US embassy cable - 04ANKARA5221

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 005221 
 
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, 
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2004 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
HEADLINES 
 
MASS APPEALS 
Washington puzzled by Turkey's reaction on Tal Afar - 
Milliyet 
FM Gul softens his tone toward the US - Milliyet 
FM Gul calls on Iraqis to stop killing Turkish drivers - 
Hurriyet 
Powell confesses: Saddam had no WMD - Aksam 
Putin to become the sole power in Russia - Aksam 
Castro flees `Ivan the Terrible' - Sabah 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
US demands explanation of Gul's Tal Afar remarks - Radikal 
US in `close cooperation' with Turkey in Iraq - Zaman 
US army lifts siege of Tal Afar - Zaman 
EU forces AKP to backpedal on adultery - Cumhuriyet 
Qaeda stages suicide attack in Baghdad, 47 killed - 
Cumhuriyet 
Every day like hell in Baghdad - Radikal 
Sharon gives green light for Arafat's assassination - Zaman 
Sharon will exile Arafat at `appropriate' time - Yeni Safak 
Discrimination against Muslims on the rise in Europe - 
Cumhuriyet 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
Situation in Tal Afar:  The US Army lifted its siege Tuesday 
on the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, but few residents 
have returned, papers report.  Turkey's Foreign Minister had 
threatened to end cooperation with the US in Iraq because of 
the attack on the mainly Turkmen town.  US Ambassador Eric 
Edelman asked the MFA for a clarification of FM Gul's 
warning, Turkish papers report.  FM Gul subsequently 
softened his position, and said that Turkey's humanitarian 
initiative for Iraq would continue.  State Department 
Spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged that Turkey had 
raised concerns, but said operations around Tal Afar `are 
aimed at eliminating terrorists and foreign fighters who 
have been using the city as a safe haven for launching 
attacks elsewhere in Iraq.'  `We have been working with the 
government of Turkey,' he said, `and we have been talking to 
the Iraqi interim government about how to conduct our 
operations in a way that doesn't cause trouble for the local 
civilian population.'  `Turkey's government has reiterated 
to us, and I think publicly as well, that they want this 
cooperation to continue,' said Boucher.  "Hurriyet" reports 
an unidentified US official as saying that Turkish liaison 
officers in the region had been given detailed information 
about the US military operation.  However, Ankara was not 
immediately notified by Turkish liaisons about US actions in 
the region.  The official claimed that this disconnect 
opened the way for `exaggerated' and `speculative' Turkish 
press reports. 
 
Iraqi rebels release one Turk, abduct two more:  Insurgents 
in Iraq released a Turkish translator, but two more Turkish 
truck drivers were kidnapped near Tikrit, papers report. 
Iraqi militants said in a videotape aired on Turkish 
television that they had released Aytullah Gezmen, who had 
been abducted in late July, because of Turkey's reaction 
against the US military operation on northern Iraqi city Tal 
Afar.  Two more Turkish truck drivers were kidnapped near 
Tikrit.  At least three Turkish truck drivers have been 
killed by their abductors in Iraq in recent months. 
 
Turkey extends a helping hand to Darfur:  The Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs said that  Turkey would send $275,000 in 
humanitarian aid to Darfur, Sudan.  On Wednesday, a Turkish 
parliamentary delegation will take the humanitarian supplies 
provided by the Turkish Red Crescent, the Ministry of Health 
and the Turkish General Staff to Sudan on two military cargo 
planes.  Meanwhile, "Zaman" cites a report by Germany's "Die 
Welt" claiming that Syrian and Sudanese units used chemical 
weapons against civilians in Darfur in June, claiming tens 
of thousands of lives. 
 
`Turkish Cypriot State' joins ECO meetings:  PM Erdogan said 
Tuesday after returning from the Economic Cooperation 
Organization (ECO) summit meeting in Karachi, Pakistan that 
`Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)' officials 
attended the talks under the name the `Cyprus Turkish 
State,' as proposed in the UN plan for reunification of the 
divided island.  The Organization of Islamic Conference 
(OIC) had earlier adopted a similar decision. 
 
Tiff between Ocalan, Zana:  Leyla Zana will not be able to 
go to Brussels to receive the Council of Europe's Sakharov 
Peace Prize due to a 1994 travel ban imposed by the State 
Security Court (SSC).  The ban applies to Zana and the other 
former DEP lawmakers who were released from prison earlier 
this year.  Zana was supposed to be in Brussels on September 
14 to receive the prize she had been awarded in 1995. 
Meanwhile, imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, skeptical 
about European intentions to `use' Zana, has urged the 
former lawmaker to reject the prize, "Cumhuriyet" claims. 
The paper regards the Ocalan statement as a warning for 
Zana, and expects a new division within the PKK/Kongra-Gel. 
 
