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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001511 
 
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, MARCH 22, 2006 
 
  In Today's Papers 
 
  CODEL Warner, General Pace Due in Ankara 
  Star, Zaman, TVs:  On Thursday General Peter Pace, 
  Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will arrive in 
  Ankara for talks at the Turkish General Staff (TGS) and 
  the Prime Ministry.  He will also participate in an 
  international conference on global terrorism during his 
  two-day visit.  Star reports that General Pace will move 
  on to Istanbul together with the Chief of the Turkish 
  General Staff, General Hilmi Ozkok, on March 25. 
  Meanwhile, several TV channels reported that a US 
  Congressional delegation led by Senator John Warner, 
  Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will 
  visit Ankara on Thursday to discuss regional issues, 
  including Iraq and Iran, with Turkish military and 
  political leaders. 
 
  AJC's Jacobs Visits Ankara 
  Milliyet, Radikal, Yeni Safak:  American Jewish Committee 
  (AJC) Strategic Research Director Barry Jacobs met with 
  ruling AKP lawmakers Egemen Bagis and Saban Disli, and 
  senior officials at the Turkish Foreign Ministry (MFA) on 
  Monday in Ankara.  Jacobs told the press that not only 
  American Jews, but all groups across the political 
  spectrum in the United States had increasing concerns 
  over 'what Turkey has been trying to do.'  'Popular 
  interest in anti-American and anti-Semitic works such as 
  Metal Storm, Valley of the Wolves, and Mein Kampf makes 
  us wonder what is happening in Turkey.  Turkish leaders 
  should speak out against such movies and books in the way 
  we have reacted against anti-Turkish movies and series in 
  the United States,' Jacobs said.  Asked about the recent 
  visit by Hamas leaders to Turkey, Jacobs said that Halid 
  Mashal was no different than jailed PKK leader Abdullah 
  Ocalan.  'Both Mashal and Ocalan were supported by 
  Damascus.  The Turks understood that the timing of the 
  visit was inappropriate, but they gave very important 
  messages to Mashal,' Jacobs noted.  Jacobs said that the 
  Jewish lobby in the US would continue to back Turkey in 
  the event of efforts by pro-Armenian groups to pass a 
  'genocide' resolution in the Congress. 
 
  "Cobra-II" Describes US-Turkey Negotiations Before Iraq 
  War 
  Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Vatan, Cumhuriyet, Radikal, 
  Zaman, Yeni Safak and others: 
  A book by Michael Gordon and retired Marine General 
  Bernard Trainor, "Cobra-II: The Inside Story of the 
  Invasion and Occupation of Iraq," claims that if the 
  Turkish Parliament had not rejected the deployment of US 
  troops into Iraq through Turkish territory in March 2003, 
  Turkey would have been allowed to station 20,000 troops 
  in northern Iraq to prevent PKK infiltration and the flow 
  of refugees into Turkey.  The Turks may also have been 
  deployed to the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.  The book 
  claims that Turkey asked the US for 25 billion USD in 
  assistance as an incentive to join the US-led coalition 
  in Iraq. 
 
  Turkish columnists continue to express their view on the 
  situation in Iraq on the anniversary of the US-led war. 
  Kamuran Ozbir wrote in the nationalist Ortadogu that it 
  will be difficult for Iraq's neighbors other than Turkey 
  to help establish political stability in the war-torn 
  country: "While the Shiites would like Iran to help, the 
  Sunnis reject this.  Jordan's offer for assistance was 
  rejected by the Shiites.  Regional and international 
  developments do not allow Syria to help.  Therefore, 
 
ANKARA 00001511  002 OF 003 
 
 
  Turkey is the only country that can help Iraq to 
  establish political stability.  But first Turkey needs to 
  find a way to bridge the differences between Iraqi 
  Shiites and Sunnis." 
 
  In the mainstream Milliyet, Hasan Cemal notes that Turkey 
  would have received 25 billion USD in US assistance if 
  the parliament had not rejected the US proposal to open a 
  northern front into Iraq.  Cemal believes the 'bad' 
  situation in Iraq today would not have been better if 
  Saddam Hussein had stayed in power.  Cemal wrote: "I 
  traveled to Baghdad a month after Saddam was toppled, and 
  the Shiites and Kurds were extremely happy about it.  Of 
  course the situation was very hard to accept for the 
  Sunnis, who had ruled the country for 80 years.  As the 
  bloodshed in Iraq continues, we can see that the ethnic 
  and sectarian hostility among the Shiites, Sunnis and 
  Kurds as well as the mistakes of the Bush Administration 
  have played the biggest part in this." 
 
  Ambiguity Over Central Bank Governor Appointment 
  All Papers:  President' Sezer's Office announced that the 
  President has not received a decree from the government 
  proposing the appointment of Erdem Basci as the new 
  governor of the Central Bank (CB).  Prime Minister 
  Erdogan said the government had submitted to Sezer a 
  decree with a nomination of a new CB governor, but did 
  not reveal the name of the nominee.  The PM urged 
  everyone to wait for the President to announce the name. 
  Papers speculate that Adnan Buyukdeniz, former director 
  of the Islamic financial institution al-Baraka Turk, had 
  the best chance to be given the post.  Papers also report 
  that capital markets are in turmoil over the uncertainty 
  over the Central Bank leadership.  Meanwhile Omer 
  Sabanci, Chairman Turkey's influential business group 
  TUSIAD, criticized the AKP government for its handling of 
  the nomination, adding that the government would have 
  been better off extending the mandate of former CB 
  Governor Sureyya Serdengecti. 
 
 
  TV Highlights 
  NTV, 8 AM 
 
  Domestic News 
  - Prime Minister Erdogan told an Austrian magazine that 
  the Greek Cypriots will not be allowed into Turkish ports 
  and airports unless and until the international isolation 
  of Turkish Cyprus ends. 
 
  - Afghan President Karzai and US Chairman of Joint Chiefs 
  of Staff General Pace are expected to participate in a 
  symposium on international terrorism sponsored by the 
  Turkish General Staff on Thursday in Ankara. 
 
  - Some 100,000 people celebrated the Nevruz festival in 
  Diyarbakir in a largely peaceful demonstration.  Police 
  took tight security measures and Turkish jetfighters flew 
  over the crowd at a low altitude.  Weekend celebrations 
  in Istanbul and Ankara had been held peacefully, despite 
  minor disturbances.  Intelligence sources fear that PKK 
  militants may provoke people to take action against 
  security forces during ongoing Nevruz celebrations in 
  several Turkish cities. 
 
  - Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will remain in hospital 
  until the end of this week following ear surgery. 
 
  - Turkey's TV and radio watchdog RTUK said that 
 
ANKARA 00001511  003 OF 003 
 
 
  broadcasts in Kurdish will begin on private TV and radio 
  stations in Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa on Thursday. 
 
  International News 
  - Naji Sabri, former foreign minister under Saddam 
  Hussein, is alleged to have been a CIA operative, and 
  provided valuable details of Iraq's WMD program to the 
  United States.  Sabri received 100,000 USD from the CIA. 
 
  - The Turkish Cypriots have established a special 
  commission to deal with property in northern Cyprus by 
  Greek Cypriots. 
 
  - An Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) 
  delegation paid a support visit to Turkish Cyprus to 
  discuss possible cooperation. 
 
  - Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds resigned in a 
  row over the closing down of a Swedish website that was 
  to publish the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. 
 
  Economy News 
  - A public offering will be held for the sale of a 25 
  percent stake in Turkish Airlines. 
 
 
  Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
  http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON