US embassy cable - 03ANKARA7164

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 007164 
 
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, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT 
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2003 
 
 
THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER 
THREE THEMES: 
 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
HEADLINES 
 
 
MASS APPEAL 
London on high alert on eve of historic Bush visit - 
Milliyet 
Bush offers help to Erdogan - Hurriyet 
Bremer says Saddam must be killed - Milliyet 
Synagogue bombers trained in Pakistan - Sabah 
300,000 Israelis visit Turkey every year - Hurriyet 
Talabani coming to convince Turkish military - Turkiye 
 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
Weston in Ankara: US steps up pressure on Cyprus - 
Cumhuriyet 
US sends Weston to Ankara - Yeni Safak 
US troops' show of force in Tikrit - Cumhuriyet 
Talabani in Ankara to eliminate doubts - Zaman 
Turkmen say US cannot establish stability in Iraq - Yeni 
Safak 
A US President in Buckingham, 85 years after - Zaman 
 
 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
 
Synagogue bombers identified:  Turkish police have 
identified the suicide bombers who attacked two synagogues 
in Istanbul last Saturday.  The two terrorists, Mesut Cabuk 
and Gokhan Elaltuntas, were from Bingol province in 
Southeast Turkey.  The two men had visited Iran several 
times in the last couple of years.  Cabuk and Elaltuntas are 
members of the Bayiat al-Imam (Imams' union), a terror 
organization linked to Al-Qaida.  "Radikal" says the 
terrorists were trained in Pakistan.  Government spokesman 
Cemil Cicek complained that Turkey had received no timely 
and honest support in its fight against terrorism. 
Countries extending condolences to Turkey but allowing 
fundraising activities by terror groups, Cicek stressed, 
should not shed `crocodile tears' after the events in 
Istanbul.  Some European countries continue to regard 
terrorists as freedom fighters, he added.  Prime Minister 
Erdogan said intelligence reports have warned of bomb 
attacks in countries like Israel, Britain, Germany and 
Italy.  Mainstream papers claim that the bombings were an 
attempt to punish the only secular Muslim country, Turkey, 
for its strong ties with the US and Israel. 
 
 
Weston in Ankara: US Special Cyprus Coordinator Ambassador 
Thomas Weston hailed the UN-sponsored Annan peace plan as 
the most realistic formula for a settlement in Cyprus. 
Weston reiterated US support for the Annan Plan when he 
spoke to reporters after his arrival in Ankara yesterday 
afternoon.  Weston will meet with AK Party officials and the 
Turkish Union of Chambers (TOBB) on Tuesday.  Papers say 
that Ankara warned the US not to intervene in Turkish 
Cypriot elections. 
 
 
Cyprus:  Turkish Cypriot opposition leader Mehmet Ali Talat 
vowed to sack Denktas as chief negotiator on Cyprus 
following the December general elections, and to stand 
against any intervention that might come from Ankara. 
Turkey must not pressure us for any reason, Talat said.  He 
noted that Denktas is supported only by the military and 
opponents of the EU. 
Assistant SecState Dewey to Ankara:  Assistant Secretary of 
State for Population, Migration and Refugees Arthur Dewey 
will be in Ankara on Wednesday to discuss with the MFA and 
UNHCR the return to Turkey of about 13,000 Turkish Kurds 
living in the Mahmur refugee camp in Northern Iraq.  Ankara 
believes the Mahmur camp to be a logistical support center 
for the PKK.  A UNHCR delegation said after meeting with the 
parliamentary human rights commission on Monday that Kurds 
who return from the Mahmur camp should not be subject to 
interrogation, and that their properties in Turkey must be 
returned. 
 
 
Talabani due in Ankara:  The temporary head of the Iraqi 
Governing Council (IGC) Jalal Talabani said before his 
official visit to Turkey on Wednesday that a federal regime 
would be the best future political structure for Iraq.  The 
PKK will not be allowed to use Iraqi soil for attacks 
against Turkey, Talabani stressed.  We are not against the 
Turkish army, Talabani said, but only Iraqis can guarantee 
the security and stability of Iraq.  Talabani will be 
accompanied by six ministers, including FM Hosyar Zebari, 
and ten members of the Iraqi Governing Council. 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION: Istanbul Bombings/Iraq 
 
 
"Bush Cannot Leave Iraq" 
Ali Sirmen argued in the social democrat-intellectual 
Cumhuriyet (11/18): "It is very unlikely that the Bush 
administration will be able to withdraw from Iraq quickly 
and easily.  History is about to repeat itself:  Lyndon 
Johnson decided to leave Vietnam after things went wrong, 
but in reality he only managed to earn himself an early exit 
from the White House.  The situation in Iraq is clearly 
chaotic, and runs against the US policy decision to leave 
Iraq more quickly.  First of all, the US will face with more 
problems if it leaves Iraq right now.  This is what exactly 
`falling deeper into the swamp' is all about.  . We can only 
hope that a new leadership emerges as the winner of the 
upcoming presidential elections, and that the new resident 
of the White House makes the necessary changes." 
 
 
"Twin Towers: Istanbul" 
Sedat Ergin observed in the mass appeal Hurriyet (11/18): 
"The Istanbul bombings are a terrorist act carried out after 
at least one or two months of planning.  This is an 
organized act carried out by various groups.  There is a 
striking lesson that comes from this terrorist attack: 
Turkey should evaluate and analyze the intelligence reports 
about domestic and foreign-based fundamentalist terror 
organizations more seriously than before. . It might well be 
against the intention of the terrorists, yet the results of 
this terrorist attack will bring Turkey, the US and Israel 
more into the same line.   Turkey will increase coordination 
with the US to fight against terrorism, and all three will 
be closer to each other in their foreign policy 
considerations.  . Those who lost their lives after the 9/11 
attacks and those who died in the attacks against the two 
synagogues in Istanbul share the same fate.  Islamic 
fundamentalist terror is globalized, and the Twin Towers 
have now been turned into two synagogues.  Istanbul is now 
New York." 
 
 
EDELMAN