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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000934 
 
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 
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2006 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Turmoil in Iraq 
All papers report in detail the spiraling sectarian violence 
threatening Iraq, with the main Sunni alliance, the National 
Concord Front, declaring a boycott of talks with the Shiite- 
led government over the reprisal attacks.  On Thursday, 168 
mosques were attacked across Iraq and 130 were killed, 
including 10 Sunni imams.  Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari 
proclaimed three days of national mourning.  "They are 
trying to push us into killing one another," the Iraqi 
government said in a statement.  President Talabani said 
insurgents are out to provoke civil war.  Sunni Islamist 
militant groups, including al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, 
threatened in a statement on the Internet to retaliate for 
attacks on Iraqi Sunni Arabs.  A Turkish delegation, led by 
Turkey's special Iraq envoy Oguz Celikkol, went to Baghdad 
on Thursday to discuss the rising violence and government 
formation talks.  The delegation will meet with Jafari and 
Sunni and Shiite leaders on Friday.  Celikkol is expected to 
ask the Iraqi leaders to include Sunni representatives in 
the government, strengthen the federal structure, and 
postpone the referendum on the status of Kirkuk.  The newly- 
formed Iraqi government will be invited to Ankara.  Papers 
also report that the US has blamed al-Qaida, and Iranian 
President Ahmadinejad Israel and the US for the attack 
against the holy Shiite shrine in Samarra. 
 
Almost all editorial commentators expressed serious concern 
about the future of Iraq and seem to agree that division is 
imminent as well as inevitable unless steps are taken to 
change the process.  Senior columnist of the tabloid Bugun, 
Cengiz Candar noted that in the aftermath of the Samarra 
bombings, efforts to establish a new government have almost 
come to an end.  Expecting a high-intensity civil war 
between Sunnis and Shiites, Candar wrote: "If this process 
cannot be changed, events will lead to the division of Iraq 
as well as very serious consequences in the Middle East." 
 
Calling the situation in Iraq close to a serious civil war, 
columnist Ferai Tinc observed in the mass appeal Hurriyet 
that Iraq is rapidly moving toward division. Tinc believes 
that if Iraq is dragged into a civil war situation "the 
whole region will turn into a barrel of explosives," with 
events leading to more armed conflict, "paving the way for 
more operational territory for the radical Islamists." Tinc 
wonders if the process be stopped and concludes "at this 
point it does not seem so." 
 
Erdal Safak commenting in the mainstream Sabah believes the 
chaos in Iraq is similar to the last days of Yugoslavia.  To 
Safak, "Sunni areas look like Serbia; Shiite areas Croatia; 
Baghdad looks like Sarajevo; and northern Iraq is like 
Slovenia." He predicts that unless something changes, 
northern Iraq will be the first to detach itself from 
Baghdad and if that happens "nobody will be able to question 
the legitimacy of the partition in northern Iraq, 
considering the fact that Barzani warned months ago he would 
declare independence once a civil war erupts between Sunnis 
and Shiites." 
 
EU Warns Turkey over the Greek Vessel Incident 
Aksam, Vatan, Milliyet:   A Greek Cypriot flagged ship tried 
to dock in the Turkish port of Mersin the other day without 
getting permission from the dock Directorate.  The 
directorate did not give permission to the ship in line with 
Turkish regulations. The incident drew a reaction from the 
EU, with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn warning 
Turkey yesterday to abide by the Customs Union protocol. 
 
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"Turkey has to implement the Ankara Protocol and open its 
borders and ports to the all EU members.  The EU will 
continue to monitor this and will evaluate the situation in 
a report in the autumn," Rehn added. 
 
US Congressman Sends a Protest Letter to Turkish PM over 
Hamas Visit 
Aksam, Vatan:  US Congressman Tom Lantos, who is well known 
in Turkey for his efforts to block Armenian genocide bills 
in the US Congress, reportedly sent a letter to Turkish 
Prime Minister Erdogan protesting the recent Hamas visit. 
Lantos in his letter described Hamas leader Mashal as the 
Palestinian equivalent of the jailed PKK leader Ocalan, 
saying "while your authorities are meeting with Ocalan's 
equivalent in Palestine, how can you claim moral superiority 
in the fight against the PKK?"  Lantos also stressed in his 
letter that the meeting damaged the relationship between the 
US and Turkey. 
 
National Security Council Discusses Iran, Hamas 
All papers:  Turkey's National Security Council (MGK) 
discussed Iran's nuclear enrichment activities at a monthly 
meeting on Thursday.  Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul briefed 
the MGK on his telephone conversation with Iranian Foreign 
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and on Turkish contacts with the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna 
following IAEA decision to refer Iran to the UN Security 
Council. The MGK believes that a possibility to defuse 
strains through diplomatic means still exists.  Gul also 
told the meeting that Turkey had conveyed to Hamas the 
expectations of the international community. 
 
Secretary Rice on Middle East Tour 
 
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Hurriyet, Milliyet, Vatan, Sabah, Zaman, Cumhuriyet and 
others:  Turkish media reports that Secretary Rice paid a 
surprise visit to Lebanon on Thursday and is returning from 
Cairo and Riyadh empty-handed, having failed to persuade her 
counterparts on the Hamas issue.  In Beirut Rice will meet 
with the newly elected Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, 
who defends separation from Syria, but will not see the pro- 
Syrian President Emile Lahoud on this visit. 
 
UN Envoy Demands Reform in Turkish Legislation to Combat 
Terrorism 
Radikal:  Martin Scheinin, the UN special rapporteur on 
human rights and counter terrorism, urged Turkey to redraft 
its legislation to combat terrorism, describing the present 
laws as being too vague.  Scheinin said yesterday at the end 
of a week-long visit to Turkey there was the threat of 
persons not directly involved in acts of terrorism facing 
prosecution under the present laws, drafted in 1991.  "The 
anti-terror bill, dated to 1991, fails to meet international 
conventions and falls short of international 
implementations," Scheinin noted.  Turkey has made progress 
in improving human rights, Scheinin said, adding that 
establishing an independent body to investigate allegations 
of human rights abuses and torture was also necessary. 
Scheinin also said that the government should provide the 
necessary grounds to assure that Kurds can use their 
language. 
 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV (7 a.m.) 
 
Domestic News 
- The parliament approved a bill that will allow Turkey's 
banned Islamist leader, former Prime Minister Necmettin 
Erbakan to serve his prison sentence under house arrest. 
 
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Erbakan was convicted for abuse of party funds. 
 
- Twenty-four women have been arrested in Diyarbakir for 
joining a protest rally in support of the PKK's imprisoned 
leader Abdullah Ocalan. 
 
- Petrol-Is labor union will apply to the European Court of 
Human Rights if Turkish courts allow the privatization of 
oil refiner Tupras. 
 
International News 
- More than 100 people were killed yesterday in reprisal 
attacks since the bombing of the Shiites' holy shrine, the 
Golden Mosque in Samarra in Iraq. 
 
- Denmark will host a conference next month to promote 
religious dialogue in the face of the row over the Prophet 
Muhammad cartoons.  138 have been killed in sectarian 
violence across Nigeria, after protests over the cartoons 
instigated religious and ethnic tensions. 
 
- Amnesty International strongly criticized the British 
government in a report which warned that anti-terror 
legislations have led to serious abuses of human rights. 
 
- The EU warned they would freeze negotiations on Serbia- 
Montenegro's possible membership in the bloc unless the 
fugitive Serb General Mladic is delivered to the UN war 
crimes tribunal in The Hague. 
WILSON