US embassy cable - 05ANKARA5984

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 005984 
 
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, OCTOBER 3, 2005 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
HEADLINES 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Ankara to EU: Privileged Partnership Not Acceptable - Sabah 
Erdogan: EU to Be Global Actor or Christian Club - Milliyet 
Edelman: Rejecting Turkey for EU Will be a `Disaster' - 
Hurriyet 10/2 
Arab Specialists: Turkey's EU Membership a Model for Arabs - 
Hurriyet 
Solana: EU-Turkey Talks Will Begin on Time - Milliyet 10/2 
New York Times: Turkey is EU's Future - Vatan 10/2 
Rice to EU: US Opposes Nicosia's NATO Membership - Sabah 
France to Declare 2006 `Year of Armenia' - Hurriyet 10/2 
US Military Launches `Iron Fist' Operation in Iraq - 
Hurriyet 
Israel Suspends Operations in Gaza - Tercuman 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
East, West Agree: Excluding Turkey Would be a Mistake - 
Zaman 10/2 
Erdogan: Turkey Won't Change Path to Democracy - Zaman 
Karamanlis: European Turkey is in Interest of Europeans - 
Radikal 
EU Member Turkey Will be Way Out for Middle East - Zaman 
10/2 
Bryza: US Determined to Rebuild Partnership with Turkey - 
Zaman 
Le Monde: CIA Met with PKK in Kandil Mountains - Cumhuriyet 
Rice: We Will Stay in Iraq - Yeni Safak 
Talabani Asks Jafari to Step down - Radikal 
US Forces Target Sunni Cities in Iraq - Yeni Safak 10/2 
HRW: Iraqi Insurgents Commit War Crimes - Cumhuriyet 
Israeli MPs to US: Strike Iran, or We Will Do It - Yeni 
Safak 10/2 
Iran Threatens to Halt Oil Sales - Cumhuriyet 10/2 
New Terror Attacks in Bali: 32 Killed - Radikal 10/2 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
Last Ditch Efforts to Break EU-Turkey Deadlock:  Turkish 
media report that the European Union failed last night to 
resolve the deadlock blocking the start of membership talks 
with Turkey.  EU leaders in Luxembourg stressed, however, 
that a last-minute deal was still possible.  `It's a 
frustrating situation,' EU term president Britain's foreign 
secretary Jack Straw said late Sunday night, `but I hope and 
 
SIPDIS 
pray that we may be able to reach an agreement.'  `We need 
to see Turkey in the EU and not pushed the other way,' Straw 
stressed.  Austria is demanding that the EU consider 
offering a `privileged partnership,' something less than 
full EU membership, for Turkey.  `The EU will either become 
a global actor, or limit itself to being a Christian club,' 
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned the EU on Sunday 
evening.  International wires report that Secretary Rice 
`stepped in' on Monday to save Turkey's EU bid.  The call 
came after Turkey objected to a clause stipulating that it 
could not block EU members joining international 
organizations and treaties.  The Turks interpreted this as 
an effort to prevent Ankara from blocking a divided Cyprus 
from joining NATO.  `Rice called Erdogan this morning to 
give the Turks guarantees that paragraph 5 is not binding 
for NATO,' one European diplomat said.  Erdogan reportedly 
told Secretary Rice on the phone that Turkey will not take 
further steps to secure the opening of accession talks with 
the EU.  Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that he may not 
travel to Luxembourg if Austria gets its way.  Monday's 
"Yeni Safak" reported that FM Gul told ruling AKP lawmakers 
at a party meeting over the weekend that if rejected by the 
EU, Turkey will `dock at another port -- any other port.' 
On Monday, news agencies reported that Ankara received the 
final version of the EU framework agreement and was studying 
the document.  An official told the press that FM Gul 
brought the document to AK Party headquarters for a final 
evaluation. 
 
Edelman Warns the EU against Excluding Turkey:  Turkish 
papers over the weekend and on Monday reported that former 
US Ambassador to Ankara, Eric Edelman, warned the EU that 
turning down Turkey would destabilize a country `on the 
borders of Europe,' and that such a rejection would 
jeopardize democratic reforms in other Islamic countries. 
`What will saying `no' to a democratic and open society such 
as Turkey mean for all other countries that we call on to 
separate state and mosque?' Edelman asked.  Edelman further 
warned that an EU message telling Turkey that no matter what 
it does it will not be admitted into the union of democratic 
states and open economies would bring significant, long- 
term, negative consequences. 
 
