings in Sharm al Sheik.
Erdogan urged Zoellick to implement a stronger mechanism
against the PKK presence in northern Iraq, while Zoellick
explained to the PM the structure of the new government
established in Iraq. Zoellick also asked for Turkey's
support to sustain Iran's relations with the IAEA. Erdogan
expressed concern over the fact that the new Iraqi
government has only one Turkmen minister in the new cabinet,
adding that this was inappropriate in a representative
system of government.

Erdogan told foreign journalists after the summit talks that

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sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority would only
breed hatred, and described efforts to isolate the ruling
Hamas party as a mistake. Erdogan likened the attempt to
isolate Hamas to the way Israel and the West tried to
ostracize Yasser ARAFAT before the 1993 Oslo peace
agreements legitimized his leadership. 'We must not repeat
the same mistakes we have made in the past. Condemning the
people of Palestine to famine and further suffering will end
up in worse repercussions,' he said. Erdogan said Turkey
will provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.
'Turkey and Egypt have agreed that we have to provide aid to
Palestine, because this our responsibility as a country in
the Middle East,' he added. Erdogan also held a meeting
with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday to discuss
Iraq and other regional issues.

Turkey-US Disagree on Strategic Vision Document
Cumhuriyet wrote on Friday that Turkish and US officials had
failed to agree on the final details of the strategic vision
document, and that this week Turks would travel to the US to
continue discussions. The Turkish side has insisted on
adding to the document steps for fighting the PKK, while
Washington wanted the document only to say that the US would
support Turkey's struggle against the terrorist
organization. The US also refused to include in the
document provisions for boosting direct trade with Turkish
Cyprus. Cumhuriyet expects the document to be finalized
during the visit of Prime Minister Erdogan to the US.

Papadopoulos Emerges Stronger from Elections
All papers report that Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos'
party DIKO gained ground in early results from Sunday's
parliamentary election, increasing its vote to 19.4 percent
from the 14.8 it scored in 2001, a sign that voters approved
of his hardline policies on Turkey. Communist AKEL, a
ruling coalition partner, had 31.1 percent of the vote
against 30.3 for the main opposition DISI. Turkish papers
say the elections marked a second failed attempt to reunify
the divided island, with Hurriyet carrying a headline, 'Mr
No's Election Victory.'

Turkish Day Parade in New York
All papers report that thousands of Turkish Americans joined
the 25th annual Turkish Day Parade in New York over the
weekend with Turkish lawmakers Mehmet Ali Sahin, Egemen
Bagis, Zeynep Damla Gurel, Reha Denemec, Sukru Elekdag and
Mevlut Cavusoglu participating in the parade. Sahin said he
wanted to see Turks living in the US as members of the House
of Representatives and Senate, so that 'Turkey can have a
strong lobby group in US politics.'

Turkish Contract for Purchase of Attack Helicopters
A news-commentary in the mainstream mass appeal daily Sabah
says Turkey is to decide in June on the purchase of 50
attack helicopters in which the French-German partnership
Eurocopter has been competing with Russian and South African
companies. Eurocopter was relieved when US firms Boeing and
Bell-Textron pulled out of the Turkish state contract,
citing difficult conditions with respect to technology
transfer. Eurocopter CEO Fabrice Bregier said it was a
relief for them to see US Apache helicopters out of the
competition. However, the Americans have begun lobbying
activities in Ankara again. Ankara, stuck between the EU
and US companies, will have a hard time deciding the winner.


Editorial Comments

Turkish Democracy and Secularism
Ali Aslan wrote from Washington in the Islamist-oriented

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Zaman (05/22): "In the American system, no single
institution of government has supremacy over the others.
Instead, each institution exercises control on the others
through a system of checks and balances. In this way,
crises can be overcome in a short time through a culture of
conciliation and a tradition of pragmatic consensus. Viewed
from Washington, we can see that Turkey has not yet reached
this stage of political maturity. In Turkey, one of the
most important reasons for political tension is the fact
that the legislative and executive authorities are more
religious, while the judicial authority is more secular. So
when I spoke last week to a former US Ambassador to Turkey,
he said that with last week's attack against the Danistay,
Turkey is entering a period in which secular-religious
tensions will be intensified. In the US vision, there is a
Turkey that is both secular and democratic. The Americans
say this both publicly and in private. They argue that
secularism and democracy are not principles that contradict
one another, but rather principles that complete one
another. Washington doesn't want Turkish secularism to harm
its democracy, nor Turkish democracy to harm secularism.
The Americans want to see a solution, including to the
question of the presidential election, reached through
conciliation.

Before the Issue Comes to the Agenda Again
Sami Kohen commented in the mainstream daily Milliyet
(5/20): "The French Parliament did not pass the bill that
would ban the denial of the Armenian Genocide. Armenians
were deeply disappointed that the draft bill was not
approved. Of course, this outcome is comforting for Turkey,
but just for the moment.Because this draft was not rejected
by a parliamentary vote. The Socialists in France could
bring the issue on the agenda once again next fall. There
are lessons to be learned from this latest development in
the French parliament. First of all, the French government
clearly stated that it did not support this bill. This
shows that if the government is energetic in its opposition,
it is possible to prevent the such bills from winning
approval. The French government's stance also shows us that
Turkey has an important place in French foreign policy. As
in many other countries, Turkey failed to act in a timely
way in France on the Armenian issue. But the possibility
that this bill could pass the French parliament roused the
Turkish government and Turkish people, and initiatives were
taken to block it. This proves that with some creative
efforts, the negative sentiments about Turkey on the
Armenian issue can be changed. What Turkey needs to do is
to face the world with a new strategy and a new image on
this issue."


TV News
(NTV, 8.00 a.m.)

Domestic News
- Foreign Minister Gul told a provincial AKP gathering the
deadly attack on the Council of State (Danistay) was an
attack against the state and the government, stressing that
Turkey must not go back to the chaos of the past.

- Former Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit remains in a coma
after being operated on following a brain hemorrhage on
Friday.

- Prime Minister Erdogan told the World Economic Forum
meeting on Sunday that his government plans to increase
Turkey's national income to 800 billion USD by the year

2012.


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- This week the Turkish parliament will discuss a draft law
that would task the Prime Ministry with coordinating the
fight against terrorism.

- Turkey's main Kurdish party DTP co-chairman Ahmet Turk
called on Prime Minister Erdogan to launch a dialogue with
his party in an effort to solve the Kurdish problem.

International News
- Israeli Prime Minister Olmert warned that Iran is just a
few months away from acquiring the technological know-how
that will allow it to produce nuclear bombs.

- On Sunday, 55.5 of Montenegrins voted for independence,
according to unofficial results. Belgrade will reportedly
not object to the outcome.

Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at

http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/

WILSON