US embassy cable - 05ANKARA5985

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 005985 
 
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, OCTOBER 4, 2005 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
HEADLINES 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Turkey on EU Train, Target is Full Membership - Sabah 
Turkey's EU Dream Becomes a Reality - Hurriyet 
A New Europe, A New Turkey - Milliyet 
Vienna Falls - Milliyet 
Erdogan: Turkey Takes Giant Step on Historic EU Path - Sabah 
Gul: Turkey Steps into New Era - Milliyet 
`Condi' Resolves Crisis, Backs Turkey at EU - Vatan 
Condi's Call Saved Turkey's EU Bid - Aksam 
US: Turkey Belongs to Europe - Milliyet 
Straw: EU Will Grow Stronger with Turkey - Sabah 
Talabani-Jafari Tension Over Kirkuk - Hurriyet 
Palestinian Police, Infuriated by Hamas, Raid Parliament - 
Sabah 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
Happy Ending: Turkey, EU at Negotiating Table - Radikal 
Both EU and Turkey Win - Radikal 
Erdogan: Hopes Strengthened for Global Peace - Zaman 
Rice Calls Erdogan to Express Support - Cumhuriyet 
Rice: We Won't Take Greek Cypriots into NATO - Yeni Safak 
US Intervenes on Turkey's Behalf - Zaman 
Rice Warns EU against Involvement in NATO Decisions - 
Radikal 
Straw: Turkey a Muslim, Secular, European Country - 
Cumhuriyet 
US Uneasy with Israeli Activities in Northern Iraq - Yeni 
Safak 
Kurdish-Shiite Power Struggle in Baghdad - Yeni Safak 
Amnesty Warns Russia on Human Rights Violations - Cumhuriyet 
31 Taliban Fighters Killed in Afghanistan - Yeni Safak 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
Turkey, EU Open Landmark Accession Talks:  Turkey opened 
historic membership negotiations with the European Union 
early Tuesday, 42 years after it was first offered 
membership in the European bloc.  After tough negotiations 
that began Sunday evening and lasted late into Monday 
afternoon, Austria withdrew its demand that Ankara be 
offered a `privileged partnership' as an alternate to full 
EU membership.  EU members reached a settlement over the 
negotiation framework document, and Foreign Minister 
Abdullah Gul arrived in Luxembourg after midnight to be 
greeted by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other 
top-level EU officials.  In an opening statement, Straw 
urged Turkey to press ahead with reforms, strengthen the 
independence of the judiciary, beef up basic freedoms, 
assure civilian control of the military, and improve the 
situation in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country. 
`This is a truly historic day for Europe and for the whole 
of the international community.  We are showing that it's 
not about religion or religious differences.  It's about 
being bound by the same set of values,' Straw said.  Gul 
said that `we have come to a historic point today, and that 
is the point of beginning talks for full membership.'  Gul 
told the press before departing Ankara for Luxembourg that 
the `win-win' situation with the EU that emerged yesterday 
would add to Europe's diversity.  `Turkey is determined to 
carry on with reforms.  10 years from now, Turkey will be a 
very different from the Turkey of today.  Some of the 
concerns that are seen in European public opinion will not 
exist in 10 years' time,' Gul said.  Prime Minister Tayyip 
Erdogan said in a statement that Ankara had reached an 
agreement that is `in line with Turkey's expectations.' 
`Turkey has taken a giant step forward on its historic 
march.  At the beginning, every negotiation process is open- 
ended.  But a target has been established, and that is the 
achievement of full membership,' the Turkish PM added. 
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said that if Turkey 
does not fulfill the conditions, the alternative will be the 
establishment of `the strongest possible bond' with Ankara. 
Schuessel told the `citizens of Europe' that opening 
accession talks with Turkey will not lead to an automatic 
mechanism that cannot be stopped.  German Foreign Minister 
Joschka Fischer said that the eastern Mediterranean will be 
crucial for peace in the 21st century --- not only for 
Turkey or the region, but for Europe as well.  `Europe is 
the winner today,' Fischer said.  Mehmet Dulger, head of the 
Turkish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, acknowledged 
that this will be a `very long process.'  `We want to turn 
confrontation into collaboration.  Turkey will not destroy 
the architecture of the EU.  Quite the contrary.  We want to 
contribute by bringing our dynamism to the EU,' Dulger 
stressed.  Onur Oymen, deputy chairman of the main 
opposition CHP slammed the AK Party government for not 
informing the nation and opposition about the deal before 
accepting it.  `We fear that the agreed text will be even 
tougher on Turkey than the outcome of the EU Council 
meetings last December, which mentioned an open-ended 
negotiation process and permanent restrictions on the free 
movement of Turkish labor.  We also fear that the text may 
lead Turkey to an outcome other than full EU membership,' 
Oymen said. 
 
US Intervenes in on Time to Rescue Turkey at EU:  Turkish 
papers and television stations praised the United States for 
`stepping in' at just the right time to help save Turkeys' 
bid to join the European bloc.  On Monday, Secretary Rice 
called PM Erdogan and convinced him that the set of rules 
for joining the EU could not oblige Turkey to drop 
objections to Cyprus' membership in NATO, papers report. 
Papers quote State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack as 
telling reporters that `EU processes shouldn't affect or be 
brought into NATO processes.'  `I will reiterate that we 
believe a Turkey firmly anchored in Europe will be an even 
more reliable partner for the transatlantic family and a 
positive force for advancing peace, prosperity and 
democracy.  The US has long supported Turkey's European 
aspirations, but we don't have a vote in this process.  We 
have lent our diplomatic and rhetorical support to their 
aspirations, but ultimately this is a matter for the EU to 
decide,' McCormack said.  McCormack noted that Rice also had 
a discussion with Foreign Minister Gul over the weekend, 
before speaking with PM Erdogan yesterday.  According to 
another State Department official, Washington wanted to send 
a signal that NATO is independent from the EU.  `What we are 
saying to Turkey is not to worry that the deal it cut with 
the EU ties its hands at NATO.  Because we don't think it 
does,' said the unidentified official.  Many papers hailed 
the US intervention as key to solving yesterday's impasse in 
Luxembourg:  "Aksam" claimed that "Condi's Call Saved the 
Day," while "Vatan" said "Condi Calls at the Most Critical 
Time." 
 
