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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 004473 
 
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, AUGUST 3, 2006 
 
 
A QUICK LOOK AT THE TURKISH PRESS 
August 3, 2006 
 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Conflict in the Middle East 
All papers claim in the face of the advancing Israeli offensive in 
south Lebanon that Israel's goal is to destroy Lebanon rather than 
disarming Hezbollah.  Papers report Israeli PM Ehud Olmert told the 
international press in Jerusalem that he wanted Turkish forces to be 
included in an international force because "Israel trusts the 
Turkish military and government."  "Peacekeeping force blackmail," 
reads a Cumhuriyet front page headline, referring to Olmert's 
statement that there will be no ceasefire until an international 
peace force deployed disarms the Hezbollah in Lebanon.  The 
Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak lashes out at Arab leaders for 
remaining silent in the face of the Israeli atrocities in Lebanon 
and for sending lower level officials to the meeting of the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia, from which 
the "Muslim world expects a strong reaction" to the Israeli conduct 
in Palestine and Lebanon.  Papers report that, so far, 70 lawmakers 
have resigned from the Turkey-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group, 
which has a total of 263 members. 
 
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the press 
before leaving to take part in the OIC summit in Malaysia, "This war 
is not fair at all; and there will be no winners.  We should not 
allow this war to turn into a global crisis.   If President Abbas, 
Prime Minister Haniyah and Prime Minister Olmert had maintained a 
positive approach, we would not have faced this situation.''  The 
Turkish Prime Ministry emergency management directorate said in a 
statement that Turkey would send an aid package worth USD 1 million 
to Lebanon and another one worth USD 200,000 to the Syrian 
government to be distributed to the Lebanese refugees in Syria 
fleeing the Israeli attacks.  The package is to consist of rice, 
lentils, sugar, beans, jam, and infant food -- totaling 900 tons of 
food aid. 
 
Turkish Foreign Ministry (MFA) Spokesman Namik Tan said Turkey 
expected an urgent cease-fire in Lebanon.  "Lebanon suffers a great 
deal every day, which only feeds mutual enmity.  The fact that 
numerous civilians are getting hurt in Israeli attacks makes the 
issue more problematic," Tan said.  He noted that some 2,000 Turkish 
nationals have been evacuated from Lebanon and that 10,348 foreign 
nationals have left the embattled country via Turkey. 
 
Editorial Commentary on the Conflict in the Middle East 
Noting that the "neo-con ideology is rapidly giving rise to 
counter-arguments in the Arab world," Taha Akyol, commenting in the 
mainstream Milliyet, argues that "the solution to the current crisis 
requires the US to treat the sides fairly and support UNSC 
resolutions adopted since 1962 which call for a two-state formula." 
He urges Americans to "think rationally and compare the state of the 
world and the American image during the Clinton era with that of 
today." 
 
Writing in Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak, Akif Emre commented on 
hypocrisy in the West: "Israeli aggression in Lebanon is acceptable 
if one finds the global occupation strategy of America ethical. 
Nowadays the so-called supporters of global humanitarian values are 
currently busy producing pretexts for killing children and shedding 
innocent blood in Lebanon.  America and Israel are not alone in 
this.  The EU, which is at least expected to play a balancing role, 
is Israel's partner in crime.  The EU failed even to come up with a 
declaration for an immediate ceasefire.  Can we possibly talk about 
western values any more?  They are nothing but lies about world 
peace and global capitalism." 
 
 
ANKARA 00004473  002 OF 003 
 
 
Turgut Tarhanli argues in left-leaning Radikal that motivations 
behind establishing a peacekeeping force should be examined 
carefully:  "If the UNSC decides to station a peacekeeping force in 
southern Lebanon under the influence of the US post-Sept 11 
ideological approach, it will hardly be seen as legitimate.  The US 
seems to be using the UNSC as a pathway for implementing its 
strategic priorities.  In today's world, by whom and on what grounds 
a decision for an international force will be taken is of the utmost 
importance.  Will it be a decision of a superpower or a decision 
made by a collective?  Turkey, before deciding on assuming a 
responsible role, had better focus on the rules of the game." 
 
