ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001399 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, JUNE 5, 2007 In Today's Papers Parties Unveil Candidate Lists All papers report political parties have announced candidate lists for the July 22 parliamentary elections. About 100 existing MPs were not included in the ruling AKP list and over 60 were left off of the opposition CHP list. AKP leader Erdogan will run from Istanbul, CHP's Deniz Baykal from Antalya, DP's Mehmet Agar from Elazig, Anavatan's Erkan Mumcu from Isparta, MHP's Devlet Bahceli from Osmaniye, and GP's Cem Uzan from Izmir. Former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz will run as an independent candidate from his hometown Rize. Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of the banned Welfare Party (RP),will run on the Felicity Party (SP) list from the conservative central Anatolian city of Konya, provided the High Election Board (YSK) does not block him due to the political ban on the veteran Islamist leader. The leader of Turkey's main Kurdish party, DTP, Ahmet Turk, who last week faced a court case for referring to the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan as "Mr.," will run as an independent from the southeastern province of Mardin. AKP officials said around 400 women applied to the party to run for parliament, and some 100 of them were nominated. The YSK will examine the lists and notify the political parties if there are any shortcomings. If there are, the parties will be given until June 8 to eliminate them. The lists of candidates will be published in the Official Gazette and broadcast by radio and television on June 10. YSK said 42,533,041 voters will cast votes at 158,700 ballot boxes across Turkey on July 22. PKK Terrorists Kill 7 Turkish Soldiers All papers report PKK terrorists staged an attack on a Turkish gendarme outpost, killing seven soldiers and wounding another eight. The attack in Pulumur in the eastern province of Tunceli was carried out by two terrorists who drove into the station in a stolen car, tossing grenades while terrorists lying in ambush outside fired at the soldiers with long range rifles. One of the terrorists in the car was shot dead while the other managed to escape with injuries. Turkey-EU Troika Meeting Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, Zaman. Yeni Safak and others: The Turkey-EU Troika met in Ankara yesterday with term President German FM Steinmeier and the enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn in attendance. Turkey was represented by FM Gul and Chief Negotiator Ali Babacan. Term President Steinmeier said that they hope that democratic reforms will continue after the elections and that there won't be any alternative to EU membership. Mainstream Sabah says that the PKK-Northern Iraq issue was on the top of the Troika's agenda. Commissioner Rehn expressed concern over the Turkish General Staff statement during the presidential elections and reiterated EU respect for the Turkish Military. Rehn highlighted the importance of preserving democracy and secularism in Turkey and ensured Turkey of EU support in its fight against PKK terrorism. Turkish FM Gul stressed that Turkish patience was wearing out about the terrorist attacks from Northern Iraq. In his opening remarks Gul drew attention to Turkey's continuing efforts regarding accession to the EU and asked the EU to cooperate to continue negotiations. Rehn and Steinmeier said that negotiations would start on three chapters by the end of this month. US Special Envoy for Countering PKK Calls Akgunay, His New Turkish Counterpart Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak reports that US Special envoy for countering terrorism retired General Joseph Ralston phoned the new Turkish Special Envoy Undersecretary Rafet Akgunay on Friday afternoon and stressed that he is looking forward to working together with Akgunay. It is reported that no date is determined yet for the two special envoys to meet for the first time. Akgunay ANKARA 00001399 002 OF 002 took up his duties on May 21. Editorial Commentary on Possible Cross-Border Operations Berat Ozipek writes in the conservative daily Star: "The ongoing debate over Northern Iraq seems to be one over domestic politics rather than the PKK. The war mongers are doing their best to provoke Turkey into action. Given some comments from so-called experts regarding the possibility of postponing the elections due to the situation in Northern Iraq, it looks as if there are some other reasons than the PKK behind the remarks encouraging Turkey to conduct a cross border operation. The government has a very important responsibility on this issue. Those who act with a strong nationalistic approach or those who pursue politics using the PKK issue should not mislead the government. Everybody can make mistake but a government cannot afford to. The government should resist the warmongers; otherwise the consequences will be disastrous." Can Dundar writes in the mainstream daily Milliyet: "Washington, swamped in Iraq, does not want to see any trouble in the north of the country which remains the only stable part of the country. Therefore the possibility of Turkey conducting a cross-border operation receives a clear no from the US. The US worries that when and if a cross-border operation happens, northern Iraq will turn into a chaotic place with suicide bombers just like Baghdad. On the other hand, Washington seems very aware that Turkey is running out of patience. The US needs a formula that would convince Kurds and console Turks at the same time, which is a hard thing. Today happens to be the 43rd anniversary of the Johnson letter to then-PM Inonu - the letter that prevented Turkey's intervention in Cyprus. The traces of the current snowballing anti-Americanism can be found some 43 years ago. Let's hope the US reads Turkey's agony carefully and in the right context so that there will be neither a need for intervention nor a letter from Washington to prevent it from happening." TV Highlights NTV Domestic News - A member of the outlawed PKK who allegedly carried out a bomb attack on May 12 in the Aegean city of Izmir, killing one and injuring 15 others, was arrested Monday. - Turkey prepares to apply to the UN to seek stronger international cooperation in the fight against the PKK. - The chief of the Russian General Staff Yury Baluyevsky will visit Ankara Tuesday as the official guest of his Turkish counterpart General Yasar Buyukanit. - Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener met yesterday with the head of Cuban Atomic Research Center Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, the son of Fidel Castro. International News - President Bush was met with protests in Prague. - Palestine proposed a new ceasefire. - ETA will end the ceasefire tomorrow. - President Bush is having a hard time over Guantanomo issue due to recent court decisions. WILSON