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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001882 
 
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, APRIL 7, 2006 
 
  In Today's Papers 
 
  EU Warns Ankara on Kurdish Situation 
  All papers:  On Thursday, the European Commission and 
  European lawmakers urged Turkey to grant Kurds more 
  economic and cultural rights, voicing concern over 
  violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast.  EU Health 
  Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told the European 
  Parliament the PKK was included in the EU terror list, 
  but urged the Turkish government to fulfill its promises 
  to improve the rights of Kurds.  "We urge the Turkish 
  government to address the problems in the region in a 
  comprehensive manner, and not only from a security point 
  of view," Kipriyanu said, asking Turkey to facilitate the 
  return of displaced Kurds to their villages and stop 
  deploying state-sponsored militiamen (Korucu) in 
  villages.  Several lawmakers also urged Turkey to 
  establish a political dialogue with moderate Kurds. 
  European Parliament's Turkey Rapporteur said executives 
  of Turkey's main Kurdish party DTP should also denounce 
  terror, and warned Turkey not to use excessive force. 
 
  Prime Minister Erdogan, in response to a letter by 
  several socialist members of the European Parliament in 
  which the lawmakers warned the problems in southeast 
  Turkey cannot be solved through only military means, said 
  "they should first come here and see the incidents in the 
  field."  On the DTP, Erdogan said the pro-Kurdish party 
  must accept the PKK as a terrorist organization.  "If you 
  want to have a democratic life, you don't need weapons. 
  You can come without weapons and speak out at the table," 
  Erdogan emphasized, prompting comments in today's papers 
  wondering whether the PM's "ambiguous" remarks implied a 
  call for initiation of a dialogue with the PKK. 
 
  Commenting on the US position with regard to the PKK 
  issue, Hakan Celik writes in the mass 
  appeal/sensationalist Posta that elimination of the PKK 
  problem was not among US priorities:  "The Washington 
  Administration believes that this is Turkey's problem and 
  should be resolved directly by Turkey.  Although, as an 
  ally, the US considers relations with Turkey important, 
  at the same time, it wants to improve relations with 
  Kurds in northern Iraq.  From the angle of its own 
  interests, the US considers an operation against the PKK 
  dangerous and unnecessary.  For these reasons, Turkey 
  feels that the US has left Turkey alone in its fight 
  against the PKK." 
 
  Gul: Intelligence Talks Aim Iraq's Unity 
  Radikal reports Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, in a 
  comment to reporters, confirmed that meetings among 
  Turkish and some Arab countries' intelligence services 
  aimed at preservation of Iraq's unity and integrity had 
  taken place, saying that such meetings "were nothing out 
  of the ordinary."  Responding to another reporter's 
  question, Gul dismissed press reports claiming there were 
  secret meetings between Turkish officials and Iraqi 
  Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani as "sensational." 
 
  Iraqi Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders are to meet in 
  Jordan in an effort to prevent ethnic conflict in Iraq. 
  Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab 
  League will join the meetings on April 22. 
 
  Kretschmer Warns More Judicial Reforms Needed in Turkey 
  Milliyet, Sabah, Cumhuriyet, Radikal, Zaman and others: 
  The European Commission Turkey representative Ambassador 
  Hansjorg Kretschmer told a conference in Ankara that some 
  prosecutors in Turkey cannot grasp the soul of reforms, 
 
ANKARA 00001882  002 OF 003 
 
 
  and that they do not respect freedom of expression. 
  Kretschmer said restrictive provisions on free speech, 
  such as Article 301 through which several journalists 
  have been tried, still existed, and the independence of 
  the judiciary was questioned.  Kretschmer warned not only 
  human rights, supremacy of law, and democracy, but also 
  the economic situation would suffer without a well- 
  functioning judicial system. 
 
   Soldiers, Policeman Killed by the PKK Laid to Rest 
  All papers:  A funeral has been held in Ankara yesterday 
  for five Turkish soldiers and a policeman killed in 
  fighting with the PKK.  The soldiers were killed in a 
  clash with the PKK militants in the Gabar Mountains in 
  the southeastern province of Sirnak, and the policeman 
  was killed during a PKK attack at a police checkpoint in 
  the nearby city of Bingol earlier this week.  Land Forces 
  Commander General Yasar Buyukanit vowed at the funeral 
  the attackers would be punished.  Some relatives of the 
  slain soldiers lashed out at the government for being 
  nonchalant. 
 
  Commentary on Globalization 
  Ertugrul Ozkok, the editor in-chief of Turkey's leading 
  daily Hurriyet, praises as a "wonderful development" the 
  National Bank of Greece's (NBG) purchase of a majority 
  stake in Turkey's Finansbank.  Ozkok deems the purchase 
  important at a time of "serious blows" to globalization 
  such as the US Administration's rejection of a Dubai 
  company's bid to run some American ports and some 
  European countries' blockade on the sale of companies to 
  foreigners:  "In the midst of such an atmosphere, a Greek 
  bank has agreed to pay billions of dollars to a Turkish 
  bank.  This initiative is an example of bravery and a 
  historic challenge on the part of both sides.  I watch 
  Turkey and Greece with pleasure while they are giving 
  lessons of liberalism to the world.  I always believed 
  that countries that consider globalization to be 
  imperialism are very much mistaken.   Developing 
  countries like Turkey and India could benefit more from 
  globalization than the old economies.  The US has just 
  realized this fact.  A new era is starting in economic 
  history for brave countries without any complexes, like 
  Turkey." 
 
 
  TV Highlights 
  NTV (7 a.m.) 
 
  Domestic News 
  - Turkish high court Danistay has released a statement 
  that the government must abide by judicial rulings, and 
  dismissed as "unacceptable" charges by Prime Minister 
  Erdogan that Danistay was blocking government 
  implementation. 
 
  - Four people including the chairman of the Kurdish party 
  DTP in Silopi in the southeastern city of Sirnak were 
  arrested for joining protest demonstrations in Diyarbakir 
  earlier last week. 
 
  - The ruling AKP government has sent to the Presidency a 
  bill earlier vetoed by President Sezer which allows 
  Turkey's banned Islamist leader Necmettin Erbakan to 
  serve his prison sentence at home.  Erbakan was convicted 
  of irregularities in election aid funds given by the 
  Treasury to the Welfare Party. 
 
  International News 
  - Iraq remains unable to form a government of national 
 
ANKARA 00001882  003 OF 003 
 
 
  unity more than four months after the elections. 
 
  - Israeli President Katsav assigned interim PM Olmert to 
  form a new government. 
 
  - Prosecutor Carla del Ponte's office said Belgrade will 
  hand over fugitive Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic to 
  the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former 
  Yugoslavia in The Hague before the end of the month. 
 
  - At least 40 suspected Taliban fighters killed in 
  clashes with security forces in North Waziristan in 
  Pakistan. 
 
  Economy News 
  - Joint Turkey and Greece banking initiative:  Turkey- 
  Greek Business Aegean Bank - BAB branch office will be 
  opened in Athens in June. 
 
  - The Turkish government is to submit to President Sezer 
  on Friday a cabinet decree regarding the appointment of a 
  new chairman for Central Bank.  Reports speculate the 
  nominee is Ibrahim Canakci, Treasury Undersecretary. 
 
 Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
  http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON