US embassy cable - 04ANKARA4267

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 004267 
 
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, JULY 30, 2004 
 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Turkey fully agrees with Iran against PKK - Sabah 
Tehran acknowledges PKK as `terrorist' - Milliyet 
Iran to launch reciprocal official visits with `TRNC' - 
Milliyet 
Saving Private Kerry - Aksam 
Edwards calls on Americans to vote for `hope' - Aksam 
1,000 civilians killed in Iraq in a month - Vatan 
Iraqi resisters kill Muslim captives - Hurriyet 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
Erdogan urges Tehran to open to the world - Zaman 
Turkey, Iran natural gas bargaining to continue - Radikal 
12 top retired US generals support Kerry - Cumhuriyet 
PM allawi approves of Muslim peacekeepers for Iraq - Zaman 
`Muslim Force' for Iraq - Cumhuriyet 
Al-Qaida threatens to kill Berlusconi - Yeni Safak 
Sharon changes mouth in the face of French reaction - 
Radikal 
Israel `retouches' the route of security wall - Cumhuriyet 
Sudan to release Tourabi - Yeni Safak 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
PM Erdogan visits Tehran:  PM Erdogan was received by the 
Iranian President Khatatami yesterday.  Turks and Iranians 
signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) envisaging 
`extensive' security cooperation between the two countries, 
papers report.  Tehran has pledged `effective struggle' 
against the PKK, and Turks recognized the Iranian opposition 
group People's Mujahedeen as a terrorist organization.  The 
MOU also envisages signing a security agreement between the 
two countries for a joint battle against organized crime, 
narcotics and human trafficking.  Turkish papers regard the 
agreement as a first significant step towards the prevention 
of human and narcotics smuggling into Turkey from Iran. 
However, the two sides failed to reach a compromise on the 
price of Iranian natural gas sold to Turkey.  Erdogan's 
participation in the energy talks did not yield any positive 
result, and the two sides agreed to continue discussions at 
the technical level.  With another agreement, Turkeys' 
mobile phone operator `Turkcell' became the second largest 
GSM operator in Iran.  Iranians have also agreed to 
authorize the consortium led by Turkey's TAV company in the 
long-standing controversial issue of handling of the Imam 
Khomeini International Airport.  At his meeting with 
Khatami, Erdogan urged Tehran to remove the `barriers' 
isolating Iran from the world, say papers.  When it becomes 
a full EU member, Turkey will become Iran's gate to the 
western world, Erdogan emphasized.  Responding to a request 
by Erdogan, Iranian officials have pledged the exchange of 
official visits between Iran and Turkish Cyprus, say papers. 
 
Parliament to discuss fast train crash:  Turkey's parliament 
will debate last week's high-speed train crash that killed 
39 people at a special session on August 4 after the 
opposition CHP called for a recall, the state Anatolian news 
agency said on Thursday.  Parliament went into summer recess 
about two weeks ago, but the government came under heavy 
criticism for its handling of the crash occurred in 
northwest Turkey on a railway linking Istanbul and Ankara on 
July 22. The opposition CHP has 171 seats in the parliament, 
and a censure motion can only be opened to discussion with 
184 votes.  Erdogan said Thursday that his party would 
support CHP's call for opening a parliamentary debate on the 
issue.  Erdogan had strongly rebuffed calls by CHP and the 
media to sack Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, 
saying he would wait for an official investigation into the 
crash.  Turkish dailies have accused senior transportation 
officials of ignoring experts' warnings that the creaking 
railway line would not support a `fast' train. 
 
