ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 000307

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, FEBRUARY 13, 2007

In Today's Papers

Foreign Minister Gul Reiterates Support for Changes to Article 301
All papers report that speaking at a joint press conference with his
visiting Australian counterpart Alexander Downer, Gul reiterated
that he and the PM wanted this law, which makes it a crime to
"insult Turkishness" amended, because this law hinders Turkey's
reform process. However, interference of Americans or Europeans in
the issue would make completion of the task impossible. Gul was
quoted as saying "this is not an issue for Americans or Europeans,
it is our issue. It is damaging Turkey's image. It is portraying
Turkey as a country where hundreds of journalists and intellectuals
are jailed for their speeches. This is wrong. We want everyone to
freely express their thoughts as long as they don't incite violence
or amount to insults." Meanral Buyukanit Comments on Northern Iraqi Officials
Milliyet, Sabah, Vatan and others: Pri/r to his official talks in
the US, Chief of Geeral Staff General Yasar Buyukanit said that thQ
Kurdish administration in Northern Iraq has made hostile remarks
against Turkey and that it is not possible to meet with them under
current circumstances. The comments of Buyukanit came in response
to a question about the words of Turkish counterterrorism envoy
retired General Edip Baser who said that he could meet with KDP
leader Barzani if it is would benefit Turkey in the fight against
the PKK. Buyukanit stressed that there is no change in the policies
of the Turkish Armed Forces regarding the fight against the PKK.
Turkey's interlocutor in counterterrorism is the central authority
in Baghdad, Buyukanit added.

Turkey-US to Establish "Joint Production Zone"
Hurriyet reports Turkish union of chambers (TOBB) chairman Rifat
Hisarciklioglu said after hosting a dinner on Friday for US
Assistant Secretary for economy Dan Sullivan and US Trade
Representative Kristal Alley that the Turkish side has agreed with
the Americans on a "Joint Production Zone" project. The joint trade
launch will be a substitute for the "Qualified Industrial Zone"
project between Turkey and the US which had been shelved five years
ago due to disagreements over textile products. The new project
aims at enabling Turkey to export goods to the US without customs
tariffs and quota limitations. "American goods will be used partly
in the production phase in the new model which will result in
significant increases in Turkish exports to the US," Hisarciklioglu
said, adding that Turkey needed to expand its humble amount of 0.03
percent in the huge US import market. Hisarciklioglu noted the
agreement to be signed between the two countries had to be approved
by both the US Congress and Turkish Parliament.

The PKK Suspected of Controlling Drug Trafficking to Europe through
Turkey
Hurriyet reports Turkish narcotics police seized 565 kg of heroin on
February 8 and 220 kg of heroin stashed in 29 coffins in a truck at
Kapikule bordergate on February 11 in the northwestern city of
Edirne. Together with the 258 kg of heroin recently seized in
Istanbul on tip-offs coming from Germany and Belgium, Turkish police
confiscated the largest haul of narcotics in the nation's history,
totaling 1043 kg and worth USD 51.6 million. Turkey is now seeking
the drug baron behind t massive shipment destined cites the French Le Parisi

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Milliyet, Cumhuriyet, Radikal and Yeni Safak report that some PKK
defectors have been recruited to serve in the "Kurdish brigades"
dispatched to Baghdad for security operations in the Iraqi capital.
Kurdistan regional administration president M to Launch Oil Exploration in Eastern Medierranean, Aegean

Cumhuriyet and Milliyet report that Turkish petroleum company TPAO
plans to begin oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean and
Aegean Seas. The papers see the decision as "retaliation" against
Greek Cyprus oil exploration attempts in the eastern Mediterranean.
TPAO will explore Turkey's Mediterranean coast for oil, and then
turn to the area between the west of Cyprus and Egypt. The papers
say TPAO is to announce an international tender in a few months.


Editorial Commentary on US-Russia, Iran
Haluk Ulman observes in the economic-political daily Dunya:
"Russian leader Putin's speech at the Munich conference demonstrated
the mistrust in Moscow regarding President Bush's policies. Putin
clearly slammed the US policy for establishing a global hegemony and
accused the US of restarting a nuclear arms race and ignoring the
United Nations on international affairs. This was the bitterest
language against Washington by Russia in an international platform
so far. In his speech, Putin signaled his search for an alternative
to the solo polarized world order. For some observers, Putin's
speech can be taken as the start of a new kind of cold war era. I
see Putin's speech as an effort to gain a bigger role and more
influence in the international arena as he is comfortable with both
internal politics and his domestic economy with the help of $300
billion of oil reserves. Putin was giving a clear message to
Washington: 'don't dare to implement policies which I don't agree
with, particularly in my backyard.'

