US embassy cable - 05ANKARA4555

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 004555 
 
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 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2005 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
HEADLINES 
 
MASS APPEAL 
McEldowney: PKK's Murderous Activities Cannot be Tolerated - 
Milliyet 
Turkey-US-Iraq to Hold PKK Summit in Washington - Milliyet 
Talat to Greek Cypriots: Let's Open All Ports in Cyprus - 
Turkiye 
Financial Times: Papadhopoulos Sees Turks as a Minority - 
Sabah 
Kurds Flocking into Kirkuk - Milliyet 
Ambush against US Troops in Baghdad: 14 Killed - Sabah 
Freelancer American Vincent Killed in Basra - Aksam 
Ahmedinajad Takes over the Presidency from Khatami - Sabah 
Bush's Support for `Intelligent Design' Theory Angers 
Secularists - Hurriyet 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
30 PKK Offices in Kirkuk - Cumhuriyet 
Journalist Vincent, a Critic of the Shiites, Killed in Basra 
- Cumhuriyet 
Life Gets Difficult for Muslims in Britain - Cumhuriyet 
`North-South' Fight Continues in Khartoum: 20 Killed 
Tehran Steps Back on Nuclear Program - Zaman 
Ahmedinajad: I Will Work for Justice around the World - 
Radikal 
Russian Paper: US to Transfer Uzbekistan Base to Azerbaijan 
- Radikal 
Israel Wants 2.2 Billion USD from US for Gaza Withdrawal - 
Zaman 
Bolton Assumes Post at UN - Cumhuriyet 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
Charge McEldowney on US/Turkey, Afghanistan, Terror: 
Turkey's leading mass appeal daily "Milliyet" carries an op- 
ed by the US Ankara Embassy Charge d'Affaires Nancy 
McEldowney, in which the Charge praised Turkish efforts 
alongside the United States in Afghanistan and in the fight 
against global terrorism.  `The United States and Turkey 
joined together to make good on our pledge to the people of 
Afghanistan.  Where self-appointed mullahs laid down 
barbaric dictates at the point of a gun, Afghans now are 
served by an elected president and will go to the polls in 
September to elect a parliament,' McEldowney said. 
McEldowney added that the US has struggled together with 
Turkey against the PKK for over two decades.  `We have 
condemned unequivocally the PKK, its leadership, and its 
terrorist activity.  And we will continue to do so,' she 
stressed.  McEldowney also noted that the US and the 
government of Iraq were determined that a free and unified 
Iraq will not be a base for terrorism directed against any 
country.  `Our three governments - America, Iraq, and Turkey 
- are working toward that end and are committed to achieve 
that goal,' McEldowney emphasized.  She praised Turkey's 
`unwavering resolution' in the face of international 
challenges.  `Turkey has sent soldiers into the field in 
Afghanistan.  Turkey is training Iraqi soldiers under the 
NATO Training Mission.  Turkey is patrolling the 
Mediterranean in the Alliance's Operation Active Endeavor,' 
McEldowney wrote. 
 
Turkey Reiterates Call to US to Ban the PKK:  Turkish 
Foreign Ministry (MFA) Spokesman Namik Tan told a weekly 
press briefing that Turkey would continue to call on the US 
and Iraqi officials to immediately close in Iraq all 
organizations having links to the terrorist PKK 
organization.  Tan said Turkey considered organizations like 
the Democratic Solution Party in Kirkuk to be `affiliates' 
of the PKK.  Tan noted that Turkey would take the evidence 
proving that those organizations have organic ties with the 
PKK to the US-Turkey-Iraq security summit in Washington. 
Responding to a question, Tan said the opening of a second 
border crossing between Turkey and Iraq would be discussed 
among the sides.  "Cumhuriyet" reports the Iraqi Turkmen 
Front (ITF) Ankara representative Ahmet Muratli as claiming 
that the PKK-affiliated Democratic Solution Party had 30 
offices in Kirkuk, which helped the terror organization in 
recruiting fighters.  Muratli also claimed that the PKK was 
preparing to open offices in Mosul as well. 
 
