US embassy cable - 04ANKARA5373

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 005373 
 
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, 
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2004 
 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
HEADLINES 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Europe insists on new penal code - DB-Tercuman 
Greek FM vows to support clear `Yes' for Turkey in EU - 
Milliyet 
Turkish aid convoy attacked in Mosul - Hurriyet 
TIME: US wants Syrian support for Iraq - Sabah 
Bush, Kerry showdown on TV - Hurriyet 
Diyarbakir mayor: Time to bid farewell to arms - Milliyet 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
EU: Entry talks depend on penal code reforms - Cumhuriyet 
EU: No talks without penal code reforms - Referans 
Erdogan confident he will convince Brussels - Yeni Safak 
Strain with EU hits Turkish markets - Radikal 
Tal Afar aid convoy attacked in Iraq - Yeni Safak 
FM Gul: Don't mess with Kirkuk - Yeni Safak 
Seymour Hersh: Rumsfeld ordered torture in Iraq - Cumhuriyet 
Provocation: Two Sunni leaders killed in Sadr City - 
Cumhuriyet 
Germany bans Islamic international conference in Berlin - 
Radikal 
After Russia, Australia approves `preventive strike' 
doctrine - Radikal 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
Penal code/adultery debate:  The EU cannot begin entry 
negotiations with Turkey if the new penal code is not 
adopted by the October 6, European Commission spokesman Jean- 
Christophe Filori said on Monday.  A public row flared 
between Verheugen and Turkish PM Erdogan last week, when 
Erdogan told the EU to stop meddling in Turkish domestic 
affairs.  Filori responded to Erdogan on Monday, saying: `It 
is not interference in Turkish affairs, but rather the rules 
of the game if a country wants to be an EU member.'  Erdogan 
will visit Brussels on Thursday to meet with Verheugen and 
other EU leaders.  Erdogan will reportedly raise the example 
of legalized narcotics sales in the Netherlands and urge EU 
leaders to `tolerate' the controversial adultery provision 
to be included in the penal code reform.  Some mainstream 
dailies expect the AK Party to backpedal at the last minute 
and enact the penal code on November 2.  FM Gul is 
optimistic, saying that Turkey had enacted `incredible' 
reforms in the last two years, and that Ankara would be 
granted an unconditional date for EU accession talks in 
December.  In a front-page story, "Radikal" says that a 
survey on adultery carried out in 1999 is at odds with the 
view of the AK Party that the Turkish nation wants adultery 
to be criminalized.  The survey showed a majority of both 
men and women think that adulterers should not be punished. 
The survey was conducted through one-on-one interviews with 
3,053 Turks.  The majority of Turks support Turkey's EU 
accesson process and are unlikely to change their views for 
the sake of criminalizing adultery, "Radikal" stresses. 
 
Meat, rice bargaining with the US:  US Ambassador Eric 
Edelman called on Minister of Agriculture Sami Guclu on 
Monday.  The US wants Turkey to allow meat imports, and to 
remove quotas and lower customs tariffs on US rice imports. 
Otherwise, the US side said it will take the issue to the 
World Trade Organization (WTO).  The Turks have said that 
the presence of BSE (Mad Cow Disease) as the main reason for 
the ban on meat imports, and see no problem with a possible 
US application to the WTO on the issue.  Agriculture 
Minister Guclu reportedly told the US that Turkey did not 
prefer buying American rice because it was `costlier' and 
`of lower quality' than rice from other countries. 
Turkish aid convoy attacked in Iraq:  The Turkish Red 
Crescent humanitarian aid convoy to the northern Iraqi town 
of Tal Afar was attacked by Iraqi insurgents en route to 
Mosul on Monday.  Five Turks were injured, two of them 
Turkish journalists.  Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
released a statement saying that `such an attack on a 
humanitarian aid team aiming to assist the people of a 
neighboring country has demonstrated the seriousness of the 
situation in Iraq.'  The MFA noted that universal rules 
prohibit such acts against humanitarian aid teams under any 
conditions.  The Turkish company `Vinsan,' which is working 
in Iraq, confirmed yesterday that Iraqi militants had 
abducted ten of its workers.  The insurgents gave `Vinsan' 
72 hours to leave Iraq.  `Vinsan' said in a statement aired 
by Al-Jazeera that it had no links with any American 
company.  `Vinsan' believes the abduction of its workers had 
been plotted by local Iraqi businessmen who want to kick 
Turkish rivals out of Iraq.  Meanwhile, another Turkish 
truck driver was killed in Mosul, and the corpse of a second 
Turk, also a driver,  was found near Tikrit in on Monday. 
 
Turkish, Greek FMs meet in New York:  Greek FM Moliviatis 
told Turkish FM Gul in New York yesterday that Athens would 
vote for Turkey's European membership even if all other EU 
members vote against it.  Moliviatis also gave full support 
to efforts to end the international isolation of Turkish 
Cypriots, and for Turkey's candidacy for the UN Security 
Council in 2009-2010.  Gul said the Turkish-Greek deal to 
cancel all military exercises would also be implemented this 
year.  FM Gul is in New York to attend the 59th annual UN 
General Assembly meetings.  "Zaman" reports that Gul 
stressed his determination to continue the US-Turkey 
strategic partnership in a speech he delivered at the 
National Strategy Forum in Chicago on Sunday.  `Turkey is 
America's true strategic ally,' Gul said, noting that both 
countries need more consultation and cooperation in Iraq. 
 
