US embassy cable - 05ANKARA7186

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 007186 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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 
SUBJECT: ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT 
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2005 
 
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
HEADLINES 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Erdogan: There Are Kurds in the Turkish Parliament - Aksam 
Merkel-Rice Get Along Well - Posta 
Gonul Briefs Rumsfeld on the PKK - Sabah 
FBI Chief Mueller in Ankara on Thursday - Milliyet 
Talabani Supporters-Islamists Clash in Northern Iraq - 
Milliyet 
Bush Won't Give Ransom for US Hostages in Iraq - Hurriyet 
Saddam: Israel Wants Me Executed - Vatan 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
US: Ecumenical Patriarchate Has Global Standing - Yeni Safak 
Gonul-Rumsfeld Discuss the PKK - Cumhuriyet 
Rice Signs Agreement to Establish US Bases in Romania - 
Cumhuriyet 
US to Set Up 4 Bases in Romania - Zaman 
Merkel to Rice: We All Need the CIA - Zaman 
CIA Transfers Secret Detention Centers to Africa - Yeni 
Safak 
Suicide Attacks against Police Academy Kill 56 in Baghdad - 
Yeni Safak 
Military Plane Crashes in Baghdad, 119 Killed - Zaman 
20,000 Muslims Call for Global Peace in Britain - Yeni Safak 
Tories Pick Young Leader Cameron - Radikal 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
Gul: Outlanders in Kirkuk to be Removed from Ballot Lists: 
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday that people 
who are not residents of Kirkuk will be removed from the 
ballot lists before the upcoming legislative elections in 
December in Iraq.  Gul told reporters at the Organization of 
the Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit in Jeddah that many 
Iraqis had migrated to the oil-rich northern Iraqi city 
following the toppling of Saddam Hussein by US forces.  Gul 
said he had sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 
on the issue, adding that the UN, backed by the US, has been 
working on the issue.  According to the Iraqi Constitution, 
the final status of Kirkuk is to be determined by a 
referendum in 2007. 
 
Barzani Wants to Visit Turkey on Eve of Iraqi Polls:  On the 
eve of Iraqi legislative elections, the President of  the 
Kurdistan regional administration Massoud Barzani wants to 
pay a courtesy visit to Turkey on December 12 following the 
meetings of former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Turkmen 
leader Sadettin Ergec and the Shiite Vice-President Adel 
Abdul Mahdi in Ankara, "Cumhuriyet" reports.  Barzani has 
been drawing reactions with his statements regarding the 
establishment of a Kurdish state in case of a civil war, and 
the demographic structure of Kirkuk, according to diplomatic 
sources, who expect Ankara to ask the KDP leader about his 
attitude toward the PKK.  "Cumhuriyet" says that Barzani 
will visit Turkey in his capacity as the leader of Kurdistan 
Democratic Party (KDP), not as the President of Kurdistan 
regional administration.  Iraqi sources said that if Barzani 
is vetoed by Ankara, President Talabani may pay a visit to 
Turkey.  Kurdish representatives insist on visiting Turkey 
 
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before the elections in Iraq, but Turkish Foreign Ministry 
(MFA) officials told "Cumhuriyet" that Ankara preferred such 
a visit to happen after the polls. 
 
FBI's Mueller To Visit Turkey:  The Director of the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert Mueller will pay a 
`surprise visit' to Turkey on Thursday, "Milliyet" reports. 
Mueller is on a tour of inspection of FBI units in foreign 
countries.  He will stop over in Ankara before returning to 
the US.  On Friday, Mueller will meet Turkish Security 
Director General Gokhan Aydiner and will have lunch with 
senior security officials.  Anonymous sources say that the 
Mueller visit is aimed at examining al-Qaida-linked 
organizations in Turkey.  "Milliyet" underlines that the 
visit was occurring in a time of heated speculation about 
CIA planes landing in Turkey.  Meanwhile, "Sabah" reports 
that deputy director general for security, Emin Arslan, 
scheduled to hold a meeting with Mueller, had been recently 
sacked.  Arslan was in charge of the implementation of EU 
projects on security issues. 
 