Turkish Police Report on PKK Camps in Iraq:  "Milliyet" 
carries a classified report drafted by the Turkish Security 
General Directorate on PKK activities in Iraq.  The report 
was submitted to the interior ministers of Iraq's neighbors 
at their summit talks held in Istanbul last month.  The 
report says that the PKK has nine camps in northern Iraq and 
other parts of the country. The PKK leadership is based in 
the Kandil Mountains where it has an arms cache of five 
Stinger missiles - registered as NATO property - and heavy 
weapons, and 100 generators and new model Nissan jeeps. 
Some 1,000 militants receive missile and explosives training 
in Kani Cenge and Hineri camps.  A total of 9,500 Kurds, 
mostly refugees and other members of the organization are 
accommodated at the Mahmur camp controlled by the United 
Nations.  Bodyguards have been trained at the Martyr Ayhan 
camp in an effort to form special forces, according to the 
report. 
 
Iraqi Kurdish Leaders Encourage Return of Kurds:  Kurdish 
leaders controlling northern Iraq encourage Kurds displaced 
by the former Iraqi regime to register in Kirkuk and ask for 
compensation under article 58 of the Iraqi interim 
constitution, papers report.  Reports estimate some 80,000 
Kurds have registered in Kirkuk.  Iraqi Arabs, the Turkmen, 
and Turkey have been uneasy with the Kurdish leaders' 
efforts to incorporate Kirkuk into their autonomous regions, 
papers comment.  The influx of Kurds to the region coincides 
with the finalization efforts for the new constitution, 
which is expected to introduce a federal structure in Iraq, 
say papers. 
 
Talat Offers the Greek Cypriots Opening of Harbors:  `The 
old Cyprus cause has been lost.  We are now working to 
formulate a new policy,' Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali 
Talat said before leaving Turkey yesterday.  Talat called on 
President Sezer and PM Erdogan on Tuesday.  Talat noted that 
his predecessor Rauf Denktas had been a hostage to 
`nationalist rhetoric.'  Talat said the goal of the new 
policy was to make the world accept the necessity to 
establish a bi-zonal federal structure in Cyprus.  "Turkiye" 
claims that Talat had offered the Greek Cypriots a 
`reciprocal' opening of harbors, saying that Greek Cypriot 
vessels could be granted access to Turkish ports if Nicosia 
and the EU lift sanctions on northern Cyprus. 
 
Rubin: AKP Uneasy with Democracy:  Michael Rubin from the 
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) said in an op-ed that 
the majority of Turkey's ruling AK Party members were 
Islamists, while the majority of the Turks were not, reports 
"Hurriyet."  Rubin said that Erdogan and his AKP were 
gradually distancing themselves from the principle of the 
supremacy of law, and that Erdogan's political performance 
was declining.  Despite guarantees Erdogan offered regarding 
secularism, said Rubin, the AKP motions submitted to the 
parliament damaged the divide between state and religion, 
strengthening the power of religious groups in Turkey. 
According to Rubin, AKP is increasingly growing uneasy about 
the democratic process in Turkey.  Rubin recalled a recent 
warning by the parliament speaker Bulent Arinc that the 
Constitutional Court can be annulled in Turkey, and a motion 
submitted to the parliament by the Erdogan government aimed 
at bringing early retirement for judges, making room in the 
judiciary for party supporters.  Rubin believes that Erdogan 
could not bear the independence of the press and judiciary, 
says "Hurriyet."  Rubin earlier claimed that Saudi 
businessmen transferred billions of USD to Turkey following 
September 11, and that the share of Middle East-based 
companies in Turkey's economy had increased by half in the 
first six months of 2004. 
 
Turkey May Have to Pay 14 Billion USD to Displaced Kurds: 
The Turkish Foreign Ministry (MFA) has warned the government 
that Turkey will have to pay about 14 billion USD in 
compensation to 69,490 Kurds who were forced to leave their 
villages if the displaced Kurds apply to the European Court 
of Human Rights (ECHR), reports "Aksam."  Turkey has already 
paid some 4 million USD to 24 applicants out of 1,500 cases 
pending at the ECHR.  In an effort to reshape Ankara's 
policies with regard to east and southeast Turkey, Prime 
Minister Erdogan has asked the Hacettepe University in 
Ankara to carry out a research on migrations and displaced 
populations in Turkey's mainly Kurdish provinces of Bingol, 
Batman, Diyarbakir, Bitlis, Elazig, Mus, Hakkari, Mardin, 
Tunceli, Siirt, Van, Agri, Adiyaman and Sirnak.  The study 
will assess damages in evacuated villages, and estimate the 
number of Kurds who had to leave their homes.  The results 
of the project, which is to be finalized in 2006, will be 
submitted to the European Union, says "Aksam." 
 
Turkey to Hand over ISAF Command:  Turkish troops in 
Afghanistan will hand over the command of the ISAF to Italy 
on Thursday, papers report.  The ISAF, made up of troops and 
support staff from 49 countries, has been deployed mainly in 
Kabul after the Taliban regime's fall in 2001 as part of a 
coalition force currently numbering around 28,000. 
 
Blast Kills Two in Istanbul:  A powerful explosion killed 
two people and wounded at least five others in Istanbul late 
on Wednesday, papers report.   The blast occurred in a trash 
bin in the Pendik district on the Asian side of the city and 
severely damaged several nearby cars and houses.  The cause 
of the blast was not clear.  Istanbul police said the gas 
tank of a vehicle might have exploded. 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION:  Iraq; Iran 
 
"The US is Playing with Fire" 
Erdal Guven asserted in the sensational-conservative "Halka 
ve Olaylara Tercuman" (8/4): "The relations between Turkey 
and the US are facing new tensions following the PKK bureau 
opening in Iraq's north.  The US is very well aware of 
Turkey's concern and sensitivity on the issue but prefers to 
defer to the Kurdish administration for talks.  After 
Turkey's March 1 parliamentary decree refusing to support 
the Iraq war, Turkey's regional power started to decrease. 
Lacking Turkey's support, the US gave the control of Iraq's 
north to the Kurds.  It is a matter of choice for the US. 
But the developments are very harmful to Turkey because 
every new PKK bureau in this area serves to strengthen the 
hands of the terrorist organization.  . Turkey has been 
expressing its serious concern and documenting the PKK's 
existence in the area.   However, the US has not taken any 
action against the situation.   America's intention is to 
create pressure on Turkey and it is using the Kurds for that 
purpose.  Yet something is underestimated here.  What 
happens if the Turkish people reach the `enough is enough' 
point psychologically following the increasing number of 
dead Turkish soldiers' bodies coming from the Iraqi border 
area?" 
 
"As if the US in Making Fun of Turkey" 
Emin Pazarci argued in the conservative-sensational "Dunden 
Bugune Tercuman" (8/4):  "In each and every statement the 
Americans stress that the PKK is a terrorist organization 
and that they never support the PKK.  The US condemns the 
PKK terror organization after each PKK attack.  But that is 
all; the US struggle with the PKK stops there.  Criticizing 
and condemning the PKK are the only two reactions to come 
from the US.  They don't care that the PKK manages to 
survive very close to them and its armed militants wander 
around freely.  The only action the US takes is to give 
statements saying that the PKK is a terrorist organization. 
The US occupation forces keep Kirkuk fully under control. 
The place is crowded with armed US troops.  Moreover, 
Barzani's armed men work for them.  Under these conditions, 
the PKK has 8 bureaus in Kirkuk.  The PKK's northern Iraq 
branch `Democratic Solution Party' flags are flying in these 
bureaus.  Terrorists defend these places with armed guards. 
They established control points in the region so as not to 
allow anyone to take pictures or video films.  The PKK 
headquarters is located in an interesting place. .It is only 
a hundred meters away from  the local police department in 
Kirkuk.  The US Consulate stands on one side and the British 
consulate on the other side.  They all live happily 
together!  And after all this the US officials tell us that 
the PKK is a terrorist organization!   As if they are making 
fun of us, or kidding a child!  It is obvious that they are 
not sincere in their statements." 
 
"Iran" 
Gungor Mengi observed in the mass appeal "Vatan" (8/4): "A 
change in a positive direction was hoped for in Iran while 
the reformist leader Khatami was believed to have won the 
election.  Yet the election result gave the country a 
dramatic step backward.  It remains to be seen how many more 
years Iran has to suffer before it realizes the fact that 
religion can never be a political project.  The scenes 
during Ahmedinejad's presidential ceremony were so primitive 
they reminded me of Ataturk's greatness once again. . During 
the Khomeini period, Iran was trying to `export' its regime 
by influencing other Muslim nations.  Today, the mullah 
regime is only struggling to survive.  And it only creates a 
contradiction for Turkey since we too have some pro-Iran 
regime figures in the higher ranks." 
 
MCELDOWNEY