AKP to drop `adultery clause':  Turkey's ruling AK Party 
signaled on Tuesday that it may be dropping plans for a 
controversial adultery ban that has outraged liberals and 
caused concern among European Union officials.  At a last- 
minute meeting before parliament was due to debate the 
reforms, top officials of the AKP and main opposition 
Republican People's Party (CHP) said they would present the 
penal code package as a joint proposal.  The AK Party 
decision to agree to a joint motion with the CHP was 
interpreted as an admission by the Government that the 
adultery provision would be quietly dropped. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
 
"Hard Truths on the Turkmen Issue" 
Semih Idiz opined in the mass appeal-sensational "Aksam" 
(9/15):  "Turkey and the US are not happy with each other, 
but, because of their strategic relationship, they can 
express these feelings only indirectly.  Neither country 
wants these tensions to reach a critical point.  As a 
result, the Turkmen should not have any illusions about 
Turkey's support.  It is a sad fact that the Turkmen are in 
a minority position and have a very weak political hand. 
Also, the Turkmen population has always been on the losing 
side in Iraq.  The main reason for this is that, despite 
very modest support by Turkey for the Turkmen, the UK, the 
Americans, the Arabs, and the Kurds have always viewed the 
Turkmen population as a kind of `fifth column' for Ankara'. 
This was clearly demonstrated in the Suleymaniye incident 
last July.  The US claims that Turkish military officials 
were caught while preparing a terrorist attack against Kurds 
together with their Turkmen allies in order to increase 
Turkmen military and political power in the region. 
Although this claim is strongly rejected by Ankara, it 
remains a part of US thinking.  As long as the crisis 
continues in Iraq, the Suleymaniye incident will shadow 
Turkish-US military cooperation and limit the ability of the 
Turkmen to articulate their interests.  Moreover, the US has 
not forgotten Turkey's decision from March 1, 2003.  As the 
US gets into deeper trouble in Iraq, this issue continues to 
fester.  When Turkey draws attention to Kirkuk, Tal Afar, 
and similar issues, the US response is always the same: `If 
you had such sensitivity to issues in Iraq, why didn't you 
explain these clearly in parliament prior to the March 1 
vote?'  For parliamentarians to have evaluated the US 
proposal last March from a strategic angle, they would have 
had to know everything in detail.  But Turkey was engaged in 
settling some internal scores, and therefore missed the big 
picture.  Only time will show which side was right, but at 
least for now, it is clear that Turkey cannot protect the 
interests of the Turkmen.  In fact, there is very little 
that Turkey can do on this issue.  Could Turkey close the 
Habur border gate, for example?  The answer to this is 
clearly no." 
 
"Tal Afar-Tel Aviv Line" 
Mehmet Ocaktan commented in the Islamist-opinion maker "Yeni 
Safak" (9/15):  "What kind of an alliance is this?  Weren't 
Turkey and the US supposed to be strategic partners?  Our 
ally and strategic partner bombs the Turkmen population in 
Tal Afar and people are forced to flee the city.  Now the 
city is fully under the control of US occupation forces. 
Most dramatically, the Turkmen who left the town during the 
bombing are not being allowed to return.  Most likely, 
Kurdish peshmerge will be brought into Tal Afar, as they 
have been in every other region in Northern Iraq. 
Belatedly, Turkey has realized the mistake of its strategic 
partner.  In his statement the other day, Foreign Minister 
Gul gave a harsh message to the Barzani-Talabani duo, to the 
United States, and to the puppet administration in Iraq. 
From now on, US plans in Northern Iraq will be implemented 
without Turkey.  This plan will probably be based on the 
cunning British occupation plans from three centuries ago. 
The methods Britain applied in those days and US methods 
today are very much alike.  Just as the British tried to 
divide Iraq, now the US is planning to divide Iraq into 
three.  No one can convince us that these are innocent plans 
to remove terrorist groups from the region, because there is 
always mischief when Barzani and the Israelis get together. 
No matter what anyone else thinks, I believe the occupation 
forces are playing a dirty game in Tal Afar.  It looks like 
a plan that leaves Turkey and the Turkmen  out, and allows 
the US to control this very strategic region for the 
transport of oil from northern Iraq to the Mediterranean.  I 
wonder if the almost daily sabotage against the Kirkuk 
pipeline is also part of this plan?" 
 
EDELMAN