PM Erdogan in Malaysia for OIC Meeting 
All papers:  Speaking to the reporters at Esenboga airport in Ankara 
prior to his departure for Malaysia, Prime Minister Erdogan said "I 
will attend a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference 
(OIC) on the level of heads of State and government at the 
invitation of Malaysia.  Besides the tragic developments in Lebanon, 
the recent crisis in Palestine and the Middle East will be high on 
agenda of the meeting.  The crisis has been further deepening day by 
day and we are extremely concerned about it.  I consider this 
meeting a significant platform to call on the international 
community to assume a more active attitude for peace."  Stressing 
that the international community including the OIC member countries 
should work together to provide an immediate cease-fire in the 
region, Erdogan said, "especially the EU and the UN should play a 
more active role to this end."  Zaman reports that there is a 
possibility that PM Erdogan may have bilateral meetings with Iranian 
President Ahmedinejad on Lebanon and Iran's nuclear program. 
 
Gul Op-Ed in Washington Post 
Wire services report that in an op-ed in the August 3 Washington 
Post, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul strongly criticized the United 
States for failing to stop the violence in Lebanon.  Gul said that 
his own generation had grown up with the image of a US which 
supported democratic values, but that this image of the US had been 
greatly damaged with the Lebanon war.  "People in the world are 
asking this question -- Why does the world's only superpower, which 
is able to put an end to this tragedy, closes its eyes to such 
pain?"  Gul said that, through the inaction of the US, the lives of 
people in the region along with hopes for greater democracy in the 
Middle East were being destroyed.  Gul wrote that the only solution 
to the crisis was for the international community to display 
decisive action and real leadership. 
 
Fight against PKK 
Sabah, Milliyet, Cumhuriyet, Zaman, Star:  Turkey reiterated 
yesterday its expectations that the Iraqi Government will soon take 
effective measures against the PKK.  Foreign Ministry spokesman 
Namik Tan said that Iraqi authorities informed Turkey that they are 
exerting efforts to stop the PKK activities in their territory and 
that Turkey expects that those measures will yield concrete results 
soon. Asked about recent media reports on new plans to act against 
the PKK, Tan said there was close cooperation with the US and Iraqi 
authorities, but declined to give any details.  Asked about the 
reports about a visit by Iraqi Kurdish officials to Ankara to 
discuss new measures against the PKK, Tan said no representatives 
from any of the groups in the north of Iraq have arrived in Turkey. 
In relation to this news, US State Department spokesperson Sean 
McCormack underlined Washington's aim to revive trilateral 
mechanisms between Turkey, Iraq and the US to fight against the PKK. 
 
 
International Impression of New TGS Chief Buyukanit 
All papers report on the second day of Turkey's Supreme Military 
Council (YAS) meeting as well as the approach of European media 
which describes the newly-appointed Chief of Staff General Yasar 
Buyukanit as a "hawk" expected to pursue more hardline policies than 
his predecessor Hilmi Ozkok.  Papers report Prime Minister Erdogan 
as saying he wanted Buyukanit to be appointed to the post early in 
 
ANKARA 00004473  003 OF 003 
 
 
an effort to end the speculation claiming sour ties between the 
ruling AK Party government and military, and to better respond to 
the PKK violence. 
 
Islamic Banking Growing in Turkey 
Aksam reports that Islamic banking in Turkey had accomplished 200 
percent growth since 2002 when the AKP government swept to power. 
The funds collected by Islamic banks in the first seven months of 
the year increased by 20 percent in comparison to the previous year, 
jumping to TL 10 billion. 
 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV, 8.00 a.m 
Domestic News 
 
- Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc stressed it would be 
impossible to dispatch Turkish peacekeepers to Lebanon before a 
ceasefire. 
 
- Turkish Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights will hold an 
extraordinary meeting to discuss the ongoing atrocities in Lebanon. 
 
 
- Hasan Eskimutlu, a Turkish technician who was kidnapped in Iraq on 
June 14, was released unharmed on Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign 
Ministry said in a statement. 
 
- Turkish police said in a report the number of criminal ring 
members arrested had increased by 25 percent in comparison to the 
previous year. 
 
International News 
 
- Israel is gradually occupying south Lebanon.  Hezbollah has been 
attacking northern Israel in retaliation. 
 
- Secretary Rice said a ceasefire to be reached in Lebanon was "a 
matter of days, not weeks."  The White House, however, said an 
immediate ceasefire was not on the agenda. 
 
- The Independent of Britain said Israel's attacks on Lebanon have 
turned Hezbollah leader Nasrallah into a symbol of Muslim pride. 
 
- President Talabani said Iraqi forces would assume security duties 
for the whole country by the end of the year. 
 
- The Iraqi press reported US will fund a housing project for 8,000 
settlements in the oil rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. 
 
- Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders Talat and Papadopoulos are to 
meet on August 8 
on the Green Line buffer zone to discuss the formation of the 
committees to deal with technical issues between the two sides in 
the island. 
 
  Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
MCELDOWNEY