Melih Asik argues in the mainstream Milliyet: "The US strike
against Iran is a matter of time now. Washington is pursuing the
same tactic, disseminating lies, as it did prior to the Iraq strike.
The newest lie is about Iran providing weapons to Iraqi insurgents.
This lie was not even accepted as a fact by some of US senators,
like Chris Dodd and Ron Wyden. They also noted that the
administration is repeating the same scenario for Iran now as it
staged for Iraq before. On the other hand, the Bush administration
seems very determined to divert attention to Tehran and eventually
launch a strike against Iran with the hope that it will cover up the
failure in Iraq. There is a growing anti-war movement publicly in
the US especially after the lack of a strong stance against the warould stand up and be voca against the American plans
to strike Iran. Q

Editorial Commentary on the Possible US Armenian Resolution
Hurriyet chief editor Ertugrul Ozkok comments on how Ankara reached
Congressman Tom Lantos to seek his assistance to prevent the
adoption of the Armenian resolution at the US Congress through the
Israeli Ambassador in Turkey, Pinhas Avivi, who called Shimon Peres
to convey the Turks' request. "Peres called Lantos, who might now
sit on the resolution at the Foreign Relations Committee. Turkey
and Armenia could take action for rapprochement and Armenia would
agree to take some initiatives. A high-level Yerevan official said,
"If we come out and say such things and if Turkey does not take a

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step, the government here will fall." ... I wonder whether
Azerbaijan's strong oil lobby in the US and is doing anything to
prevent the resolution."

Mehmet Ali Birand observes in the mass appeal/sensationalist Posta
that unless there is a last minute change, the Armenian resolution
will be adopted by the US House of Representatives. "The best
result would be postponing the bill to next year, but it's still
possible to prevent it. The Bush Administration opposes the
resolution, but it will not be influential. ... The key to
preventing the resolution is still with Turkey, but it would require
bold steps -- such as the possibility of Turkey sitting at the
negotiating table with Armenia without preconditions but initially
keeping the bordergate closed, repeating its call for establishing a
council consisting of international historians, and amending or
annulling Turkish Penal Code Article 301. ... If Turkey continues to
repeat its simple nationalist rhetoric, Armenians might not be able
to dictate its demands to Turkey but they definitely would to the
entire international public. Turkey must act rationally."

Hasan Cemal in the mass appeal Milliyet asks whether or not the US
has heard what Hrant Dink used to say: "I'm appealing to Armenians
of the Diaspora. They should not demand either from Turkey or any
other country that they should accept the genocide. The main issue
is the democratization of Turkey, which is more important than
Turkey recognizing the genocide. Only a democratized country can
relax and agree to come to terms with its history and discuss its
problems with empathy." Cemal concludes that the US must have lost
its mind if it i the resolution withoutetkin writes in the lib ey along with the US. On the one sid%
is Turkey's interests concerning Iraq, thePKK and Armenia, and on
the other demands for Turkey to participate actively in the alliance
forming for sanctions on Iran. I predict that Ankara is standing
closer to the idea of participating in the sanctions against Iran."


Husnu Mahalli of the tabloid/sensationalist Aksam asks Turkey to
seek ways of direct dialogue with Armenia. "Ankara could surprise
everyone by saying before April 24 that the decision dated April 24,
1915, to move Armenians out was wrong and that it felt sorry for the
deaths of Turkish and Armenian citizens along the way. This won't
mean admitting guilt, on the contrary, would be regarded as a
demonstration of virtuousness."

Ali Bayramoglu writes in the Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak that one
could regard the Dink murder as a bitter phase of the process in
which Turkey faces its history and identity. "This encounter pushed
the suppressed memory back to the surface. The main factor beneath
the nationalist wave that spreading in Turkey today is the tension
between those who want to face history and Turkish identity and
those who oppose it. ...Facing its history will liberate the Turks."


TV Highlights
NTV, 6.00 A.M.

Domestic News

- Murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink's widow Rakel
called on the office of the prosecutor to file a complaint against
officials for failing to prevent the assassination and their conduct
of the investigation. One person has been detained in the central
natolian city of Kayseri for sending email threats to Agos
newspaper.

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- Joost Lagendijk, co-chairman of Turkey-EU joint parliamentary
commission, said that the lives of all suspects facing trial for
violations of article 301 were at risk.

- Deputy Prime Ministe were sent to the Qegion.

- Swedish historian Professor David Gaunt has responded to a Turkish
proposal for joining the excavation of an alleged Armenian mass
grave found in Mardin by saying the sides first needed to agree on
the excavation methods.

International News

- Explosions ripped though two marketplaces in downtown Baghdad
yesterday, killing at least 80 civilians.

- Tehran rejected the charges of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates
that Tehran played a role in supplying Iraqi insurgents with
sophisticated explosive devices.

- Iraq's supreme criminal court upheld the death penalty against
former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan for the mass killing
of Kurds.

- EU foreign ministers have approved Monday implementing UN
sanctions against Iran.

- Israel decided to suspend road building work near the Al-Aqsa
mosque in Jerusalem.


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

WILSON