ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 006143 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, OCTOBER 27, 2006 In Today's Papers Afghanistan Milliyet reports Turkey will send a brigadier general to the multinational force command in Afghanistan to be commanded by an American full general. Also, a Turkish brigadier general will take over the Kabul Regional Command in April to serve until the end of next year. Turkey will increase troops in Afghanistan to 900 from the existing 620. A high-level military source told Milliyet "Turkey will of course send troops to Afghanistan. What we have been saying from the outset is that the ISAF mission does not include fighting against terrorism." Additionally, several papers report some 85 villagers were killed in a NATO military strike against suspected Taliban militants in the insurgents' former southern stronghold of Kandahar, according to Afghan officials. The UN Afghanistan mission has asked for a comprehensive investigation into the incident. Commenting in leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet, Mumtaz Soysal, argues that Turkey should not be drawn into the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan: "The pain and agony of Afghanis never end. They used to suffer from Taliban fundamentalists, a radical group created and established by the US in order to counter the Soviet Union, and they are now living in the crossfire with Western soldiers. As the recent story about German soldiers in Afghanistan indicates, the suffering of the Afghani people is continuing one way or the other. Interestingly enough, the story about German soldiers coincided with the NATO efforts to move combat forces to areas outside of Kabul. Germany has been very cooperative with the US so far, and it remains to be seen whether this request will also be accepted by Berlin. Turkey also received the same request and was asked to fight against Taliban. Fortunately, the Turkish Chief of General Staff was smart enough to make clear that Turkey cannot do this and he made his statement even when the question was still in the rumor stage. Let's hope that the government of Turkey also shows similar smarts." Edelman, Satterfield on Iraq, the PKK All-news broadcasters NTV, CNN-Turk and Skyturk-TV reported in their main newscasts and early morning news programs that Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman said at the Turkish National Day reception at the Turkish Embassy in Washington that the US Administration was not considering relocating troops in Iraq to be stationed in the north of the country. "The Baghdad government opposes the partition of Iraq, and the US supports Iraq's integrity," Edelman said, stressing again that "No one in the US Administration wants Iraq divided." Meanwhile, at a press conference in Washington, State Department Iraq Coordinator David Satterfield responded to a question by saying "We are not happy with the progress recorded against the PKK. More forward steps are needed to ensure that the PKK will not resume its operations in the future," indirectly criticizing the Iraqi Kurds. Satterfield emphasized that the terrorist organization must lay down its arms immediately. Writing in the economic-political daily Dunya, Haluk Ulman compares the war in Iraq to the war in Vietnam: "President Bush finally admitted that the situation in Iraq was worsening although this was basically an expression of the de facto situation. It took a very long time for Bush to see the reality in Iraq -- he was receiving lots of comments as well as warnings from observers about the situation resembling Vietnam ever since the beginning of the Iraq invasion. When it comes down to the two bloody situations, there are certainly many similarities between the-then picture in Vietnam and the current picture in Iraq. However there is also a big difference between the two. When the US decided to pull out from Vietnam, there was at least an authority to take over the administration. In Iraq, there is no organized power who can take ANKARA 00006143 002 OF 004 responsibility from the US since the country has been driven into chaos and anarchy. President Bush is facing trouble both militarily and politically. Whether and how he will be able to overcome this trouble will be interesting to watch." Cengiz Candar, commenting in the conservative Bugun, suggests that Turkey undergo a "comprehensive mentality change" regarding strategic policy issues: "On Iraq, the ongoing approach is almost narrowed down to being anti-American and waiting for the failure of the Bush administration's policy. In fact, there are many developments in our neighborhood which require that we better shape a political stance by evaluating the situation independent from domestic political considerations. The recent proposal on Iraq by Richard Holbrooke, who is potentially a strong figure for the Secretary of State position in a Democrat Party administration, is SIPDIS good enough to shake nkara. Holbrooke is clearly asking for a polcy change in Iraq and suggesting the transfer o American troops to northern Iraq. Let's notforget that Senator Biden, to whom Holbrooke made reference in his open letter to Bush, has been a staunch supporter of dividing Iraq into three. The main point is this: Do we, as Turkey, have a political stance on this and other proposals? Do we have a game plan? Has Turkey prepared a project to ensure its security and Iraq's stability? If we cannot provide positive answers to these questions, the rest is doomed to be empty talk." Barroso on Turkey's EU Drive, van der Linden Visits Turkey All papers report in a statement