ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 004473

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
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2006


A QUICK LOOK AT THE TURKISH PRESS
August 3, 2006



In Today's Papers

Conflict in the Middle East
All papers claim in the face of the advancing Israeli offensive in
south Lebanon that Israel's goal is to destroy Lebanon rather than
disarming Hezbollah. Papers report Israeli PM Ehud Olmert told the
international press in Jerusalem that he wanted Turkish forces to be
included in an international force because "Israel trusts the
Turkish military and government." "Peacekeeping force blackmail,"
reads a Cumhuriyet front page headline, referring to Olmert's
statement that there will be no ceasefire until an international
peace force deployed disarms the Hezbollah in Lebanon. The
Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak lashes out at Arab leaders for
remaining silent in the face of the Israeli atrocities in Lebanon
and for sending lower level officials to the meeting of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia, from which
the "Muslim world expects a strong reaction" to the Israeli conduct
in Palestine and Lebanon. Papers report that, so far, 70 lawmakers
have resigned from the Turkey-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group,
which has a total of 263 members.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the press
before leaving to take part in the OIC summit in Malaysia, "This war
is not fair at all; and there will be no winners. We should not
allow this war to turn into a global crisis. If President Abbas,
Prime Minister Haniyah and Prime Minister Olmert had maintained a
positive approach, we would not have faced this situation.'' The
Turkish Prime Ministry emergency management directorate said in a
statement that Turkey would send an aid package worth USD 1 million
to Lebanon and another one worth USD 200,000 to the Syrian
government to be distributed to the Lebanese refugees in Syria
fleeing the Israeli attacks. The package is to consist of rice,
lentils, sugar, beans, jam, and infant food -- totaling 900 tons of
food aid.

Turkish Foreign Ministry (MFA) Spokesman Namik Tan said Turkey
expected an urgent cease-fire in Lebanon. "Lebanon suffers a great
deal every day, which only feeds mutual enmity. The fact that
numerous civilians are getting hurt in Israeli attacks makes the
issue more problematic," Tan said. He noted that some 2,000 Turkish
nationals have been evacuated from Lebanon and that 10,348 foreign
nationals have left the embattled country via Turkey.

Editorial Commentary on the Conflict in the Middle East
Noting that the "neo-con ideology is rapidly giving rise to
counter-arguments in the Arab world," Taha Akyol, commenting in the
mainstream Milliyet, argues that "the solution to the current crisis
requires the US to treat the sides fairly and support UNSC
resolutions adopted since 1962 which call for a two-state formula."
He urges Americans to "think rationally and compare the state of the
world and the American image during the Clinton era with that of
today."

Writing in Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak, Akif Emre commented on
hypocrisy in the West: "Israeli aggression in Lebanon is acceptable
if one finds the global occupation strategy of AMERICA ethical.
Nowadays the so-called supporters of global humanitarian values are
currently busy producing pretexts for killing children and shedding
innocent blood in Lebanon. AMERICA and Israel are not alone in
this. The EU, which is at least expected to play a balancing role,
is Israel's partner in crime. The EU failed even to come up with a
declaration for an immediate ceasefire. Can we possibly talk about
western values any more? They are nothing but lies about world
peace and global capitalism."


ANKARA 00004473 002 OF 003


Turgut Tarhanli argues in left-leaning Radikal that motivations
behind establishing a peacekeeping force should be examined
carefully: "If the UNSC decides to station a peacekeeping force in
southern Lebanon under the influence of the US post-Sept 11
ideological approach, it will hardly be seen as legitimate. The US
seems to be using the UNSC as a pathway for implementing its
strategic priorities. In today's world, by whom and on what grounds
a decision for an international force will be taken is of the utmost
importance. Will it be a decision of a superpower or a decision
made by a collective? Turkey, before deciding on assuming a
responsible role, had better focus on the rules of the game."