Gonul in the US:  Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul told the 
press in Washington yesterday that he has conveyed to 
Secretary Rumsfeld Turkey's unease with regard to the 
 
SIPDIS 
terrorist PKK organization.  Gonul said he also talked with 
Rumsfeld about military equipment purchases.  `We discussed 
the ways to overcome the financing of Seahawk helicopters 
and how to increase Turkey's share in production of the 
Joint Strike Fighter (JSF,) Gonul said.  Gonul noted that 
Turkey was ready to meet Iraq's construction, fuel oil, 
water, food, and electricity needs.  Gonul also said that 
the annual conference of Southeastern Europe Defense 
Ministerial (SEDM) held in Washington will discuss issues 
such as WMD, border security, peacekeeping, exchange and 
technology sharing, regional maneuvers for 2006, and 
reorganization of KFOR in Kosovo.  Gonul said Turkey has 17 
officers assigned in Southeastern Europe Brigade's HQ, and 
30 staff in communications unit.  255 Turkish troops will be 
assigned to the brigade when its mission starts in 
Afghanistan next year. 
 
Turkey Had Nuclear Bombs During the Cold War:  CNN-Turk 
reported on Wednesday that Turkey had kept NATO nuclear 
bombs on its territory from the beginning of the Cold War 
until the 1980s.  The US-made 20 kiloton nuclear bombs were 
deployed at four military airports in Turkey to be used for 
NATO operations.  CNN-Turk claimed that a special nuclear 
fleet had been established at the eastern province of 
Malatya airport against a possible Soviet threat.  The bombs 
were reportedly as strong as the bombs dropped on Nagasaki 
during World War II. 
 
Tuzmen Meets Iraqi Housing Minister Jafar:  State Minister 
Kursad Tuzmen said after meeting with the Iraqi Minister of 
Housing and Construction, Jasim Muhammad Jafar, on Tuesday 
that Turkey wanted to increase bilateral trade with Iraq to 
10 billion USD in the next two years.  Tuzmen also noted 
that the amount of money owed by Iraq to Turkish oil 
products exporters has exceeded 800 million USD, and asked 
Jafar that the payment be made as soon as possible.  Tuzmen 
asked Jafar to solve the problem concerning the fees 
collected by Iraqi authorities from Turkish businessmen and 
companies at the Halil Ibrahim border crossing.  Tuzmen said 
the fees impaired the competitiveness of Turkish companies. 
He added that Turkish contractors working in northern Iraq 
carried their money in bags, and urged Iraq to improve 
banking services in the region.  Tuzmen also stressed that 
an agreement on the prevention of double taxation must be 
signed between the two countries.  Jafar indicated that Iraq 
 
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needs three million new homes by 2010, adding that a market 
of 120 billion USD awaits Turkish firms.  Jafar stressed 
that Baghdad allocated 500 million USD for highway 
construction, and invited Turkish contractors to join the 
project. 
 
Erdogan Tours New Zealand, Australia:  Prime Minister Tayyip 
Erdogan, in New Zealand on a state visit, told a conference 
on Turkey and the EU held at Canterbury University that all 
Turkish citizens, including Kurds, can enter parliament or 
become businessmen.  Turkey's only problem, he said, is 
separatism.  `There are Turks, Kurds, Georgians, Abkhazians, 
Albanians and Bosnians living in Turkey, and they are all 
intermingled.  It is religion that links these ethnic groups 
with each other.  Kurds are represented in parliament and 
are appointed as senior officials in Turkey.  There are also 
Kurds among the leading businessmen of Turkey,' Erdogan 
said.  On Cyprus, Erdogan said Turkey supports solution and 
called on the Greek Cypriots to do so as well.  Erdogan 
added that he would do his best for a settlement on the 
divided island.  On Turkey's EU drive, Erdogan said the EU 
can become a global power only by admitting Turkey as a 
member.  Erdogan later moved on to Melbourne to meet with 
officials and to participate in a conference on the 
`Alliance of Civilizations' at Melbourne University. 
Erdogan will travel today to Canberra to meet Prime Minister 
John Howard and Australian cabinet ministers. 
 
Trial of Turkish Terror Suspects Continue in Belgium: 
Turkish papers report that a court in Bruges, Belgium turned 
down a request by the defense counsel of 11 members of 
Turkey's outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party- 
Front (DHKP-C) to transfer the case to the High Criminal 
Court, ruling that a trial of members of a criminal 
organization is within its jurisdiction.  Fehriye Erdal, one 
of the suspects in the killing of prominent Turkish 
businessman Ozdemir Sabanci and his two colleagues in 1996, 
is among the 11 DHKP-C members charged in the case. 
Ankara's earlier requests for Erdal's extradition was 
rejected by Belgian authorities over concerns that she may 
be sentenced to capital punishment in Turkey.  The Bruges 
court will continue hearing the case on January 10. 
 
