US embassy cable - 04ANKARA2010

UNCLAS ANKARA 002010 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, PREL, PGOV, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKISH MEDIA: REQUEST TO TAPE A PRIME-TIME 
INTERVIEW WITH SECRETARY POWELL 
 
 
1. Post strongly supports the request of prominent Turkish 
national security strategist Faruk Demir and centrist daily 
"Aksam"'s Ankara bureau chief Nuray Basaran to tape an 
interview with Secretary Powell to feature as the 
inauguration, or one of the first broadcasts, of their new, 
prime-time TV interview/current affairs program.  The 
program, "Nasil Yani?" (equivalent to "What do you mean?") is 
to debut mid- to late-April on the privately-owned national 
channel Show TV.  Demir and Basaran propose to tape an 
interview in Washington on a date in April convenient for the 
Secretary. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
2. Show TV is part of the Cukurova Group, which also owns 
"Aksam" and has a significant stake in Turkcell, Turkey's 
leading mobile phone network.  In the past, Show TV has had a 
populist cast.  However, we are assured by Nuray Basaran -- 
confirmed by the CEO of Turkcell, which has agreed to sponsor 
the program -- that she will have complete editorial freedom 
to run the kind of sober, balanced current affairs program 
she and Demir envisage. 
 
 
3. Post's reasons for supporting this request: 
 
 
(1) This interview would give a strong kick-off to our public 
diplomacy in the run-up to President Bush's visit to Ankara 
and Istanbul in the context of the end-June NATO Summit in 
Istanbul. 
 
 
(2) The interview would also be timely opportunity to 
underscore the Secretary's and USG's key efforts to reach a 
Cyprus settlement which meets the core needs of the Turkish 
Cypriots and Turkey. 
 
 
(3) On a more topical note, in the wake of much of the 
Turkish media's misinterpretation of the Secretary's 
statements about Turkey's Muslim population and secular 
system in his March 31 ZDF interview, he would have an 
excellent opportunity to clarify American understanding of 
the unique combination of Turkey's overwhelmingly Muslim 
population and secular, democratic system. 
 
 
(4) CEO of the Advanced Strategy Center (YSM) Faruk Demir, 
whom we sent on an individual International Visitor program 
in November 2003, has set an exemplary standard among the 
press, think tanks and academic circles for consistently 
dispassionate, balanced analyses of the GME initiative in 
particular and U.S. foreign policy in general.  He was the 
most sought-after commentator on Turkish television in 2003, 
especially in the run-up to, and period succeeding, OIF.  We 
have seen that his analyses have a keen audience across the 
board, from the Prime Ministry to the Turkish General Staff 
and other elements of the Turkish State.  His questions for 
the interview with former President Demirel which Nuray 
Basaran published in "Aksam" March 27 demonstrate a mature, 
balanced approach to journalism.  We are thus most confident 
that the questions he would submit to the Secretary would 
allow maximum scope for delivering a clear message. 
 
 
(5) Nuray Basaran has an impeccable reputation. For this 
reason, aside from her demonstrated journalistic acumen, she 
has the best access among all Turkish journalists to both 
Erdogan and his Cabinet and, on the other side, the Turkish 
General Staff leadership.  Highly unusual in a press world 
which is relentlessly suspicious of or hostile to the U.S., 
her columns on U.S. policy have invariably taken a balanced, 
constructive analytic stance. 
 
 
4. Embassy Ankara points of contact: PAO Jim Moore 
(moorejr@state.gov) and IO Joe Pennington 
(penningtonjs@state.gov). 
 
 
 
 
EDELMAN