US embassy cable - 04ANKARA2474

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002474 
 
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, 
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2004 
 
THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER 
THREE THEMES: 
 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
 
 
 
 
HEADLINES 
 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Torture directed by military intelligence officers - 
Hurriyet 
53-page torture report drafted by Gen. Sanchez - Milliyet 
Coalition forces' disgusting torture of Iraqi women, 
children - Sabah 
Disgraceful torture photographs by British troops - Sabah 
5/2 
Intelligence officers encouraged torture - Aksam 
British soldier torturers to be expelled from army - 
Milliyet 5/2 
600 American troops killed since capture of Iraq - Milliyet 
5/2 
Thomas Hamill's great escape - Aksam 
US resolution to end embargo on northern Cyprus - Milliyet 
US pushes button for aid to `TRNC' - Turkiye 
Patriarch: Hristodulous has gone too far - Aksam 5/2 
Ten new members in EU; one day Turkey will join too - 
Hurriyet 5/2 
Likud members reject Sharon plan - Sabah 
Foreigners attacked in Riyadh - Radikal 5/2 
 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
World is shaken by torture photographs - Yeni Safak 
Saddam gone, now it's US torturers - Radikal 
Torture the real face of Iraq invasion - Yeni Safak 5/2 
Bush acknowledges war with Iraq not over yet - Zaman 5/2 
US to enact law for `TRNC' - Yeni Safak 
Prince Abdullah blames Israel for attacks in Saudi Arabia - 
Yeni Safak 
Europe celebrates historic expansion - Cumhuriyet 5/2 
Archbishop Hritodulous `quarantined' by Fener Patriarch - 
Radikal 
Israeli missile attack kills two Al-Fatah leaders - 
Cumhuriyet 
 
 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
 
Cyprus:  A bill has been submitted to the US House of 
Representatives by Congressmen Ed Whitfield and Robert 
Wexler calling on the US and EU to remove economic and 
political sanctions on the Turkish Cypriots.  `TRNC PM' 
Mehmet Ali Talat is due in the US on Monday as the guest of 
Secretary Powell.  Talat will meet with Kofi Annan and 
 
SIPDIS 
Secretary Powell, attend the annual meeting of the American 
 
SIPDIS 
Jewish Committee (AJC), and deliver a speech at CSIS during 
his US visit.  The White House is trying to convince Greek 
Cypriot leader Papadopoulos to hold a second referendum on 
the Annan Plan, according to "Hurriyet."  PM Erdogan said 
over the weekend that Turkey would not gain anything by not 
recognizing southern Cyprus.  Erdogan phoned US President 
Bush and Russian President Putin on Friday to ask their 
support in removing international sanctions on Turkish 
Cyprus. "Cumhuriyet" is pessimistic that Ankara's efforts 
for ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots will yield 
positive results.  The paper speculates that the situation 
will get extremely complicated after the EU accession of the 
Greek Cypriots.  In a televised address to the nation Friday 
evening, PM Erdogan implied that Turkish Cypriot leader 
Denktas should resign.  `Politicians who have lost popular 
support should not continue in politics,' Erdogan has said. 
 
 
Charges of prisoner abuse in Iraq:  All papers, particularly 
the Islamist dailies, carried in detail over the weekend 
stories regarding the alleged torture of Iraqi prisoners by 
coalition forces.  `The occupiers' torture of Iraqis is a 
disgrace for humanity,' writes Monday's "Yeni Safak" on its 
front page.  Fundamentalist "Vakit" says the photographs of 
American and British soldiers torturing innocent Iraqis have 
enraged human rights defenders worldwide.  Just a few days 
after images of American troops mistreating Iraqi prisoners 
were published, another photo showing a British soldier 
urinating on a shackled detainee was featured prominently in 
most Turkish papers.  The torture methods used by US and 
British troops are no different from those used by bloody 
dictators, claims Sunday's "Sabah."  Turkey's parliamentary 
committee for human rights has announced that it will 
convene this week to evaluate the reports of torture in 
Iraq. 
 
