US embassy cable - 03ANKARA7388

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 007388 
 
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, DECEMBER 2, 2003 
 
 
THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER 
THREE THEMES: 
 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
 
 
 
 
HEADLINES 
 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Bush Invites Erdogan to Washington - Hurriyet 
TGS Chief Says Recent Terrorist Attacks Have Religious 
Motives-Hurriyet 
Ecevit to Leave Politics After the Elections - Hurriyet 
A School to Train Terrorists in Damascus - Milliyet 
Ecevit Leaves Politics - Milliyet 
140 Prisoners to be Released from Guantanamo - Milliyet 
General Ozkok: "Religion and Politics Together Create 
Savagery - Sabah 
Suicide Bombers Planned Attacks in Ankara - Sabah 
Two Turks Returned from Guantanamo - Sabah 
Bloody Weekend in Iraq - Turkiye 
 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
General Ozkok: "Religion and Politics Should Not be Mixed" - 
Cumhuriyet 
Terrorists Attack: 5 Turkish Soldiers Die - Cumhuriyet 
Ecevit Ends His Half-Century Political Adventure - Zaman 
Government Acknowledges Bombers' Al-Qaida Connection - Zaman 
US Brutality in Iraq - Yeni Safak 
General Ozkok: "Attacks Motivated by Religion" - Radikal 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
 
Bush Invites Erdogan to US:  "Hurriyet" reports that PM 
Erdogan has been invited to Washington by the Bush 
Administration.  The visit will take place in January, and 
will be the first visit by Erdogan to the US as Turkish 
Prime Minister. 
 
 
General Ozkok Remarks:  Speaking to the at the Romanian 
National Day reception, TGS Chief General Ozkok said that 
"there were religious motives behind the terrorist attacks 
in Istanbul."  Ozkok stressed that "religion and politics 
should not be mixed." "Otherwise," he said, "savagery is the 
result."  "Recent developments have once again highlighted 
the benefits of Ataturk's secularism," the general noted. 
 
 
Ecevit's Decision to Quit Politics:  All papers report that 
DSP Leader Bulent Ecevit announced that he will quit 
politics at the next party convention, which follows the 
local elections in March 2004.  Ecevit is not expected to 
name an heir to lead the party after his resignation.  In an 
interview with Murat Yetkin in "Radikal," Ecevit said that 
"the US might have played a role in the toppling of my 
government."  Ecevit speculates that the United States may 
not have wanted his government to continue in power because 
of its opposition to American policy in Iraq. 
 
 
US Soldiers Kill 54 Civilians in Iraq:  "Yeni Safak" reports 
that after US troops kidnapped and raped around 30 Iraqi 
women, the people of Samarra rebelled against US forces.  In 
order to halt the civil unrest, the paper claims, US troops 
carried out  a military operation in which 54 Iraqi 
civilians were killed. 
 
 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION: 
Iraq; Campaign Against Terrorism 
 
 
"The Second Phase" 
Fikret Ertan noted in the Islamist-intellectual Zaman 
(12/2): "The US and the UK have designed a two-stage 
military policy for Iraq.  The first phase was to occupy 
Iraq and topple Saddam.  The second phase is to transfer 
authority to an Iraqi army and police force after a certain 
period of time.  The first phase has been concluded, and was 
largely successful.  Yet the second phase seems to be the 
main challenge for coalition forces.  Security and stability 
are the two main issues in Iraq. . Nevertheless, the 
American and British forces did not make any changes in 
their long term planning for Iraq.  They believe they can 
overcome the challenges in the course of time.  Plans for 
the second phase are already underway, include the training 
of Iraqi police and army as well as the establishment of 
permanent military bases for the US and UK.  . Given what we 
know about the implementation of the second phase of the 
operation in Iraq, we should realize that America and 
Britain are going to remain there for years.  This is a 
direct and vital concern for Turkey." 
 
 
"Impact of terrorism on foreign policy" 
Sami Kohen wrote in the mass appeal Milliyet (12/2): "Syria 
used to shelter the PKK leadership and was notorious in its 
lack of cooperation on terrorism five years ago.  Today, we 
see that Syrian authorities accepted Turkey's request to 
hand over the 22 terrorism suspects. . When the Turkish 
government began a rapprochement early this year toward the 
Syrian government, it was obvious that the Bush 
administration was not happy about it.  Syria is on 
Washington's list of "rogue states."  There has been strong 
speculation about a possible US operation against Syria. . 
It is very clear that the Bush administration is doing its 
best by exerting pressure on the Syrian regime to make sure 
that Damascus stops sheltering or supporting terrorism. 
However, Ankara and Washington have different approaches 
toward Syria despite their common stand against terrorism. 
In other words, on the issue of Syria, Turkey and the US 
have conflicting interests." 
 
 
DEUTSCH