Muslim Americans will `reluctantly' support Kerry:  "Zaman" 
reports on an opinion poll conducted by the Council on 
American-Islam Relations (CAIR) in which 54 percent of the 
1,100 respondents said they would vote for the Democratic 
Presidential candidate John Kerry.  The CAIR research on the 
2000 Presidential elections had shown that 70 percent of 
Muslims eligible to vote preferred Bush. Observers estimate 
about 1.2 million Muslim voters will vote, which is seen as 
a significant figure that might affect the outcome of 
Election 2004.  "Zaman" complains that Democrats have not 
been paying enough attention to Muslim American voters. 
Kerry has recently changed his policies in favor of Sharon 
in an effort to secure the votes and financial support of 
Jewish Americans, "Zaman" claims. 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION: 
 
"Is Everything in Order in Iraq" 
Hikmet Bila commented in the social democrat/intellectual 
Cumhuriyet (7/30):  "The occupation forces are lost in Iraq. 
The troops are worried for their lives.  The US 
Administration, which deployed those troops there is in a 
panic.  Bush asks NATO to intervene in Iraq and Powell wants 
the Muslim countries' troops placed there.  Bush is 
desperate prior to the Presidential elections.  The US and 
its allies cannot establish stability there and cannot even 
protect themselves.  They cannot establish the most 
important police and military force there, because the 
resistance does not allow it.  Locals, who want to join the 
military or the police force, have been blown into pieces by 
the resistance.  The occupiers cannot stop the assassination 
of government officials or the kidnapping of the foreigners 
in Iraq.  With every passing day, the initiative passes from 
the occupiers to the resistance.  Northern Iraq is still the 
region where the US maintains the most control.  In full 
coordination with Barzani and Talabani  (and of course, 
Turkey's contribution of 13 years), the US managed to 
establish an independent Kurdish State there.  The only 
missing thing for this Kurdish State is international 
recognition.Stability cannot be established by praying or 
wishing.  It is not possible for the US, which lost the 
initiative there and is defeated in the military and the 
administrative arenas, to establish stability in Iraq. 
Besides, could a partitioned Iraq with an independent 
Kurdish State in the north ever be a stable country?  Is 
anyone, ever going to say `If the US is going to partition 
Iraq (which what they are doing at the moment), if it is 
planting the seeds of partition of Turkey (which it is 
doing), what good is that stability?'  As a matter of fact, 
there will be people saying, `I would rather see Osama Bin- 
Laden next to the Turkish border than Bush, who is trying to 
spoil Turkey's 80-year-long unity and integrity.'  Isn't the 
AKP government going to question this alliance, which also 
drags Turkey into its problems?  When will they (AKP) 
discuss Turkey's relations with Iran, Iraq, Syria and the 
US?  Isn't there any need for it?  Is everything running 
smoothly?" 
 
"Coordinating With Whom in Iraq?" 
Erdal Guven opined in the liberal/intellectual Radikal 
(7/30):  "Since the 1980s, there are two axes to Turkish- 
Iranian relations.  One revolves around economic and 
commercial cooperation with countries in the region 
(neighbors) and the other revolves around political 
competition accompanied by a permanent, mutual security 
problem. Turkey's economic relations with Iran have declined 
since 1980 due to the US-applied sanctions on Iran. 
However, there was movement in the Turkish-Iranian relations 
after Turkey started buying natural gas from Iran in 2002. 
Of course, this change became more visible after the AKP 
government started applying a zero-problem policy with its 
neighbors.  And, due to AKP's Islamic structure, this 
opening has been accepted by Iran with pleasure.  Similar to 
its view of the occupation of Iraq, Iran considered the 
Turkey-Israel alliance a strategic threat.  At the moment, 
it is observed that Ankara and Tehran have overlapping 
concerns and interests in Iraq.  Could Turkey and Iran find 
common interests there?  Should Turkey enter into an 
alliance with Iran and Syria?  Isn't such an alliance 
against the US?  Coordination against PKK!  Let's not fool 
ourselves. Turkey beat the PKK despite Syria and Iran. 
Coordination regarding Iraq's integrity?  Do you think Iran 
and Syria care about this issue?  They view Iraq's possible 
change into a democratic and secular country as a security 
threat to the Iranian and Syrian regimes.  And, of course, 
just the opposite is valid for Turkey.  Turkey's interests 
in Iraq can only be attained by  giving the necessary 
support to Iraq during the normalization process, not by 
establishing an alliance with the those working against the 
normalization.  This is the only concrete solution to secure 
Iraq's integrity and to eliminate whatever is left from PKK. 
We should ask only one question:  Would wrong policies will 
create wrong alliances?" 
 
 
DEUTSCH