 
Fener Patriarchate cuts ties with the Greek Church:  At an 
extraordinary meeting of 42 metropolitans affiliated with 
the Fener Patriarchate in Istanbul, the Patriarchate 
announced that all ties with the Greek Church have been cut 
for the violation of a 1928 Agreement and a `lack of 
respect' for metropolitans in northern Greece.  Last week 
Archbishop Christodulous, leader of the Greek Church in 
Athens, appointed three metropolitan bishops without the 
approval of the Fener Patriarchate.  The Patriarch claims 
that Christodolous had no authority to make such 
appointments.  Papers report that Athens is reluctant to 
interfere in the dispute. 
 
 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION:  Iraq/Torture Claims 
 
 
"And this is called civilization!" 
Ergun Babahan declared in the mass appeal Sabah (5/3): "The 
US occupation in Iraq has turned into a war of insanity. 
The pictures about how US soldiers were treating Iraqi 
prisoners of war is beyond shame.  These Iraqis were being 
tortured and humiliated only because of their country of 
origin.  The irony is that such treatment comes from the 
occupying force itself.  Looking at these pictures is enough 
to stand up in opposition to the war in Iraq.  It seems that 
the US has started repeating what it did in Vietnam in the 
name of `democracy and civilization.' . It will be very 
interesting to see how the current US administration can 
bring charges against Saddam Hussein for its crimes against 
humanity.  What we have been seeing in Iraq is a 
manifestation of hypocrisy in the American democracy 
project.  Events in Iraq mark a black spot in the history of 
humanity." 
 
 
"Nobody is innocent" 
Fehmi Koru observed in the Islamist-opinion maker Yeni Safak 
(5/3): "These pictures are clearly undermining Bush and 
Blair's arguments justifying the war.   The world was given 
two main reasons for the war: weapons of mass destruction, 
and Saddam's support for the events of 9/11.  One year after 
the war began, these two arguments have been proven 
completely baseless.  Failing to find any evidence to prove 
these two pretexts, both the British and American 
administrations have come up with a third one: Saddam's 
brutality against his own people.  After seeing these 
pictures in the papers, it seems that Saddam's brutality is 
amateurish compared with the brutality of the occupation 
forces, which claimed to be bringing democracy and 
civilization to Iraq. . American and British soldiers are 
not only guilty of abuse and torture, but they have also 
eliminated the third argument - Saddam's brutality - as a 
justification for the war.  Instead, Bush and Blair have 
been turned into potential war criminals by the actions of 
British and American soldiers." 
 
 
"War Crimes in Iraq" 
Derya Sazak opined in the mass appeal Milliyet (5/3):  "The 
Bush Administration is going through an awful test in Iraq. 
It is more clear now why Saddam Hussein resisted the US for 
years.  Contrary to the first Gulf War, the wider world did 
not approve of the occupation this time.  The Saddam regime 
was nicknamed by the Europeans as `The Baghdad Monster' and 
`the terrorist empire,' and was portrayed by the Western 
world as an enemy. .Moreover, the media had presented Saddam 
as a symbol of evil in order to render more acceptable the 
`shock and awe' campaign.  In the end, Saddam was only a 
mirror.  Those who have gotten rid of his regime today were 
the same people who had created him yesterday.  This was a 
project based on violence and interests.  Saddam wasn't a 
foreign monster who opposed modernization, but rather a 
monster created by modernization.  Saddam has now left the 
stage.  The US and British occupying forces are unable to 
defeat the resistance.Is it possible to maintain peace 
through torture, blood, and tears?  One British soldier 
said, correctly, that he was `fighting a lost war.'  Isn't 
the image exhibited by Bush and Blair in Iraq even more 
scary than the monster in the mirror?" 
 
 
"EDELMAN