PM Erdogan in Malaysia for OIC Meeting
All papers: Speaking to the reporters at Esenboga airport in Ankara
prior to his departure for Malaysia, Prime Minister Erdogan said "I
will attend a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference
(OIC) on the level of heads of State and government at the
invitation of Malaysia. Besides the tragic developments in Lebanon,
the recent crisis in Palestine and the Middle East will be high on
agenda of the meeting. The crisis has been further deepening day by
day and we are extremely concerned about it. I consider this
meeting a significant platform to call on the international
community to assume a more active attitude for peace." Stressing
that the international community including the OIC member countries
should work together to provide an immediate cease-fire in the
region, Erdogan said, "especially the EU and the UN should play a
more active role to this end." Zaman reports that there is a
possibility that PM Erdogan may have bilateral meetings with Iranian
President Ahmedinejad on Lebanon and Iran's nuclear program.

Gul Op-Ed in Washington Post
Wire services report that in an op-ed in the August 3 Washington
Post, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul strongly criticized the United
States for failing to stop the violence in Lebanon. Gul said that
his own generation had grown up with the image of a US which
supported democratic values, but that this image of the US had been
greatly damaged with the Lebanon war. "People in the world are
asking this question -- Why does the world's only superpower, which
is able to put an end to this tragedy, closes its eyes to such
pain?" Gul said that, through the inaction of the US, the lives of
people in the region along with hopes for greater democracy in the
Middle East were being destroyed. Gul wrote that the only solution
to the crisis was for the international community to display
decisive action and real leadership.

Fight against PKK
Sabah, Milliyet, Cumhuriyet, Zaman, Star: Turkey reiterated
yesterday its expectations that the Iraqi Government will soon take
effective measures against the PKK. Foreign Ministry spokesman
Namik Tan said that Iraqi authorities informed Turkey that they are
exerting efforts to stop the PKK activities in their territory and
that Turkey expects that those measures will yield concrete results
soon. Asked about recent media reports on new plans to act against
the PKK, Tan said there was close cooperation with the US and Iraqi
authorities, but declined to give any details. Asked about the
reports about a visit by Iraqi Kurdish officials to Ankara to
discuss new measures against the PKK, Tan said no representatives
from any of the groups in the north of Iraq have arrived in Turkey.
In relation to this news, US State Department spokesperson Sean
McCormack underlined Washington's aim to revive trilateral
mechanisms between Turkey, Iraq and the US to fight against the PKK.


International Impression of New TGS Chief Buyukanit
All papers report on the second day of Turkey's Supreme Military
Council (YAS) meeting as well as the approach of European media
which describes the newly-appointed Chief of Staff General Yasar
Buyukanit as a "hawk" expected to pursue more hardline policies than
his predecessor Hilmi Ozkok. Papers report Prime Minister Erdogan
as saying he wanted Buyukanit to be appointed to the post early in

ANKARA 00004473 003 OF 003


an effort to end the speculation claiming sour ties between the
ruling AK Party government and military, and to better respond to
the PKK violence.

Islamic Banking Growing in Turkey
Aksam reports that Islamic banking in Turkey had accomplished 200
percent growth since 2002 when the AKP government swept to power.
The funds collected by Islamic banks in the first seven months of
the year increased by 20 percent in comparison to the previous year,
jumping to TL 10 billion.


TV Highlights
NTV, 8.00 a.m
Domestic News

- Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc stressed it would be
impossible to dispatch Turkish peacekeepers to Lebanon before a
ceasefire.

- Turkish Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights will hold an
extraordinary meeting to discuss the ongoing atrocities in Lebanon.


- Hasan Eskimutlu, a Turkish technician who was kidnapped in Iraq on
June 14, was released unharmed on Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign
Ministry said in a statement.

- Turkish police said in a report the number of criminal ring
members arrested had increased by 25 percent in comparison to the
previous year.

International News

- Israel is gradually occupying south Lebanon. Hezbollah has been
attacking northern Israel in retaliation.

- Secretary Rice said a ceasefire to be reached in Lebanon was "a
matter of days, not weeks." The White House, however, said an
immediate ceasefire was not on the agenda.

- The Independent of Britain said Israel's attacks on Lebanon have
turned Hezbollah leader Nasrallah into a symbol of Muslim pride.

- President Talabani said Iraqi forces would assume security duties
for the whole country by the end of the year.

- The Iraqi press reported US will fund a housing project for 8,000
settlements in the oil rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

- Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders Talat and Papadopoulos are to
meet on August 8
on the Green Line buffer zone to discuss the formation of the
committees to deal with technical issues between the two sides in
the island.

Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at

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

MCELDOWNEY