DAS Bryza on US-Turkey:  DAS Matt Bryza told "Zaman" in an 
exclusive interview in Washington that the US has decided to 
`do everything' to rebuild the `spirit of partnership' 
between the US and Turkey.  Bryza said that the US was 
pleased to see the Turkish government expressing strong 
support for the relationship between the US and Turkey. 
`The White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley 
discussed with the Turks during his visit to Ankara the need 
to work together to remove the PKK threat from northern Iraq 
and to exert joint efforts to keep Turkey inside the 
European family,' Bryza noted.  On Syria, he said: `I have 
no doubt that the US and Turkey share the same goals with 
regard to Syria.  But in order to be at the same point 
regarding tactics, we need a continuous recalibration and 
coordination.'  Bryza also noted that Undersecretary Karen 
Hughes `listened' and `watched' during her recent meetings 
in Turkey.  `It was good that a Turkish women's NGO, Ka-der, 
voiced strong views about Iraq.  Such expressions help us to 
understand how the policies of the United States are 
perceived in Turkey,' Bryza stressed.  Bryza ruled out US 
support for a military intervention against either Islamic 
fundamentalism or Kurdish separatism in Turkey: `What makes 
Turkey strategically very important for us is its secular 
democracy in a country with a Muslim majority.  We want to 
do everything necessary to strengthen democracy and the 
democratic institutions in Turkey.  Everything that works 
against secular democracy is negative for us.' 
 
Embassy Statement on US Operations against Tal Afar: 
Saturday papers carried a press statement by the US Embassy 
rejecting claims by the Chairman of the Iraqi Turkmen 
Democratic Party last week with regard to coalition military 
operations in Tal Afar.  The embassy said that military 
operations in Tal Afar had been undertaken to eliminate 
insurgents who were terrorizing the people of the city, and 
were not directed against any ethnic group. It also said 
that humanitarian assistance sent by both the Turkish Red 
Crescent and the Iraqi transitional government had reached 
the civilians in Tal Afar.  `People who were displaced by 
the operations are returning to their homes. Reconstruction 
and projects to improve the city's infrastructure are 
already underway,' the statement said. 
 
Iraqi Minister: Turkey a Model for Iraq:  Iraqi Planning and 
Development Minister, Barham Salih, attended the `Middle 
East Countries Economic Cooperation Forum' in Turkey's 
mainly Kurdish southeastern province of Diyarbakir yesterday 
after wrapping up official talks in Ankara last week.  Salih 
said that Turkey, a democratic, secular and moderate country 
with a Muslim majority, is a good model for Iraq.  Salih 
called on European and Turkish businessmen to invest in 
Iraq. 
 
Embassy Statement on Washington Times Article:  The US 
Embassy issued a statement on Friday with regard to an 
article by Frank Gaffney Jr. in the September 27 "Washington 
Times" which caused uproar among Turkish government and the 
conservative/Islamist media.  The statement said that the 
ideas expressed in the column `did not reflect the views of 
the United States Government.'  `We view Turkey as an 
important friend, a reliable partner, and a strong ally. 
Relations between Turkey and the United States are strong,' 
the US statement said. 
 
Poll: Majority of Turks Want Full EU Membership:  A public 
opinion survey conducted by "TNS Piar" for the daily "Sabah" 
shows that 60 percent of Turks want full EU membership for 
Turkey, while only 13.3 percent oppose it.  71.8 percent 
said that Ankara should not make concessions on Turkey's 
`red lines' such as Armenian `genocide' and recognition of 
Cyprus.  However, they also believe that Turkey's full 
membership to the European bloc will bring new opportunities 
on health, education, employment, and human rights issues. 
15.7 percent of respondents said that Turkey must seek a 
compromise regarding its `red lines.'  The survey was 
conducted on September 30-October 1 among 1,420 Turks over 
the age of 18 in towns and urban centers of 10 provinces. 
 
HRW: Insurgents Commit War Crimes in Iraq:  Human Rights 
Watch (HRW) said in a 140-page report entitled `Civilian 
Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq' issued on Monday that 
civilians are intimidated or killed intentionally in attacks 
by insurgent groups in Iraq, "Cumhuriyet" reported.  The 
report said that the intentional targeting of civilians 
during armed clashes constitutes a war crime.  HRW called on 
the political and religious authorities supporting the 
insurgency from inside and outside Iraq to denounce such 
illegal attacks. 
 