to Italian daily Corriere Della Sera, a pessimistic European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Turkey was running late on reforms required for membership. "We hope the EU term president Finland can prevent aborting the negotiations. But honestly, I am really worried," Barroso said. On the other hand, Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) Chairman Rene van der Linden met with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Ankara on his four-day official visit to Turkey with a 28-member delegation. No statement was made after the meeting. The PACE Chairman later said he did not expect a "train crash" during Turkey's EU drive. Friday Linden will join a roundtable meeting held by the prestigious Bilgi University in Istanbul. Poll: Turkish University Students on Honor Killings Hurriyet and Radikal report that in the eastern city of Van, despite an attempt by her father to protect her, a 15-year old girl, who had a baby without being married, was killed by her brother for damaging the family's honor. Papers quote the local public prosecutor as saying that the family decided to designate the brother to kill the girl, in order to remove what they saw as "a stain on their honor." Additionally, Hurriyet carries a public opinion survey conducted among 4,449 university students which indicates that 55.3 percent believe girls must preserve their virginity until marriage whereas 32.4 percent disagree, with only 5.4 percent saying virginity was "an old tradition." 30.9 percent of the Firat University students in eastern Turkey say honor killings may be committed, followed by 28.8 in the Adana-based Cukurova University, 18.7 in the conservative Selcuk University in Konya, 17.1 in the 19 Mayis University in the Black Sea city of Samsun, 9.8 in the Akdeniz University in the Mediterranean city of Antalya. The lowest approval for honor killings came from major cities Istanbul and Ankara with 3.4 percent from Istanbul's Bogazici University and 3.1 from Ankara's Hacettepe University. Islamist Company Transfers Funds to 'Naksibendi' Sect Hurriyet, Milliyet and Radikal have been demanding the arrest of pro-Islamic businessman Dursun Uyar for collecting enormous funds from devout masses in Turkey and Germany before going bankrupt four years ago. Uyar, the owner of the Islamist Yimpas Holding, was sentenced to prison. His case is pending at the Supreme Court of ANKARA 00006143 003 OF 004 Appeals. Hurriyet says for the past four years the Duyar file has been shelved at the Court of Appeals and in another eight months the case will be thrown out because of the statute of limitations, reporting on Sunday that despite an Interpol arrest warrant, he was seen with four cabinet ministers attending a funeral on Friday. Hurriyet and Milliyet also cite the German Die Welt reporting part of the money collected by Yimpas in Germany, 29 million Australian Dollars, had been transferred to the leader of the influential Naksibendi sect, Muharrem Cosan, in Australia, and another part to the sect members in Turkey. The Die Welt report claimed Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Gul also belonged to the Naksibendi sect. Turkish Engineers Claim Bush, IMF Intervened in Cargill Case Radikal reports Turkish Chambers of Engineers' Union TMMOB has warned parliamentarians in a letter that a court ruling stipulating the closure of Cargill facilities in the Bursa province had been turned down by the higher court (Danistay),emphasizing that President Bush and the IMF had intervened to see a solution to the problems of the US food giant's facilities which had been built illegally on agricultural land. TMMOB said a recent bill enacted to take the issue out of judiciary control was a violation of the principles of a law state. TUSIAD Invites Armenian Businessmen to Turkey The economic/political daily Referans reports Turkey's influential business group TUSIAD has invited Armenian businessmen to Turkey to join a meeting of the Black Sea and Caspian industrialists to be held November 27 in Istanbul. TV Highlights NTV (8 a.m.) Domestic News - Prime Minister Erdogan told the London-based Al-Hayat daily the US and its coalition partners have failed in the war in Iraq. - The US Land Forces Commander General Peter Schoomaker is to meet Friday with the Turkish Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug as well as Turkish General Staff Chief General Yasar Buyukanit in Ankara. - Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will participate in the 14th Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday. - On Friday, the EU Commission is expected to release the first part of a Euro 259 million package of financial support to Turkish Cyprus. - The former chief of IMF Turkey Desk Reza Moghadam said Turkey has achieved a significant economic success, and macroeconomic stability and structural reforms should be continued to maintain this achievement. International News - Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in skirmishes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. - An Israeli high court has rejected a plea of Palestinian villagers who were affected by the Israeli security fence which traversed their lands. - Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas stressed they had abandoned the 'good-boy policy' in the controversy regarding the access of Greek Cypriot vessels to Turkish ports. ANKARA 00006143 004 OF 004 - Some 30,000 Greek teachers rallied in Athens and Salonika while civil servants staged a nationwide strike in support over teachers' demands for pay hikes. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON