ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006415 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 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2006 In Today's Papers The Alliance of Civilizations Meeting All papers reported that a group of twenty prominent world figures met in Istanbul yesterday and issued a report calling for urgent efforts to heal the growing divide between the Muslim and Western worlds. The report said that the main causes of the rift between Muslim and Western societies are not religion or history, but recent political developments, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along with Western military interventions in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. In a speech to the group, PM Erdogan said that the Alliance of Civilizations initiative is the "global peace project of the 21st century." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the problem is "not the Koran, the Old Testament or the Bible; the problem is political." Iraq and the PKK Several Iraq-related stories are covered in the Turkish press. Cumhuriyet and Milliyet report that the Iraqi government issued a report naming 42 terrorist organizations in Iraq and that the PKK was not among them. Hurriyet and Sabah report that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will come to Ankara on November 15-16 and will have meetings with President Sezer, PM Erdogan and FM Gul. Iraqi Special Envoy for Countering the PKK Shirwan al-Waili, reportedly, will be accompanying the Prime Minister to Ankara. In addition, Hurriyet, Milliyet, Cumhuriyet, Vatan and others cover the remarks of US Democrat Party leader Howard Dean during an interview with Fox TV. The papers report Dean said that the PKK problem stems from the US occupation of Iraq and that if the US hadn't gone into Iraq, PKK terror wouldn't be a serious problem. "Turkey is one of our most important allies. The PKK terrorist organization conducts activities in Turkey and this may cause Turkey to enter northern Iraq. Turkey's intervention in Iraq would be the worst thing that could happen," Dean said. Survey on Attitudes towards EU, Foreign Relations Yeni Safak gives extensive front page coverage to a survey carried out by polling company ANAR. The survey shows that 54.1% of the interviewed supported Turkey's EU accession, and 37.1% objected to EU membership. 60.1% of the interviewed were skeptical about Turkey's EU membership, believing that Turkey would never be admitted into the EU. When asked which relationships should be given more importance in foreign affairs, 31.6% said the EU, 22.9% said the Turkic world, 21.3% said the Islamic world, 15.2% said neighboring countries, 3.3% said the US, and 3.9% said "other." ANAP, conducting the survey for Yeni Safak, queried a random sampling of 2640 people in 12 provinces. TV Highlights NTV (7 A.M.) Domestic News - Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir rejects allegations that he used municipal vehicles to carry supplies for PKK - 50 people have been detained in Sivas for trafficking narcotics - An Istanbul court sentenced former DYP deputy Sedat Bucak to one year 15 days imprisonment on charges of assisting and sheltering an organized crime organization in the Susurluk case. International News - Armenian lobby groups in the US are pressing the Bush Administration to withdraw the nomination of Richard Hoagland as Ambassador to Armenia. - Austrian Foreign Minister Plassnik suggests a "time-out" may be wise in the EU membership talks with Turkey - A bomb planted in a minibus exploded in eastern Baghdad killing ANKARA 00006415 002 OF 002 16 people - The Arab league has decided to lift the American-led embargo against PalestineVisit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON