US embassy cable - 04ANKARA5143

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 005143 
 
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, SEPTEMBER 13, 2004 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
HEADLINES 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Turkey to send humanitarian aid to Tal Afar - Sabah 
Turkmen flee US bombing in Tal Afar - Milliyet 
Despite Ankara's warning, US continues Tal Afar operation - 
Sabah 9/12 
Gul calls Powell about Tal Afar - Aksam 9/11 
Karamanlis: Greeks want a European Turkey - Hurriyet 
Bush commemorates Beslan victims - Aksam 
Verheugen: Turkey can't join EU before 2015 - Hurriyet 9/12 
Sharon warns against civil war in Israel - Milliyet 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
Turkmen: US operations kill 100 in Tal Afar - Radikal 
Peshmerge join Tal Afar siege by US forces - Zaman 9/12 
US indifferent to Turkmen - Radikal 9/12 
US commemorates 9/11 victims - Cumhurieyt 9/12 
US remembers 9/11 under the shadow of terror - Radikal 9/12 
US operations turn Baghdad into a battlefield - Cumhuriyet 
Seymour Hersh holds Bush responsible for Abu Ghraib - 
Cumhuriyet 
Bush leads Kerry by 9 points - Cumhuriyet 9/11 
Khartoum rejects Powell's genocide claims in Darfur - 
Cumhuriyet 9/11 
UNSC to impose oil embargo on Sudan - Zaman 9/11 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
Tal Afar crisis:  Fighting in the predominantly Turkmen city 
of Tal Afar, thought to be a haven for fighters crossing 
into Iraq from Syria, has displaced an estimated 100,000 
people, papers report.  US troops have surrounded the city, 
making it hard for civilians to get out and for aid workers 
to get in.  The Turkish government called on US Ambassador 
Eric Edelman Friday to ensure that `the civilian population 
is not harmed and excessive force is not used.'  FM Gul 
raised Turkish concerns with Secretary Powell in a phone 
call Friday evening.  Powell assured Gul that Turkey's 
concerns would be taken into consideration.  The Iraqi 
Turkmen Front (ITF) has rejected US claims that there are 
Shiite Turkmen in Tal Afar who have been supporting the 
rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.  50,000 Turkomen have 
fled the citt, the ITF said.  Turkish papers suspect that 
Kurds returning to Iraq from Syria would be settled in Tal 
Afar just before a nationwide census in Iraq scheduled for 
October 12.  The US bombings of Tal Afar caused hundreds of 
casualties over the weekend, Monday papers report. 
"Cumhuriyet" claims that US operations would displace the 
Turkmen from Tal Afar, and give the region to the Kurds.  FM 
Gul said Turkey would send humanitarian aid to the region, 
an idea that has been welcomed by Washington as an 
`important and positive move' for cooperation in Iraq.  The 
US has notified Ankara that air strikes against Tal Afar 
were temporarily suspended on Sunday.  Papers point to 
scores of injured in hospitals, and depict a deteriorating 
health situation due to a lack of water.  The Habur gate, 
the border crossing critical for logistical support for US 
forces in Iraq, could be closed if US attacks against Tal 
Afar continue, "Milliyet" claims. 
 
Ambassador Edelman on anniversary of 9/11:  Turkey's leading 
daily "Hurriyet" carried an op-ed by US Ambassador Edelman 
on Saturday, the third anniversary of September 11.  Edelman 
strongly denounced terrorism, saying that no act of terror 
can be justified in the pursuit of political or cultural 
rights.  US forces in Iraq have been using a variety of 
tools -- diplomatic, political intelligence -- to counter 
the PKK presence in Iraq, and to render the terrorists 
ineffective, Edelman stressed.  The Ambassador strongly 
rejected some Turkish press stories claiming American 
involvement in terrorist actions such the terrorist school 
raid in north Ossetia.  `Such ludicrous claims are intended 
to create negative views of the United States in Turkey and 
damage the US-Turkish relationship,' Edelman noted.  Edelman 
emphasized that terrorists are `unalterably opposed to the 
goals and values shared by Turks, Americans, and the 
overwhelming majority of others around the world -- freedom, 
democracy, progress, and a more prosperous future for our 
children.'  `We are appalled by their ruthlessness, but on 
this, the third anniversary of September 11, we are neither 
intimidated nor discouraged,' Ambassador Edelman concluded. 
Turkish synagogue bomber killed in Iraq:  Habib Aktas, the 
suspected Al-Qaida operative behind the suicide car bomb 
attacks on two synagogues in Istanbul November last year, 
was reportedly killed in a US bombing attack in Iraq's Al- 
Ambar region on Friday.  Video footage of Aktas' corpse was 
sent to the Turkish Ihlas News Agency office in Baghdad. 
Aktas was allegedly among the Iraqi insurgents who killed 
Turkish truck driver Murat Yuce in Baghdad in August. 
 