PUK Congratulates Ankara on Accession Talks with EU:  The 
Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said on Monday that 
it supported the opening of accession talks between Turkey 
and the EU, the semi-official Anatolian News Agency (AA) 
reported.  `We consider Turkey's accession talks with the EU 
very important and useful not only for Turkey, but for the 
democratization and economic development of all Middle 
Eastern countries,' PUK Ankara representative Behruz Galali 
told AA. 
 
Turkey, Israel Can Cooperate in Advanced Technology:  AA 
also reported that Mose Kamhi, an Israeli Foreign Ministry 
official for special projects, said on Monday that Turkey 
and Israel can cooperate in the manufacturing and marketing 
of advanced technology.  In a statement to mark the tenth 
anniversary of the free trade agreement between Turkey and 
Israel, Kamhi said that bilateral trade between Turkey and 
Israel increased to 2 billion USD last year from 45.7 
million in 1980, but that it was far from reflecting the 
true potential of the two countries.  Kamhi noted that 
authorized institutions in both countries can form joint and 
autonomous funds for business, as Israel has done with the 
United States and the UK.  Kamhi recalled that the framework 
document signed between Ankara and Tel Aviv during PM 
Erdogan's visit to Israel in March called on the Turkish and 
Israeli businessmen to make `joint entry' into new markets. 
 
Ankara Condemns Bali Bombings:  Ankara strongly condemned 
terrorist bomb attacks which killed 32 and injured 101 in 
Bali, Indonesia on Sunday.  The Turkish Foreign Ministry 
(MFA) said in a statement yesterday that the bombings were 
`crimes against humanity,' and stressed the need to carry 
out an effective international fight against terrorism. 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION: 
 
"We Cannot Digest Either" 
Sami Kohen opined in the mainstream daily "Milliyet" (10/4): 
"We are over the most tense 36 hours.  Of course, both 
Turkey and Europe have gone through two very exciting days. 
From the US to the Arab world, the officials of many other 
countries followed these developments with great curiosity. 
Everyone was shocked that the position of Austria, a rather 
small country, shook the EU so profoundly.  Although the 
ostensible issue in Luxembourg was Turkey's membership, the 
real debate concerned the obvious weakness in the structure 
of the EU.  After Austria adopted its anti-Turkish position, 
some commentators described Austria as `the sick man of 
Europe,' a label previously reserved for the Ottoman Empire. 
It is clear that if the EU doesn't put itself in order soon, 
a crisis will become inevitable.  Developments over the last 
36 hours have had a negative effect on Turkey's desire for 
EU membership.  Now it is up to the EU to take some measures 
that will improve Turkey-EU relations.  The word 
`digestion,' which the Austrians were so insistent on 
inculding in the text of the framework document, has been 
repeated too often in recent days.  It is a remote 
possibility that the EU will have problems in `digesting' 
Turkey after a minimum10-year negotiation process.  But for 
Turkey, `digesting' this word as a condition for EU 
membership was not easy at all." 
 
"Now, the Negotiation Process Becomes Important" 
Selcuk Gultasli commented in the Islamist-intellectual 
"Zaman" from Luxembourg (10/4):  "Once again, the EU has 
made a decision on Turkey in a crisis atmosphere and at a 
late hour.  Once again, the US had to intervene to convince 
the EU.  Ut in the end, the EU agreed to keep the commitment 
that it gave on December 17.   We cannot ignore Austria's 
success on the Croatia issue and its insistence on a 
`privileged partnership.'  Although the EU did not go along 
with `privileged partnership' language for Turkey as Austria 
had insisted, few changes were made in the framework 
document.  Austria was also successful in securing the start 
of the negotiations with Croatia.  Since it was not possible 
that Austria could resist the other 24 members of the EU on 
its own, it is correct to say that some other EU members 
were giving implicit support to the Austrian position. 
First among these countries is France.  After long hours of 
discussion, if the `privileged partnership' language had 
been included in the final document, the EU would be have 
been viewed as an institution not to be trusted.  But 
despite the crisis, the negotiations with the EU have been 
launched.  Now the important thing is how the talks will 
continue to play out.  Turkey, Europe and the rest of the 
world will benefit from a successful outcome." 
 
"The Journey Begins." 
Ismet Berkan wrote in the liberal-intellectual "Radikal" 
(10/4):  "Let us all forget the last 36 hours of arguments 
and crisis.  Let us even forget the struggle that has lasted 
so many years.  These things are no longer important.  Now 
Turkey is sitting at the negotiation table for full 
membership in the European Union.  All of that struggle was 
waged with a single goal --  to enter the door of Europe. 
Now we have entered.  But believe me, the rest of the trip 
will be even more difficult.  We will face many more crises. 
Each new crisis will be a test of endurance for Turkey. 
Turkey now begins its long and critical journey." 
 
MCELDOWNEY