US embassy cable - 03ANKARA3151

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 003151 
 
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, MAY 13, 2003 
 
 
THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
                    -------------------- 
 
 
HEADLINES 
 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Bremer, an American in Baghdad - Milliyet 
Saudi bombs a warning for Powell - Hurriyet 
Bush: Still got a lot to do in Iraq - Turkiye 
U.S. cease search for Iraqi WMD - Aksam 
U.S. fooled Saddam by Northern Front bluff - Turkiye 
U.S. holds secret talks with Iran - Milliyet 
British cabinet reshuffle over Iraq war - Sabah 
Berlusconi: Great Europe possible with Turkey - Hurriyet 
 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
Iraq's new boss Bremer in Baghdad - Cumhuriyet 
Powell to Syria: Choose Hamas or U.S. - Yeni Safak 
U.S. brings chaos, fear to Iraq - Yeni Safak 
Damascus to allow private banks, broadcasters - Radikal 
`Dr. Microbe,' `Saddam's chief of staff' detained - Zaman 
European Parliament targets Turkish military - Cumhuriyet 
Gul: We'll enact Copenhagen reforms this year - Yeni Safak 
Gul: Troops might leave if peace comes to Cyprus - Zaman 
Cenbank intervenes to halt sinking Dollar - Radikal 
 
 
FINANCIAL JOURNALS 
Cenbank intervention on Dollar didn't work - Dunya 
Plenexis Satellite winks at Iraq via Turkey - Finansal Forum 
 
 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
 
Turkey, U.S. relations: A "Hurriyet" commentary points to 
the emerging trouble between Turkish and U.S. military, 
formerly close allies.  The paper claims it was a deliberate 
action on behalf of Americans to detain the alleged Turkish 
special team members smuggling weapons for the Turkomans in 
Northern Iraq three weeks ago.  Ankara believes the incident 
and the subsequent leaking to the press was part of a 
psychological operation which aimed to exclude Turkish 
troops from Northern Iraq, Hurriyet writes.  U.S. holds the 
Turkish military to be responsible for the rejection of 
troops deployment decree, the paper claims.  Hurriyet thinks 
disagreement between Turkish and American government 
officials affected the military relationship between the two 
countries as well.  "Milliyet" defends the idea that both 
countries will win if U.S. decides to cooperate with Turkey 
in Iraq's reconstruction.  The paper advises tight 
coordination and consultation between Turkey and the U.S. to 
deal with the potential terror threat in Northern Iraq, and 
the status of Turkomans in the new regime.  "Sabah" reports 
a U.S. Ankara Embassy official as saying that U.S. held 
responsible, not only the AKP government, but all related 
state institutions for rejection of the decree to permit 
foreign military presence in Turkey.  `Secretary Powell has 
not mentioned a Turkey-U.S. strategic partnership during his 
last visit to Ankara.  We can't easily forget that Turkey 
has not helped us at all in our Iraq policy,' the official 
reportedly said.  Another "Hurriyet" commentary criticizes 
the approach of U.S. Ambassador to Ankara, Robert Pearson in 
an op-ed published in the same paper on Monday.  The article 
carps at the `false picture in pink' drawn by Ambassador 
Pearson, without bringing to attention the `insolent' 
warnings by Wolfowitz and Grossman. 
 
 
Iraq: Rebuilding, aid: A convoy of 59 trucks took cooking 
fuel from Turkey to Northern Iraqi cities over the weekend, 
U.S. Ankara Embassy said on Monday.  Dailies and Turkey's 
Union of Chambers (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu 
welcome the move as a positive first step regarding Turkey's 
economic presence in Iraq.  Reports agree that the removal 
of UN sanctions on Iraq in line with a recent proposal by 
the U.S. and Britain, will boost Turkish exports.  Turkish 
companies continue meetings with American firms involved in 
Iraq's rebuilding, according to papers. 
 
 
Italy's Berlusconi in Turkey: The visiting Italian Prime 
Minister Berlusconi said on Monday that only a "great 
Europe" encompassing Turkey and former Soviet-bloc states 
could counter-balance U.S. economic and military might.  He 
said he would devote his efforts as the EU's next president 
to backing Muslim Turkey's drive to join the bloc, and would 
seek to resolve the long standoff on Cyprus.  Berlusconi 
said after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Erdogan, in 
Ankara that he believed Europe should develop a strong 
military capability so that the U.S. does not have to 
shoulder the burden of policing the world alone.  He also 
supported the U.S.-led war in Iraq, papers note. 
 
 
Turks hopeful of tourism season: Turkish tourism, which came 
to a standstill during the war on Iraq, is coming back to 
life, papers report.  The first U.S. cruiser, "Golden 
Princess" came to Turkey's coastal town Kusadasi in the 
Aegean with over 2,000 tourists on board. 
 
 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
 
 
a) Middle East 
b) US-Turkey relations in the post Iraq war period 
 
 
"The Road and the Map" 
Hadi Uluengin commented in mass appeal Hurriyet (5/13): 
"President Bush's statement in South Carolina is a clear 
indication of Washington's determined initiative for the 
settlement of the Middle East issue.  This is an imminent 
issue on Washington's agenda in order to minimize the anti- 
American sentiment in the post-war period.  . Following both 
the Bush statement and Secretary Powell's meetings in 
Israel, we can draw a conclusion that there is no 
significant achievement on the horizon.   Sources close to 
Arabs are saying that the road map for the Middle East has 
no chance of success unless there has been a concrete 
gesture from the Israeli side.  And the same sources 
indicate that even the new PM of Palestine, Abbas, agrees 
with this.  . As for Israel, it depicted its terms for 
settlement as even tougher than before, and Ariel Sharon 
evidently was aloof to Secretary Powell.  . There might be 
some hope for the Sharon-Bush meeting which is scheduled for 
next week.  On the other hand, the Jewish lobby in the US 
will do its best to prevent Sharon from facing American 
pressure.  If that is the case, the roadmap is doomed to 
fail." 
 
 
"The Strategy-tuning with the US" 
Sami Kohen wrote in mass appeal Milliyet (5/13): "It seems 
both Ankara and Washington agree on the need for moving 
ahead and overcoming the difficulties in the bilateral 
relations.  There is also a need for a fine tuning of 
policies.  The question is how will that happen and who is 
going to take the first step?  The Ankara diplomatic circle 
is ready to put some steps forward.  But the officials in 
Ankara believe the necessity for diplomatic contacts as a 
first step, and to follow it with more high level visits and 
contacts if the initial results are encouraging. . The Iraq 
crisis was the main reason for casting a shadow on bilateral 
relations.  Now it is Iraq-related issues again which are 
capable of determining the phase of future Turkish-American 
relations.  Therefore the Iraq issues should be taken up 
first in order to do a fine tuning in the strategic 
relations." 
 
 
PEARSON