EU `confused' by Turkish efforts to outlaw adultery: 
Several EU officials blasted Turkish plans to outlaw 
adultery, saying that Ankara's proposed law was incompatible 
with its aspiration to join the EU.  The Turkish government 
wants to ban adultery as part of an overhaul of the 
country's penal code.  The ruling AK Party says the move 
would protect the family and strengthen women's rights.  EU 
enlargement commissioner Verheugen was on a final fact- 
finding trip to Turkey before a progress report by the 
European Commission on October 6, which will form the basis 
for EU leaders to decide in December whether to open 
accession talks.  Verheugen applauded the reform progress in 
Turkey during his visits to various Turkish provinces, 
including the impoverished southeast.  Verheugen said he was 
`puzzled' by the adultery debate, and pointed to the 
importance of development issues in the mainly Kurdish 
southeast.  The outgoing EU enlargement chief said he 
expects EU-Turkey membership negotiations to take many 
years. 
 
Zana to receive `belated' peace prize:  Leyla Zana will be 
invited to Brussels to receive the Sakharov Prize the former 
DEP lawmaker had been awarded in 1995, Turkish papers 
report.  Zana is expected to address the European Parliament 
general assembly, and will join a lunch with leaders of 
political party groups at the European Parliament on October 
14. 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION: Tal Afar Situation 
 
"A De Facto Declaration of War" 
Metin Isik wrote in the conservative "Tercuman (H.O.)" 
(9/13): "The Turkmen population is being deliberately 
murdered in Tal Afar, and Turkey seems to be the real target 
as far as the US is concerned.  Turkey's role and influence 
in the region has always been a problem for the US.  Turkey 
first was insulted by last year's Suleymaniye incident. Now 
events in Tal Afar are the next steps intended to diminish 
Turkey's prestige in the region.  President Bush seems to be 
blind to the ongoing presence of PKK militants in northern 
Iraq.  But perhaps he is rather busy creating shadowy Shiite 
militants in Tal Afar. . Turkey cannot just stand by and 
watch the ongoing massacre against the Turkmen population. 
The situation is like a declaration of war against Turkey, 
and we should take necessary action to preserve our 
interests in the region." 
 
"What's happening in Tal Afar?" 
Yasemin Congar wrote from Washington in the mass appeal 
"Milliyet" (9/13): "According to US officials at the 
Pentagon, the operation in Tal Afar is an effort to avoid 
the establishment of `another Fallujah' situation in Iraq. 
Officials underline that there is no American operation 
against civilians in the region, and they characterize their 
real target as terrorists who had come to the area from 
Fallujah and Syria. . US sources also note that the 
operation in Tal Afar started because the local Iraqi 
authority failed to establish and maintain order in the 
city.  The Turkmen Front (ITF) has claimed that the US is 
aiming to establish a Kurdish domination in Tal Afar, but 
the US strongly denies the charge.  The absence of an 
indigenous Kurdish population in Tal Afar seems to weaken 
support for the Turkmen claim.  . On the other hand, 
Turkey's reaction is largely understandable.  The Turkish 
public has had to cope with Barzani's statements regarding 
Kirkuk on the one hand, and allegations of a Turkmen 
massacre in Tal Afar on the other.  Neither of these issues 
is easy to digest for Ankara.  The current Iraq presents a 
picture of near-total chaos, and it is not easy to really 
know what is happening in Tal Afar.  In a situation like 
this, using provocative language and disseminating one-sided 
information is a grave mistake.  Both the Turkish media and 
the government have an important duty in this regard." 
 
EDELMAN