"Milliyet" interviews mayor of Diyarbakir:  "Milliyet" 
talked with Osman Baydemir, mayor of Diyarbakir, Turkey's 
largest Kurdish majority city, about the current situation 
in the region.  Baydemir noted that the time had arrived to 
`bid  farewell to arms' in the southeast.  Baydemir offered 
a `peace plan' that envisages a `period of no conflict,' 
which could be called a cease-fire.  1,000 out of the 6,000 
PKK members jailed in Turkey are ill, Baydemir claimed, and 
he called for their release.  Ankara, he said, should make 
an effort to reintegrate PKK militants now in the mountains 
back into normal life through an amnesty.  PKK leader 
Abdullah Ocalan should be transferred to another prison, 
ending his `isolation' on Imrali' island, where he is 
currently jailed, Baydemir said.  The mayor also asked for 
the lowering of Turkey's 10 percent election threshold in an 
effort to enable wider political participation.  Baydemir 
said he had told EU Commissioner Verheugen that Turkey 
deserved to be granted a negotiation date for full 
membership.  `We must disarm the Kurdish opposition movement 
and make them join the democratic process in Turkey,' he 
emphasized. 
 
EU Commission warns on Turkey-Armenia border issue:  EU 
Commission President Romano Prodi said in Yerevan at a press 
conference with the Armenian FM Vartan Oskanyan that he was 
`uneasy' that the border crossing between Turkey and Armenia 
had been kept closed.  The border issue between the two 
countries might be `harmful' to Turkey's EU claim, Prodi 
noted, and stressed that he would support efforts to reopen 
the gate.  A spokesman for Prodi later denied that he had 
raised the Armenian border issue as a further precondition 
for opening EU accession talks with Turkey. 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
"Kirkuk on the Way to Becoming Another Kosovo" 
Mustafa Balbay commented in the social- 
democratic/intellectual Cumhuriyet (9/21):  `US Ambassador 
to Ankara Eric Edelman last week responded to Turkey's 
worries about Tal Afar by saying that we are worried much 
more about Kirkuk, which is on the way to becoming another 
Kosovo.'  (EDITOR'S NOTE: THE SECOND PART OF THIS ALLEGED 
QUOTATION IS INACCURATE.  END NOTE.)  Although there are 
many worrying things about the situation in Iraq, Ambassador 
Edelman is expressing his concerns about Kirkuk.  To us, 
Edelman's statement sounded more like an announcement of 
intention.  Although in Kosovo, the NATO umbrella carried by 
the US is gradually being handed to the European Army, no 
outsider has considered leaving the region to the regional 
people.  Let us look at Kirkuk.  The resistance is 
continuing their attacks all over Iraq, but it is notable 
that the resistance is murdering more Iraqi `collaborators' 
than actual foreigners.  This is a very strong sign that a 
civil war could begin.  Incidents in Kirkuk have been 
different from those elsewhere in Iraq.  Kirkuk is turning 
into a Kurdish city with the knowledge of the United States. 
Every day, hundreds of Kurds settle in a tent city next to 
Kirkuk.  Arabs and Turkmen are coordinating against this 
resettlement.  The situation is like an ethnic time bomb. 
It is obvious that US policy in Iraq is to leave the place 
in disarray.  Plans to involve Turkey in this situation can 
be considered within this framework.  Barzani and Talabani 
are being used by the US.  Although both leaders constantly 
reiterate that they are `brothers' with other ethnic groups 
in Iraq, they act in accordance with US wishes.  Since I 
began my column with Kosovo, let me remind Barzani and 
Talabani of a Balkan proverb: `those who don't treat their 
brothers as a brother will eventually be forced to call 
foreigners their master.' 
 
"What Will Happen to Iraq?" 
Yilmaz Oztuna wrote in the conservative-mass appeal Turkiye 
(9/21):  "It appears that the future of Iraq will be similar 
to that which has taken place in Afghanistan.  The US will 
leave the country to its own people on condition that real 
control of the country, including control of its energy 
resources, roads and bases will be belong to the US.  The US 
is waiting for the November elections and their new 
President (most likely Bush will be re-elected) to decide on 
its Iraq policy.  The US is planning operations against Iran 
and Syria during the winter of 2004-2005.  Therefore it is 
necessary to leave Iraq on its own and to retreat to certain 
bases.  What will the Iraqis do?  Obviously, they will kill 
each other in a civil war.  There will be a census in Iraq 
on October 17.  Around 25 million Iraqi who live in tents in 
the deserts will declare their tribal and religious 
allegiance.  Of course, armed Iraqis will show higher 
numbers than they really have.  Foreign observers will be 
rejected or even killed.  In short, there will be a `census 
war,' because the US will determine the number of 
parliamentarians according to the census results.  Moreover, 
this disgraceful census will determine the basis for the 
borders of autonomous Kurdistan.   Northern Iraq is being 
turned into the rose garden of Kurdistan.  One of the main 
goals is to keep the Kirkuk oil in the Kurdish region.  The 
other goal is for Kurdistan to stretch from Iran in the east 
to Syria in the west.  Of course, the other goal is to 
prevent Turkey's intervention from the north.  Having enough 
trouble with Iraq, Iran, Syria and the organizations they 
support, Israel might find such a Kurdistan useful, but that 
will weaken Israel's relations with Turkey.  Israel's hopes 
for peace with the Arab World will then be left to some 
other century." 
EDELMAN