ANKARA MEDIA REACTION@SDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 000317 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@SDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2007 General ttee Chairman Tom Lantos, who had been a leading supporter of Turkey for years in blocking the Armenian genocide bills. Being aware of the importance of the Jewish lobby in efforts to block the Armenian Genocide Bill, the Turkish General Staff sent a note to Lantos and other representatives close to the Jewish lobby last week detailing the history of military cooperation between Turkey and Israel. Congress sources say that the note had a positive affect on some representatives and made them withdraw support for the Armenian genocide bill. Today, Buyukanit, will stress to Lantos that the possible acceptance by the US Congress of this bill could have a serious impact on relations between Turkey and the US. Editorial Commentary on Turkey-Armenia, Armenian Resolution in the US Cengiz Candar argues in the economic-political daily Referans that is time for Turkey to "change its established lines" in its Armenia policy: "Turkey needs to make a distinction between its approach to the diaspora, its treatment of Armenian citizens in Turkey, and its relationship with Armenia. These three are certainly correlated, however; finely-tuned politics requires the ability to make a distinction among them. If Turkey establishes diplomatic ties with Armenia and opens the border, not only will it help us to gain more geopolitical influence by opening the only closed border gate in Europe, but it will also be a good gesture to our citizens of Armenian origin. Such a policy approach can ease the relationship within the EU process and provide an easing of Turkish-American ties, too. Apart from that at least some in the Armenian diaspora will be disarmed if such a policy change is implemented. Having diplomatic ties with Armenia and having an open border gate does not necessarily mean that Ankara agrees with Yerevan on everything. Just an example: We have diplomatic and cultural ties with France, but at the same time we have a wide variety of political disputes with Paris. Turkey rightfully disapproves of the Armenian occupation of Nagorno Karabakh. Yet if we continue to act with this rationale, shouldn't we cut ties with the US due to its occupation of Iraq? Diplomatic, commercial and economic ties with Armenia do not require Turkey's recognition of Karabakh's current status. If there was such a prevailing rule, Turkey should not have relationship with countries that do not recognize the existence of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This is the very time to change the establisoreign eon or not. Qo far, resolutions to this effect were prevented by US administrations. US Presidents did not mention the word 'genocide' in their April 24 messages. This somehow created joy in Turkey and was presented as a foreign policy achievement. In reality, we accepted that it was okay for US presidents to imply genocide as long as they did not pronounce the word. American administrations exerted such efforts [to prevent a resolution] with the argument of 'not harming Turkish-American ties.' This argument by itself is an indication that the US takes the genocide claim as an undeniable fact. The policy is basically about this: 'genocide happened but we should not accept it now for the sake of our relations with Turks.' One commentator was suggesting that international arbitration might be a good way to deal with the issue. I believe that there should be a search for other ways to ANKARA 00000317 002 OF 004 deal with such a chronic issue. It seems now is the time to listen to different voices." PKK in Europe Sabah, Hurriyet, Milliyet, Aksam and others: Papers report that Patrick Devedjian, an adviser to French interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, met with 14 PKK militants who were arrested in Paris, and tried to convince them that Sarkozy played no role in the in the operations in Europ. Altayli stressed that his paper's Parisrepresentative interviewed Judge Thiery Fragnoli of the Anti-Terror department in Paris and heard from him that the operations in Paris were launched to stop money laundering there; it is not Europe-wide operations; and the US had no influence over such operations. Greek Daily Interviews PKK Leader Aydar The leftist/nationalist Cumhuriyet carries on page one excerpts of an interview Zubeyir Aydar, a leader of the outlawed PKK, gave to the Greek daily Elefterotipia in Brussels. Aydar said the EU-inspired democratic changes such as Kurdish television and radio stations in Turkey's southeast were "positive, but not sufficient." Aydar said he preferred Turkey to proceed on the path toward the EU. "Turkey's derailment on the road to EU will make it more militaristic which will result in more bloodshed in the region." On the role of the US in the region, Aydar said, "The United States is our protector coming from a long way. US troops cannot pullout of Iraq, because such a withdrawal will bring massacres at unprecedented scales in northern Iraq and the rest of the country." Aydar praised Massoud Barzani's call for an amnesty for the PKK in Turkey, maintaining that Turkish authorities, the US anti-terrorism envoy, and the regional authorities needed to talk with the PKK if they wanted to grasp the Kurdish reality. He said the PKK will never lay down its arms unless their conditions are met. "If we lay down arms," Aydar stressed, "Our strongest trump card will be lost." Olmert Due in Ankara on Thursday Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, Zaman, Yeni Safak and others report Prime Minister Erdogan has warned his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert a day before he arrives for talks in Ankara that Israel should respect Muslim feelings and reconsider plans for archaeological excavation work near the Muslim holy place al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. Erdogan underlined that Turkey was disturbed by the Israeli construction work which came when new opportunities were seen regarding the revival of the Middle East peace process, when Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a unity government in Palestine. Erdogan added that Muslims' approval was needed before any new step to be taken in Jerusalem, urging Israel to respect international agreements with regard to the protection City Te liberal/intellectual Radikal reports tensions are rising in Turkey's Mediterranean port city of Mersin due to the activities of ultra-nationalist groups in the town, 40 percent of whose population is Kurdish. Although there are currently no problems between the Turks and Kurds, the rising nationalism in the city may cause ethnic tensions. Kemal Canay, the head of the Mersin branch of National Forces, a racist-nationalist association, was seen last week in ANKARA 00000317 003 OF 004 televised video footage of an swearing-in ceremony saying to a group of members that they had a list of 13,500 "traitors," who would be "called to account." Canay said, "Some 90 percent of those who commit offences in Mersin come from the east. Mersin has been invaded by the PKK and Zionists. The Turks do not commit crimes." The Mersin branch of the Izmir-based Turkist-Nationalist Ethnic Association had earlier launched a campaign for halting the increase of Kurdish population. In April last year, the Patriotic Forces Union had organized a "flag march" in which 20,000 participants carried a 2-kilometer long Turkish flag, chanting "Mersin is Turkish, will stay Turkish." The far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and pro-Kurdish DTP told Radikal they disapprove of such associations seeking to see a confrontation between different ethniciti`hts NTV (6 A.M.) Domekish Parliament rejected tionn detained in the central Anato,ian city of Kayseri for sending threatening mail to the Turkish-Armenian bilingual daily Agos. - A Prosecutor has demanded up to 15 years in prison for heating system attendant Esref Aydin for the boiler fault which blew up a five-storey building used to house military families in Diyarbakir last year, killing eight people. - The deadly bird flu virus has been detected in Esentepe village in the southeastern province of Batman. - The Turkish Parliament is to set up a special commission to research the impacts of global warming. International News - Addressing an EU seminar in northern Cyprus, Turkish Cyprus leader Mehmet Ali Talat said his country would join the EU as soon as the Cyprus question is resolved. - General Peter Pace, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the discovery that explosive devices in Iraq were made in Iran does not necessarily mean the Iranian government was involved in supplying insurgents. - Italian authorities have uncovered an arms smuggling ring preparing to transfer over 500,000 weapons and ammunition from Russia and China to Iraq and Libya. - Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders said the Koran contains "plenty of terrible things," and that "If Muslims want to stay in the Netherlands, they should throw away half the Koran." - A Belgian government-backed report blames Belgian authorities and the ruling elite for collaborating with the Nazis persecuting Jews during World War II. http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ ANKARA 00000317 004.2 OF 004 WILSON