EU Not Happy with Babacan, Slow Pace of Talks with Turkey: 
European Union (EU) diplomats are complaining about the slow 
pace of talks with Turkey, stressing that the efforts of 
Turkey's chief negotiator, Ali Babacan, are `inadequate' in 
coordinating the accession process, "Cumhuriyet" reports. 
The diplaomats claim that accession negotiations can not be 
carried out by someone who has other responsibilities at the 
same time (Babacan is also a state minister responsible for 
the Turkish economy).  EU diplomats want Turkey to carry out 
its relations with the EU through a single institution.  In 
Turkey, each of the 23 ministries has its own EU unit, plus 
monitoring groups and integration boards.  `As a result, it 
takes quite a long time to complete a task.  The tasks 
should be carried out by a single institution, such as the 
General Directorate for EU Affairs,' EU sources told 
"Cumhuriyet." 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION:  Rice in Europe; Iraq 
 
"Torture and Terror and the CIA" 
Hasan Cemal opined in the mainstream "Milliyet" (12/7): "The 
issue of CIA planes and CIA secret prisons is not something 
that one can simply consider the dark side of fighting 
against terrorism.  The issue is too serious to argue that 
`the values of human rights sometimes are lost while 
 
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fighting against terrorism.'  However the Bush 
administration thinks that way.  Secretary Rice, on her 
European tour, did not use different rhetoric.  She not only 
defended the administration's practice regarding CIA prisons 
and planes but also left the door open for out-of-law 
implementations.  She also attached the official American 
rhetoric about respecting human rights and standing against 
torture to her CIA-related arguments.  And she was not 
convincing at all.  The Bush administration has a very bad 
record on the issues of law and human rights for a long 
time.  In democracies, the state binds itself with law and 
respects human rights.  A democratic state should not 
conduct terror and must remain within the boundaries of law 
and values of human rights." 
 
"The Value of the Sunnis" 
Abdulhamit Bilici wrote in the Islamist-intellectual "Zaman" 
(12/7): "As a tactical step, The US has to cooperate with 
the Iraqi Sunnis.  Everybody agrees that insurgency cannot 
end and stability in Iraq cannot be achieved unless a full 
integration of Sunni Arabs is ensured.  President Bush is 
desperately in need of a success story in Iraq particularly 
after the decline of his popularity and the emergence of 
other scandals, including the CIA planes.  Given the current 
situation, the only chances the White House has for good 
news are Sunni participation in the elections, a gradual 
decrease in insurgency incidents and a pull out of American 
forces.  Therefore the US has finally started working on a 
dialogue with Sunni Arabs, overcoming their Sunni-phobia 
following the events of September 11." 
 
"Upcoming Elections in Iraq" 
Yilmaz Oztuna wrote in the conservative-nationalist 
"Turkiye" (12/7):   "Elections will be held in Iraq next 
week.  Te US is waiting for the new government to be formed 
after the elections to pull out of Iraq.  This way, the US 
will be able to say `Iraq was freed from Saddam and a 
democracy was established in Iraq'.  Of course, the concept 
of democracy in Iraq is debatable but, never mind, the 
initiatives for democracy should be started from somewhere. 
No one should look down on these initiatives.  Washington 
will relax if the Sunni Arabs participate at the elections. 
This way the resistance to the occupation will weaken, 
terrorist actions will decrease and the international- 
professional terrorist organization members will leave the 
country gradually.  Turkey supports this American plan. 
Turkey wants the occupation in Iraq to end and the Iraqis to 
take over the administration.  Will the Americans really 
pull out of Iraq?  The answer is yes.  Actually they are 
getting impatient to leave Iraq.  But, they are waiting to 
complete the deployment of their forces in four main bases 
in Iraq.  This way the US will be able to control Iraq, and 
its oil reserves will be under its control as well.  And 
this situation will continue until the last drop of oil 
comes out of Iraqi reserves, which will be around the end of 
the 21st century." 
 
WILSON