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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002176 
 
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 
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2006 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Turkey: Denmark Has Enough Evidence to Ban Roj-TV 
All papers:  Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said Wednesday 
Turkey had sent to Denmark a considerable amount of evidence 
indicating links between Roj-TV and the PKK, which should be 
enough to ban the Copenhagen-based Kurdish broadcaster. 
Documents submitted by Turkey show that Roj-TV rebroadcast 
at least 18 programs produced by another Kurdish 
broadcaster, Med-TV, which was banned in Britain for having 
ties with the PKK. 
 
President Abbas to Visit Turkey 
Zaman reports the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 
Abbas will come to Turkey on April 24 for two-day working 
visit to discuss the situation in Palestine since Hamas took 
power and Turkey's financial support for the Palestinian 
people.  Diplomatic sources said Turkey would continue to 
support Palestine financially through various development 
projects. 
 
US Seeks Azerbaijani Bases against Iran 
Cumhuriyet claims the United States, in an effort to topple 
the Tehran Administration from inside, has increased the 
funds meant for the opposition Azeri Iranians to USD 70 
million from USD 15 million.  Washington is trying to 
persuade the Azeris in Iran to cooperate against Tehran in a 
possible military operation by the US.  Washington is also 
expected to ask for bases in Azerbaijan from President Ilham 
Aliyev, who is to visit the US on April 25.  Meanwhile, 
President Ahmadinejad will participate in the Economic 
Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit meetings to be held in 
Baku on May 3-4, Sabah reports.  It's not clear whether 
Prime Minister Erdogan, who will also participate in the ECO 
meetings, will meet with Ahmadinejad in Baku. 
 
Secretary Rice to Visit Ankara Next Week 
 
SIPDIS 
All papers: Secretary Rice is going to visit Ankara on April 
26 and meet with FM Gul, PM Erdogan as well as President 
Sezer.  Foreign Minister Gul will have the chance to meet 
one-on-one with Secretary Rice, a chance missed when he had 
to cancel his planned trip to Washington last month due to 
health reasons.  Rice will be in Sofia for the NATO-EU 
summit following Ankara and Athens.  On the other hand, FM 
Gul's participation in the in Sofia meeting has yet to be 
confirmed.  The nuclear standoff with Iran and Iraq as well 
as the PKK will be the major topics during Secretary Rice's 
visit in Turkey.  Turkish officials will bring up once again 
the expectation that the US take immediate action against 
the PKK in northern Iraq.  Secretary Rice has already put 
the "PKK file" in her briefcase and she is prepared to talk 
about it.  Other issues expected to be discussed include 
Turkey-EU relations and Cyprus. 
 
Hurriyet reports that, Ankara is preparing to host Iranian 
negotiator on nuclear program, Mr. Larijani.  He is expected 
to be in Ankara on April 24 right before Secretary Rice, who 
is expected on April 26.  With these two upcoming visits, 
Ankara will be playing a 'de facto mediating' role between 
the US and Iran by passing the messages from Larijani. 
 
Columnist Murat Yetkin in Radikal thinks that Turkey is 
preparing to face the Iran issue vis--vis the US.  He 
believes that the US is seeking more international support 
in the crisis with Iran and Turkey is one of them.  On the 
other hand, while Turkey does not support Iran's move to 
acquire nuclear weapons, at the same time Ankara does not 
want to be involved in a possible war with Iran in any form. 
Columnist Yetkin assumes that Ambassador Ross Wilson might 
have taken an early step to set the tone during the Rice 
 
ANKARA 00002176  002 OF 002 
 
 
visit by seeing some AKP officials in the ruling party 
headquarters recently. 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV, 8.00 a.m. 
 
Domestic News 
- Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul met the ambassadors of EU 
countries in Ankara to seek support for Turkish efforts to 
get a seat in the UN Security Council. 
 
- Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said the new anti-terror 
draft submitted to the parliament for approval did not aim 
to restrict freedoms. 
 
International News 
- A report by an Iraqi NGO said 20,000 people have been 
kidnapped in Iraq since the beginning of the year. 
 
- A Serbian daily said war criminal fugitive General Ratko 
Mladic had been found and would be arrested soon. 
 
- Germany is to open Nazi records on 17 million Jews and 
other victims of the regime to historians and victims' 
relatives. 
 
Economy News 
- Turkish parliament approved a new social security bill 
which would improve working and retirement conditions of 
public and private sector employees in a country of 70 
million.  Labor unions and the main opposition CHP opposed 
the law which, they claim, was enacted under IMF directives, 
and which extends retirement age to 65. 
 
- An IMF report predicts 6 percent growth and 6.5 percent 
year-end inflation for the Turkish economy in 2006. 
 
 Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
  http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON