US embassy cable - 04ANKARA6939

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 006939 
 
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, DECEMBER 14, 2004 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
HEADLINES 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Europe focuses on Turkey ahead of EU summit - Sabah 
Ankara expects `clear' decision from EU - Aksam 
Erdogan warns Europe will pay `heavy' price if Turkey is 
turned away - Aksam 
Schroeder: Trukey to be given a date with open-ended 
negotiations - Hurriyet 
Chirac holds the key before EU summit - Hurriyet 
France stirs Armenian controversy - Sabah 
FM Gul due in Israel early in 2005 - Milliyet 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
Europe focuseslocks on Turkey before December EU summit - 
Zaman 
Edelman offers Ankara Turkey-US-Iraq meeting on PKK - 
Cumhuriyet 
Edelman announces tripartite security meeting against PKK - 
Radikal 
France puts Armenian `genocide' pressure on Turkey - 
Cumhuriyet 
67 percent of French oppose Turkey in EU, 54 percent support 
entry talks - Radikal 
Netherlands asks Ankara for assurances on Cyprus - Radikal 
Basra residents split over going to ballot box - Yeni Safak 
Bill Clinton calls on world to help new Palestinian leaders 
- Yeni Safak 
Iran calls on US to comply with international law - Yeni 
Safak 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
Turkey optimistic on EU bid ahead of crucial summit:  Deputy 
Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener warned the EU after a 
cabinet meeting in Ankara not to cross Turkey's `red lines,' 
saying that such a move would be `unacceptable' for Turkey. 
Dutch FM Bernard Bot responded by saying that Turkey cannot 
impose `red lines' on the EU: `It's not the EU that wants to 
join Turkey.  We outline the plans, and Turkey will have to 
accept or refuse them,' Bot stressed.  Turkish papers expect 
EU leaders to give a green light to open accession talks 
with Turkey at the December 16-17 summit in Brussels, but 
the decision will likely come with a set of conditions. 
France wants Turkey to acknowledge the WW I massacre of 
Armenians during negotiations on Ankara's EU claims, FM 
Michel Barnier said on Monday.  PM Tayyip Erdogan warned 
that if Ankara is not granted a date to begin entry talks, 
the EU would have destroyed a `bridge' with the rest of the 
world.  Leaders of Turkey, Germany and France will meet on 
December 15 if Paris insists on inserting a second option 
other than full membership into the draft EU summit 
declaration.  Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, 
representing the current EU President, voiced hope that the 
EU will open entry talks with Ankara in the first half of 
2005.  `The goal is membership, but Turkey would also have 
to look at the possibility that the talks will not lead to a 
yes,' he said. 
 
PM Erdogan meets with Ambassador Edelman:  PM Tayyip Erdogan 
met for one-and-a-half hours with US Ambassador Eric Edelman 
at the prime minister's office on Monday evening.  The 
meeting brought a step forward with regard to the ongoing 
PKK dispute between Turkey and the US when the two countries 
agreed to hold a three-way meeting including the Iraqi 
Government to discuss options for dealing with presence of 
the separatist organization in northern Iraq.  Edelman also 
reminded Erdogan that the US has supported Turkey's EU 
integration drive for 41 years, and noted that Washington is 
pleased by recent developments and expects a positive 
outcome from the December 17 summit.  Secretary Powell has 
been pressing the EU in favor of Turkey, Edelman reportedly 
told Erdogan.  The Ambassador discussed the criticism 
directed against the US in the face of the Fallujah 
operation.  Edelman said that such `unfair' accusations give 
rise to anti-American sentiment in Turkey, which can be very 
dangerous.  Ambassador Edelman characterized the meeting to 
the press as `frank, constructive and thorough.' 
 
Hopes growing for peace in Israel:  "Milliyet" reports about 
a series of seminars held by the American Jewish Committee 
(AJC) for nine Turkish journalists in Israel, during which 
the Turks had a chance to talk with various Israeli and Arab 
media and political figures.  In an act of goodwill action, 
the Sharon government has agreed to release about 200 
Palestinian prisoners on the eve of the January 9 Palestine 
presidential elections, "Milliyet" reports.  Several figures 
with whom the journalists met in Israel believe that Israeli 
Jews have never been closer to peace with Palestine 
following the death of Arafat, whom they regarded as the 
`chief terrorist.'  Barry Rubin, Chairman of the Global 
Research Center for International Affairs, said that Israel 
is ready to cede land for peace.  An Arab academician 
criticized Arafat's uncompromising attitude.  Israel's 
leading journalist, Yossi Klein Halevi, said that ideals 
espoused by the extreme right in Israel regarding expansion 
in Gaza and the West Bank have brought a nightmare to 
Israel. Opposition lawmaker Ran Cohen is hopeful that 
everything will be much easier now that Arafat is gone. 
"Milliyet" also reports that Turkish FM Abdullah plans to 
pay a three-day visit to Israel and Palestine right before 
the January 9 elections in Palestine.  Both Israel and 
Turkey consider the visit to be an important part of efforts 
to reduce recent strain in bilateral ties caused by Turkish 
leaders' accusations that Tel Aviv is carrying out `state 
terrorism' in Palestine. 
 
Iraqi businessman says Fallujah has become a `Vietnam' for 
US troops:  Islamist-oriented "Yeni Safak" reports a 
description of the fight in Fallujah by a `leading Iraqi 
businessman,' Nazzal el-Ani, who believes the US has been 
dragged into a `swamp' in Iraq.  El-Ani, a professor of 
English who reportedly moved to Turkey's southern province 
of Mersin, lashes out at US troops for `shooting at 
everybody, mostly civilians,' while fighting insurgents in 
Fallujah.  Those who have blamed Saddam for his mass-grave 
atrocities are digging ten times more graves in two years in 
Iraq, el-Ani claimed.   El-Ani also accused US forces of 
using phosphorus bombs and nuclear weapons in Fallujah. 
 
Paper speculates on possible No:2 at State Department: 
"Yeni Safak" asks in a news-commentary who would become the 
Number 2 figure at the State Department for incoming 
secretary Condoleezza Rice.  Eric Edelman, John Bolton, 
 
SIPDIS 
Elliot Abrams and Arnold Kanter are the candidates for now, 
the paper speculates.  Elliot Abrams, a `hawkish' figure 
working on the Middle East at the National Security Council 
(NSC), stands closer to Dr. Rice, according to "Yeni Safak." 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION: Iraq/US-Turkey-Kurds 
 
"With or Without America" 
Ahmet Tasgetiren observed in the Islamist-opinion maker 
"Yeni Safak" (12/14): "Due to the growing reaction among the 
Turkish public and within official circles to the crimes 
against humanity in Iraqi cities, Washington has started 
wondering if Turkey is changing its direction.  Washington 
is pressuring Ankara to get a clean answer to the following 
question: Is Ankara planning to use the EU as an alternative 
to its relations with the US?  The ruling AKP tried to ease 
the tension by assuring that `all is well' as far as Turkish- 
American bilateral ties are concerned.  In fact, all is not 
so well.  There are two major problems that need to be 
addressed.  First of all, the Turkish public is furious, and 
rightfully so, about the abuses and murders carried out by 
the US in the Islamic world.  No government can afford to 
ignore this fact. . Second, the US operations in Iraq are 
bringing some serious consequences to the region and to 
Turkey.  Turkish airspace is available for US military 
flights, and even that is a potential problem. . The Bush 
administration is made up of a combination of Jews and neo- 
cons, and it poses a threat to the whole world.  Most of the 
main risks are in the Islamic world - the Middle East -- and 
are of direct concern to Turkey." 
 
"The Kurds and the West" 
Yilmaz Oztuna commented in the conservative "Turkiye" 
(12/14):  "In Turkey, everyone is treated equally if they do 
not rebel on the basis of ethnic claims.  The degree of 
equality in Turkey creates envy even in Europe.  People who 
claim that they are not Turks, but rather Muslims and Kurds, 
have always been viewed with suspicion.  This is the State 
of Turkey, and  no one has the power to break this state 
into pieces.  Despite this, some countries, including the 
United States, are involved in an effort to establish new 
borders.  The US is about to draw new borders by offering 
better pieces to certain countries.  The US and France have 
always wanted a medium-sized Turkey.  They are exerting 
efforts to keep Turkey, which has a great potential fo 
development, in check.  That is why they are working on 
their Kurdistan and Armenia projects, so that Turkey will 
get bogged down in these issues and therefore not have time 
to extend its influence further in the region.  As anti- 
American feelings and the sens of being `more Arab than the 
Arabs' increases in Turkey, the rules of traditional 
politics could lose their validity." 
 
EDELMAN