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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002677 
 
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, MAY 12, 2006 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Belgian MPs to Submit Armenian 'Genocide' Bill to Parliament 
All papers:  On Thursday, a delegation of Turkish lawmakers 
met in Paris with the head of the French parliament's 
foreign affairs committee, Herve de Charette, as part of 
Turkish lobbying efforts against a draft bill on the 
'genocide' of Armenians by Turks.  The bill, which envisions 
prison sentences for anyone who denies the Armenian genocide 
took place, will be discussed in the French Parliament on 
May 18.  The Turks say the French ruling party has promised 
to work to block the controversial draft submitted by 
socialist lawmakers.  Meanwhile, two Belgian senators from 
the ruling coalition there plan to submit a bill to the 
Belgian Parliament stipulating sanctions for denial of 
Armenian genocide claims.  Papers claim Ankara will consider 
economic sanctions and work together with Turkish companies 
to fight against the Armenian claims in Belgium. 
 
Schroeder Suggests US Establish Dialogue with Iran 
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, Zaman, Yeni Safak 
and others:  Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder 
told a conference in Istanbul that the EU, for the sake of 
future generations, should not backpedal on the 'historic 
project' of making Turkey a full member of the European 
bloc.  'Turkey must continue the reforms required for EU 
membership.  Turkey cannot be blamed for the structural 
problems of the EU.  The EU is a political project for a 
common future,' Schroeder said.  Schroeder called on Iran to 
cooperate with the IAEA regarding Tehran's nuclear program. 
He said Iran's sovereignty rights should be respected, and 
warned against discriminatory policies toward Tehran. 
Schroeder noted that sanctions on Iran will not work, and 
suggested the US should enter into a dialogue with Tehran. 
'If Iran's oil production is embargoed, global oil and 
natural gas prices will soar.  Negotiations should be 
launched with Iran,' Schroeder emphasized. 
 
"Bush and Ahmedinejad: Two Acrobats on the same Rope" 
Haluk Ulman wrote in the economic-political Dunya (5/12): 
"It will be real madness if the Bush Administration decides 
to use military force against Teheran, which will turn the 
entire Middle East will into a fireball.  There is currently 
a big-power competition over Iran's nuclear program in the 
international arena between Presidents Bush and Ahmedinejad. 
Russia and China are supporting Iran, which is why the US 
was unable to pass a bill in the UN that would have applied 
economic and military sanctions.  Public opinion in Iran is 
also strongly supporting the mullahs' regime on this issue. 
Moreover, it is obvious that the Shiites in Iraq will make 
life miserable for US troops in the event of a US military 
operation against Iran.   Because of the stubborn stance of 
both sides, the only way to ease escalating Iran-US tensions 
is to find a diplomatic solution within the framework of the 
UN." 
 
Bomb Attack on Cumhuriyet Daily 
All papers report that the office of the staunchly secular 
daily Cumhuriyet in Istanbul was attacked with a percussion 
bomb Thursday.  Two men threw a fragmentation grenade into 
the garden, shouted 'God is great,'  and fled the scene. 
There were no casualties.  It was the third such attack 
against the paper in the past week, but in the first two 
incidents the explosives failed to detonate.  Cumhuriyet 
characterized the bombings as 'very worrying,' and viewed 
them as 'attacks on press freedom and democracy.'  President 
Sezer condemned the bombing, saying it was an attack against 
the Republic. 
 
AKP MP Accused of Adultery, Beating Wife 
 
ANKARA 00002677  002 OF 003 
 
 
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Vatan, Radikal, Cumhuriyet and 
others report that the wife of ruling AK Party lawmaker 
Halil Urun has complained that he used to beat her while he 
was living with another woman.  The wife was given a medical 
report documenting the injuries caused by the beatings. 
Papers say that if the prosecutor takes action, Urun will be 
charged with adultery and beating his wife, and could face 
the removal of his parliamentary immunity.  Urun shrugged 
off the charges, saying he had parliamentary immunity and 
would not be punished. 
 