OIC: Islam is against Radicalism:  The Organization of the 
Islamic Conference (OIC) Turkish Secretary-General 
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told the semi-official Anatolian News 
Agency (AA) that it will be difficult to bring the chaos in 
Iraq under control.  `It is necessary to eliminate the 
conditions that set the basis for terrorism.  It is 
necessary to explain to the world that the motives and 
causes of terrorists are not related to religion,' Ihsanoglu 
told AA in Jeddah on Saturday.  Ihsanoglu noted that the OIC 
was the only organization that includes the entire Islamic 
world.  `We are a security valve against radicalism,' 
Ihsanoglu said, and added: `We stress that Islam is in line 
with democracy and development.  Islam is against all 
radicalism.  We also emphasize that anti-Islamism fuels 
tensions between East and West.' 
 
Former CHP Lawmaker Joins AKP:  Former main opposition CHP 
lawmaker Sevket Gursoy from the southeastern province of 
Adiyaman joined the ruling AK Party on Sunday, raising the 
number of AKP seats in parliament to 356.  Gursoy had 
resigned from CHP last week. 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION:  EU/Turkey 
 
"EU Chooses the Lose-Lose Theory" 
Murat Yetkin commented in the liberal-intellectual "Radikal" 
(10/3):  "Actually, the European countries will be deciding 
their own future with today's decision on the framework 
document for Turkey.  PM Erdogan has said there is no 
guarantee that the EU will become a global power if Turkey 
becomes a full member of the EU, but that there is sucgh a 
possibility.  If EU leaders cannot reach a compromise on the 
framework document by noon today, the result will be a loss 
for both Turkey and the EU.  The new rules of international 
relations theory don't support policies based on absolute 
winners or losers.  Instead, the theory suggests that a `win- 
win' outcome is the most desireable.  If Turkey's membership 
is rejected, the EU will have contributed the `lose-lose' 
scenario to political theory.  But I really wonder who could 
benefit from such a contribution?" 
 
"Everyone Has A Problem Digesting This" 
Ergun Babahan wrote in the mass appeal "Sabah" (10/3):  "At 
a time when some circles are trying to bring people of 
different beliefs and different cultures against one 
another, it became clear late last night that Europe has a 
problem `digesting' a Muslim-majority country.  In fact, 
when we look at history we see that this problem is not a 
new one.  No matter how tolerant the Ottomans were toward 
other religions, Christian Europe remained just as rigid 
toward Islam.  There is no question that the EU is a 
civilization project for us.  But we shouldn't forget that 
Turkey didn't come into existence with the EU.  If we cannot 
sit at the negotiating table, this won't be the end of the 
world.  An EU that cannot digest other cultures will never 
become a world power or a power center.  Turkey has 
fulfilled all of its responsibilities in the EU process.  It 
has stood behind its commitments.  If the EU fails to stand 
behind its word today, the historic responsibility will rest 
on their shoulders.  Despite everything, we want to maintain 
our optimism and think that a last-minute agreement can be 
reached, because the entire region, and especially Turkey, 
deserve a better life." 
 
"Forced Marriage" 
Gazi Ercel opined in the mass appeal "Sabah" (10/3): 
"Turkey has continued its struggle for many years for 
membership in the EU.  It is obvious that we are preparing 
for a forced marriage.  Of course, Turkey has other 
alternatives -- Muslim countries in the south, Russia, or 
the US-Israel partnership are always possible.  But none of 
these alternatives would ensure the high standards of living 
that Turkey could attain as part of the EU.  The EU remains 
the best choice, because it can provide quality of life 
standards to 90 million Turks by the year 2025.   That is 
why we have been pushing ourselves so hard.  There have been 
some countries who have supported us in this struggle.  One 
of them is the United States.  The US has supported Turkey 
since the beginning of the 1990s.  More recently, the US has 
been continuing its efforts on behalf of Turkey's EU 
accession through the UK.  There is no doubt that there will 
be problems occur in the future.  But Turkey really has no 
other choice but to walk on the EU path with calm and 
determined steps." 
 
MCELDOWNEY