US embassy cable - 04ANKARA5110

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 005110 
 
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, SEPTEMBER 10, 2004 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
HEADLINES 
 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Verheugen: EU members react to criminalizing adultery - 
Milliyet 
Adultery a `bump' on Turkey's EU path - Aksam 
Saving Private Bush - Sabah 
Americans strike Iraqi children while seeking Zarkawi - 
Hurriyet 
Israeli FM: Arafat will be exiled soon - Aksam 
Terror strikes in Indonesia - Sabah 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
Verheugen holds `minorities summit' at Fener Patriarchate - 
Zaman 
Verheugen: Adultery issue can only be a joke - Cumhuriyet 
Powell: Genocide carried out in Darfur - Zaman 
US wants Sudan's oil - Yeni Safak 
US Democrats liken Bush to Hitler - Yeni Safak 
Barzani vows to fight for Kirkuk - Cumhuriyet 
US bombs `rebel' cities in Iraq - Radikal 
Zawahiri defies Washington on Al-Jazeera - Radikal 
Israel will exile Arafat - Yeni Safak 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
EU expansion chief's Turkey visit:  European Union 
enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen finished his 
visit to Turkey on Thursday after holding a series of 
meetings with Kurdish activists, Christian and Jewish 
leaders, and government officials in various Turkish 
provinces.  Verheugen warned Ankara that more work needs to 
be done to end torture, improve cultural rights and resolve 
the standoff in Cyprus.  Verheugen said there has been no 
visible effort to encourage the return of displaced people 
to their villages in southeastern Turkey.   On Thursday, 
Verheugen discussed the problems of minorities in Turkey 
with Christian, Jewish, and Syriac representatives in 
Istanbul.  Religious and minority leaders told Verheugen 
that Turkey's EU accession would enrich the European bloc. 
Verheugen also warned the ruling AK Party against any effort 
to criminalize adultery.  He stressed that such an effort 
would give the impression that Turkey is injecting Islamic 
elements into its legal system and thereby increase 
objections to Turkey's aspiration to be granted a date for 
entry talks.  Meanwhile, FM Abdullah Gul said Thursday that 
he is certain that the EU Commission's progress report on 
Turkey would be positive.  `Turkey will make the EU richer, 
bigger, and add a dynamic population and economy' to the EU, 
Gul said. 
 
U.S. Forces Bomb Turkmen Area in northern Iraq:  "Milliyet" 
and "Cumhuriyet" report that U.S. forces bombed targets in 
the majority-Turkmen city of Tel Afer on Thursday. 
According to "Milliyet," 57 people were killed and more than 
80 wounded in the attacks.  The ethnic identities of those 
killed and injured could not be determined.  Papers also 
report U.S. bombing raids against resistance targets in 
Felluca which resulted in 12 deaths, including 5 children. 
More extreme press outlets likened the US raids to last 
week's attack on school children in north Ossetia. 
 
Barzani claims Kirkuk:  Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party 
(KDP) leader Massoud Barzani said to a foreign news service 
on Thursday that Kurds would go to war to preserve the 
Kurdish identity of the city of Kirkuk, which Barzani 
characterized as `the heart of Kurdistan.'  The Kurds aim to 
reclaim Kirkuk, the oil-rich northern Iraqi town they lost 
during Saddam Hussein's `Arabization' campaign, before a 
nationwide census to be held in Iraq later this year.  FM 
Gul warned visiting KDP official Necirvan Barzani earlier 
this week against attempts to turn Kirkuk into a Kurdish 
city.  153,000 Kurds have flocked to Kirkuk and its 
surroundings since March, papers note. 
 
Syria hands over PKK militants to Turkey:  Syria handed over 
seven captured Kurdish PKK fighters to Turkish authorities, 
"Sabah" reports.  The suspects include PKK leader Hamili 
Yildirim, a founding member of the PKK who served 16 years 
in a Turkish jail for his prior PKK activities.  Yildirim 
and the other six men were captured by Syrian security 
forces while trying to infiltrate Turkey.  "Sabah" also 
reports that the Dutch government has agreed to comply with 
Turkey's extradition request for the return of PKK militant 
Nuriye Kesbir, who was captured by Dutch authorities in 
Amsterdam in 2001. 
 
Mehmet Ali Birand Under Investigation:  "Sabah" reports that 
prominent journalist Mehmet Ali Birand is under 
investigation on suspicion of `aiding and abetting' a 
terrorist organization.  The allegations stem from the 
appearance of three lawyers for jailed PKK leader Abdullah 
Ocalan on Birand's "32nd Day," a weekly program that airs on 
the all-news channel "CNN-Turk." 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION:  9/11-Global war on Terorism 
 
"Only Terrorism has Become Global" 
Mustafa Karaalioglu commented in the Islamist-opinion maker 
"Yeni Safak" (9/10):  "The grip of terrorism is growing 
stronger with every passing day.  Exploding bombs in almost 
every region of the world shows that it is impossible to 
establish international stability within the framework of 
democracy and the rule of law.  The preventive strike 
policies that have appeared in order to combat terrorism 
have also made it more difficult to establish security. 
Before the bloody marks of the incident in Ossetia have 
faded, the new terrorist attacks in Indonesia are a further 
sign of the global spread of this threat.  Today, the 
possibility of a terrorist attack in another country or on 
another continent is larger than it was yesterday.   Being a 
woman, a child, or an innocent civilian no longer offers any 
protection from terrorist attacks any more.  On the 
contrary, terrorism picks the most innocent targets to wound 
more deeply.  Moreover, not only terrorist organizations but 
also states prefer these cruel methods.  It is certain that 
each attack will be more dramatic than the one before as 
long as the world prefers to fight instead of solving these 
problems through dialogue." 
 
"September 11, 2001" 
Yilmaz Oztuna opined in the conservative-mass appeal 
"Turkiye" (9/10):  "Tomorrow is the third anniversary of 
September 11 tragedy.  This is the date that the global 
fight against terrorism began.  Terrorists started the war. 
One should never forget this fact.  The ones who forget it 
will divert in the wrong direction.  The third millennium 
began with this terrible incident.  Unfortunately, more than 
the half of the world's population believes that the 
treasures of the world are owned by a happy and selfish 
minority.  This happy minority believed it was unfair for 
energy resources to be left in the land of poor people.  The 
reason that terrorism has spread this widely is because some 
countries are not taking concrete measures to stop it.  As a 
matter of fact, many countries use terrorism against their 
rival and enemies.  Until these countries that support 
terrorism are exposed, the terrorists manage to take their 
actions further.  The world is being divided into two: those 
determined to fight against terrorism, and those who support 
and use terrorists and increase their hostility against the 
countries involved in counter-terrorism efforts." 
EDELMAN