Additional Commentary 
 
"The Benefits of a Parliamentary Rejection" 
Fatih Bohurler argued in the tabloid Star (5/12): "The 
staunch supporters of the Iraq war had suggested that if 
Ankara rejected the parliamentary motion on March 1, 2003, 
Turkey would be isolated and suffer economically.  It was 
also feared that the US would put Turkey on its black list. 
But today the facts point in the opposite direction.  The US 
finds itself in a terrible situation in Iraq, while Turkey 
is doing well both economically and politically.  In fact, 
the rejection of the motion by parliament in a way helped 
the US not to be defeated on an even larger scale than it is 
today." 
 
"Efforts to Divide Sudan" 
Mustafa N. Ozfatura argued in the conservative Turkiye 
(5/12): "Sudan has enormous resources that would not only 
allow it to be self-sufficient but also to feed all of 
Africa.  However, the country has never been able to use its 
resources because of the continuing civil war there. 
Instead of making investments in the oil industry and 
agriculture, Western arms traders looted the country during 
the civil war.  The imperialist powers aim to divide Islamic 
nations based on ethnic origin, sectarian differences and 
other pretexts, and Sudan is certainly one of these cases. 
Major steps are being taken in Sudan to divide the country, 
and it is sad to see that the Muslim world is doing 
absolutely nothing about it." 
 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV (8 a.m.) 
 
Domestic News 
- Prime Minister Erdogan played for the EU candidate 
countries team which won a 10-7 victory over a team of EU 
members in a friendly soccer match in Vienna.  Normal time 
ended in a 7-7 draw, but the EU candidates won the match 10- 
7 thanks to their success in the penalty shootout, when 
Erdogan was among the scorers.  Austrian PM Schuessel, EU 
Enlargement Commissioner Rehn and EU Commission Head Barroso 
also played in the  match.  USD 100,000 raised from the 
match will be used to help street children in Bulgaria and 
Romania. 
 
- Prime Minister Erdogan will attend the fifth Summit of the 
Developing Eight (D-8) in Bali, where he will meet with the 
Iranian President Ahmadinejad over the weekend. 
 
- Main opposition CHP leader Deniz Baykal signaled that his 
party could support deputy PM Abdullatif Sener for the 
presidency next year, saying that Sener is more open-minded 
on such issues as the headscarf than some other leaders of 
the ruling AK Party. 
 
- A suspected PKK member was captured with 15.1 kg of 
explosives in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of 
Diyarbakir yesterday.  The Diyarbakir Governor's Office said 
 
ANKARA 00002677  003 OF 003 
 
 
the suspect was preparing to carry out bomb attacks in major 
Turkish cities. 
 
International News 
- Iraqi President Talabani said in a statement that 1,091 
people were killed in Baghdad in April, and expressed 
"shock, dismay and anger" over daily reports of the 
discovery of unidentified corpses around the capital. 
 
- British newspapers have renewed calls for a public inquiry 
into last year's suicide bomb attacks in London, strongly 
condemning two official reports for exonerating security 
service failings.  The domestic intelligence agency MI5 was 
cleared in the reports, despite revelations that three of 
the four Islamic extremist bombers appeared on the 
intelligence radar before the July 7 attacks but were not 
pursued. 
 
- Secretary Rice refused to meet with members of a European 
Parliament committee looking into allegations that the CIA 
established secret prison camps in Europe. 
 
- An al-Qaida video posted on the Internet called on Muslims 
to attack Denmark, Norway and France for publishing cartoons 
of the Prophet Muhammad. 
 
- Migrants in Greece have collected over 10,000 signatures 
for the opening of a mosque in Athens. 
 
Economy News 
- Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said that eight companies had 
expressed interested in building nuclear power plants in 
Turkey.  Two Turkish companies have told the Energy Ministry 
that they are ready to construct nuclear plants without 
asking for support from the state.  The Energy Ministry will 
hold a meeting with representatives of the private sector 
today to discuss the project. 
 
- The Confederation of Turkish Employers' Union, TISK, said 
in a report that over 5 million people are without work in 
Turkey, stressing that 10 million new jobs must be created 
by 2010 in order to catch up with EU employment rates.  TISK 
noted that USD 70 billion in annual investment is needed to 
prevent further increases in unemployment. 
 Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
  http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON