ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000721 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 THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2008 In Today's Papers AKP's Constitutional Reforms Package All papers report the ruling AKP government has prepared a package of constitutional reforms. Leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet and liberal Radikal indicate the package includes provisions that ban political parties only in cases where the parties support violence and terror. Other provisions in the package propose new laws regarding gender equality and children's rights. Papers expect Prime Minister Erdogan to finalize the reform package and then the Council of Ministers will discuss the reforms at an April 21st meeting. Afterwards, AKP leaders will reach out to opposition parties and independent lawmakers in an effort to secure support for the package. Papers: AKP Asks EU to Condemn Party Closures All papers report Luis Mario de Puig, the new President of the Parliament Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE),said "the Turkish delegation demanded PACE release a declaration condemning the ban of political parties." The declaration is expected to denounce the ban of political parties not linked to violence. Opposition CHP deputy chairman Onur Oymen commented, "The AKP is the first Turkish political party to ask foreigners for support. Turkey is not a colony." AKP lawmaker and head of the Turkish delegation to PACE Mevlut Cavusoglu denied Puig's claims, saying his party would never ask European institutions to take steps against Turkey, papers report. Parliament Committee Approves Changes to Articles 301, 305 Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Radikal, Taraf, Cumhuriyet, Zaman and others report changes in Articles 301 and 305 of the penal code were approved Wednesday by the parliament's EU harmonization committee. Currently, Article 301 criminalizes the act of insulting "Turkishness." According to the changes, the term "Turkishness" will be replaced by the "Turkish nation." The bill requires prosecutors to obtain approval from the presidency before they charge someone with violating the law. The changes also lower the maximum prison sentence to two years, which opens the way for the suspension of the prison terms of those already convicted under Article 301. The bill will be debated at the Parliament's Justice Committee on Friday. Editorial Commentary on Article 301 "Why Not Bring The Death Penalty Back!" Mehmet Ali Birand wrote in tabloid Posta (4/17): "I am literally tired of this Article 301 issue. The current debate over Article 301 is empty talk and has no value in being part of the public discourse any longer. The harms caused by 301 have been raised by many, including myself, during the last 2-3 years. Our prosecutors have a tendency to interpret 'insulting Turkishness' in the most exaggerated sense. The nuance between an insult and a criticism is often ignored. After hundreds of articles about the harms caused by 301 and the need for its abolishment, the government refused to act and said, 'there is no need to do anything.' The government has created a mess of the Article 301 debates. By looking at the overall atmosphere on Article 301, I suggest that 301 should remain on the books and all of Turkey's EU reforms be reversed. Who knows, we may protect Turkey much better if we re-introduce the death penalty and torture." "The 301 Debate" Ali Sirmen wrote in leftist-nationalist leaning Cumhuriyet (4/17): "It is terrible to see that the new Article 301 draft introduces new obstacles to the freedom of thought even though it seeks to abolish obstacles to freedom of thought. It is equally bad that outside pressures instead of internal dynamics have led to this process. The substance of the proposed changes in Article 301 does not even deserve debate. What good could possibly come out of a mandate given to president? In addition, we actually need a comprehensive ANKARA 00000721 002 OF 002 change in mentality, especially within the legislative, executive and judicial branches. However, the public must also change their mentality. Democratic standards are measured by a country's constitution, its laws and its public mentality. I am sure if we try to implement Turkey's current laws in another contemporary democratic country, the actual implementations would look much different than Turkey. Changes to Article 301 should not be about dancing around words. Turkey must attain a mentality of full democratization; trivial changes in the way laws are written will not eliminate the problems." TGS: Turkish Warplanes Strike PKK Groups in Northern Iraq April 15 All papers report the military General Staff (TGS) announced Turkish fighter jets "neutralized" a group of PKK terrorists in northern Iraq on April 15th. According to the TGS announcement, the group was preparing to stage terrorist attacks in Turkey. A TGS statement said Turkish warplanes launched air strikes in Avasin and Basyan regions in northern Iraq when they identified a group of PKK terrorists preparing to cross the border. The statement added operations against the PKK continued in the provinces of Sirnak and Diyarbakir. Papers report convoys of military vehicles were deployed from Cizre to Cudi and Gabar mountains. A cartoon in the April 17 edition of "Aksam" daily: TV Announcer: "And now the latest on the Dollar, the Euro, Oil, and Rice..." TV Highlights CNN Turk Domestic News - Labor unions plan to stage a rally with the participation of around 500,000 workers on May 1 in Istanbul. - Pro-Kurdish DTP MP Aysel Tugluk said the Kurdish question could be resolved within the framework of EU reforms, and warned that failure to take democratization steps would boost radical trends among the Kurds. - President Abdullah Gul invited leaders of political parties in the parliament to the presidential palace for a luncheon on April 23. International News - Pope Benedict XVI arrived Tuesday in Washington on his first visit to the United States as pontiff. - Bilal Huseyin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer working for the Associated Press in Iraq, was freed from U.S. military custody on Wednesday after being held for two years. - Israeli forces killed 13 Palestinians, most of them civilians, in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Reports indicate a cameraman working for Reuters was killed when an Israeli tank opened fire. DEBLAUW