US embassy cable - 04ANKARA992

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000992 
 
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 
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2004 
 
THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER 
THREE THEMES: 
 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
 
 
HEADLINES 
 
 
MASS APPEAL 
EU not part of Cyprus talks - Verheugen - Hurriyet 
A stingy EU offers Euro250 million to TRNC - Milliyet 
First day of talks went well: De Soto - Turkiye 
Denktas wants Ledra Palace as HQ for new Cyprus government - 
Milliyet 
A second mullah revolution in Iran - Sabah 
Iranian papers critical of Hamanei closed - Sabah 
Ankara promises cooperation to NATO's Scheffer - Hurriyet 
 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
Verheugen: Democracy, law, human rights essential for Cyprus 
solution - Radikal 
Cyprus talks tough, a long way to peace - Radikal 
Papadopoulos says Turkish settlers should leave Cyprus - 
Cumhuriyet 
US supports Cyprus peace process - Yeni Safak 
Perle tough on CIA: Some heads must be chopped - Radikal 
Dean throws in towel - Radikal 
Mullahs will dominate Iranian parliament - Cumhuriyet 
Iran's painful elections - Radikal 
Iranian reformist readying for post-election protest - Zaman 
NATO should be in Iraq - PM Erdogan - Yeni Safak 
Israel denies receiving Syrian peace message - Zaman 
 
 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
 
Cyprus:  After meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader 
Papadopoulos on Thursday morning, Denktas said that the 
Greek Cypriot side demanded restriction on the voting rights 
of settlers from Turkey.  Denktas objected to the demand, 
saying that the migrants were TRNC nationals.  In return, 
Denktas said he asked for establishment of a commission for 
investigating the losses that had been suffered by the 
Turkish Cypriots between 1963-74.  Greek Cypriots are 
against a bi-zonal structure based on ethnic grounds, he 
added.  Papadopoulos has stepped up tension by demanding the 
return of the post-1974 settlers to the Turkish mainland, 
says "Cumhuriyet."  Denktas said at the talks that a three- 
year transition period was needed for integrating the TRNC 
economy into the economy of south Cyprus, write papers. 
Denktas has also demanded $4 billion for new housing 
projects in the North.  Gunther Verheugen, the EU's 
expansion chief who is in Cyprus for meetings with the 
sides, reportedly said that the EU would extend special 
financial aid to support the TRNC economy.  Both Verheugen 
and de Soto have found the talks `constructive,' and said 
that a solution was near, say papers.  Foreign Minister Gul 
said that Turkey would launch a campaign for recognition of 
the TRNC if the Greek Cypriots reject an agreement in the 
referendum in late April.  Meanwhile, Secretary of State 
Powell has asked Athens to continue cooperating with Annan 
to achieve a settlement, papers report. 
 
 
NATO SG visits Ankara: In a meeting with the visiting NATO 
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Foreign Minister 
 
SIPDIS 
Gul said that if invited by the Iraqi people, Turkey was 
prepared to get involved in the coalition's efforts in Iraq 
under a NATO umbrella.  However, Scheffer has asked Turkey 
to contribute militarily to the ISAF in Afghanistan.  Ankara 
is not eager to deploy more troops in Afghanistan, and 
offered Scheffer sending a 50-strong team of military 
officers and civilian specialists, say papers. 
Israel denies receiving messages from Syria:  Israeli Prime 
Minister Sharon's office has denied press reports about 
receiving a Syrian message via Turkey's Foreign Minister Gul 
calling on Tel Aviv to resume peace talks, says "Zaman." 
Turkish diplomatic sources said that Turkey had not 
presented Israel with any written document, but had merely 
conveyed a verbal message to the US and Israel during Prime 
Minister Erdogan's visit to the US in January, Zaman notes. 
 
 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION: 
A)  Iraq 
B)  Greater Middle East Initiative 
 
 
"Two Iraqi Groups Reconciled" 
Fatih Altayli observed in the mass appeal Hurriyet (2/20): 
"The two strongest and most prominent political forces in 
Iraq, Kurds and Shiites, have been competing with each 
other, and they used to have different priorities for the 
future of new Iraq. . The US, on the other hand, intensified 
its efforts to ensure a consensus among the three major 
Iraqi groups for the designation of a new constitution, yet 
the Shiites stood against the US-imposed transition 
calendar.  All of this seems to be changing rather 
unexpectedly in that Kurdish leader Talabani and Shiite 
leader Sistani have reached an agreement.  According to 
recent reports, both the Kurds and the Shiites have agreed 
to work for a separate election process in each other's 
controlled regions.  That means the possibility of a direct 
national election in Iraq is becoming unlikely because the 
Shiites and the Kurds have started talking about regional 
elections.  The Sunni region is obviously left out the 
picture.  It remains to be seen what the U.S. reaction to 
this will be.  The general picture, however, is of a de 
facto situation in which Iraq is moving toward division into 
three regions." 
 
 
"Artificial Greater Middle East" 
Umur Talu argued in the mass appeal Sabah (2/20): "There is 
an international marketing push underway for the US Greater 
Middle East Initiative.  The US is trying hard to make it 
sound realistic by using certain arguments, including 
democracy, freedom and stability, to justify its plan.  The 
fact of the matter is that this project has some realistic 
goals but they are not the same as those put forward by the 
US.  The real intention of the US is to establish a 
mechanism by which to produce market economies and change of 
regimes through non-democratic means, such as invasion, 
military coup, and war.  The Greater Middle East Initiative 
is very big project, one that requires an enormous budget to 
implement.  Since there is no way for the US to afford such 
a large amount by itself, it is lobbying for others, 
especially NATO, to be involved.  In the end, the US will 
certainly be the big boss and a number of NATO countries, 
such as Turkey, will have to content themselves with being 
pawns on a brand new, yet artificial, `Greater Middle East' 
map." 
 
 
"The Greater Middle East Initiative" 
Haluk Ulman opined in the economic-political Dunya (2/20): 
"After President Bush's justification to occupy Iraq proved 
to be false, recently he has presented a new justification: 
to free Iraq and the world from a cruel and dangerous 
dictator and bring democracy to that country.  As the 
presidential elections approach, just to impress his people, 
and as though he has already solved the governance issue in 
Iraq and managed to establish a democratic regime in 
Baghdad, President Bush now talks about introducing a  new 
political and economic order to the Middle East.  And he 
wants to do this with the help of allies whose opinions were 
of no importance to him in the past.  This is `the greater 
Middle East initiative' you have been hearing about 
recently.  However, some of the EU countries and Russia, who 
know from past experience more about these Middle Eastern 
countries' economic and social structures not being suitable 
for democracy and who have observed the chaos rather than 
the promised democracy the US brought in Iraq, do not 
approach this project positively.  Moreover, after 
witnessing US support for traditional and conservative 
administrations in the Middle East just for the sake of oil, 
they do not believe Bush is sincere about this project. 
However, Bush has created this project and is determined to 
get others' support.  The US and the countries that oppose 
them will face each other in June during the G8, NATO, US-EU 
summits.  Since the NATO summit will be held in Istanbul, we 
must follow the developments there closely." 
 
 
EDELMAN