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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004937 
 
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, AUGUST 25, 2006 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Historic Reforms in the Turkish Armed Forces 
All papers report that the Turkish military will undergo a major 
restructuring.  In line with the proposed new structure, two army 
commands will be abolished and the Land Force, Naval Force and Air 
Force commands will be united under the General Staff.  Under the 
plan, the Aegean Army and the 3rd Army will be abolished and the 
military will have two army commands, the 1st Army, stationed in 
Istanbul and the 2nd Army to be stationed in Malatya.  Under the new 
structure, force commanders will become deputies to the Chief of 
General Staff.  Outgoing Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok, 
reportedly, designed the plan - a plan on which he started to work 
while he was commander of the Land Forces. 
 
Southern Cyprus to Host UNIFIL Base 
Sabah, Vatan:  Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas said 
yesterday that the UN will use Nicosia, Cyprus as a logistics hub to 
facilitate the speedy deployment of peacekeepers to Lebanon.  While 
some sources say that the center will serve as transit point for the 
movement of troops that will join UNIFIL in Lebanon, other sources 
say that the center will handle only administrative issues. 
 
Oktay Eksi writing in the mass appeal Hurriyet urges Turkey to 
carefully evaluate the role of the UNIFIL forces before committing 
troops: "A cautious attitude on sending troops to Lebanon is the 
right approach.  The unit to be sent to Lebanon will serve in a 
risky region and might have to use arms.  Given the conditions 
there, it is unrealistic to claim that there will be no use of 
weapons.  The definition of the Turkish force's duty is very 
important because Turkish troops should not assume the duty of 
finishing what Israel started since this will only fuel animosity 
toward Turkey.  Sending troops to Lebanon is not against Turkish 
interests as long as the mission is well-defined and it will help 
Turkey to further increase respectability in the region." 
 
Also urging caution, Hasan Mesut Hazar writing from Washington for 
the conservative-nationalist Turkiye, argues that if the role of the 
forces is other than humanitarian "more human tragedy" will be 
inevitable: "Turkey is right not to find the current UN resolution 
satisfactory.  There is still some ambiguity about the international 
force's duties.  In the past, from Cyprus to Africa, from Iraq to 
Israel-Palestine, the UN failed to solve the problems.  The double 
standards used during the deciding stage of the resolutions and the 
implementation of these resolutions created a dysfunctional UN. 
Therefore, it is appropriate for Turkey to approach the mission in 
Lebanon cautiously.  If the peacekeeping force in Lebanon becomes 
engaged in fighting instead of working for humanitarian purposes, 
more human tragedy in the Middle East will be inevitable." 
 
Cross-Border Operations against PKK 
Cumhuriyet, Zaman:  Cumhuriyet reports that Turkey increased 
pressure on the Iraqi government to eliminate the PKK in Northern 
Iraq.  The Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad, Unal Cevikoz, has met 
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to reiterate Turkish demands 
on the issue.  Zebari and Cevikoz discussed moves for the 
elimination of the PKK and for handing over top PKK militants to 
Turkey.  Zebari submitted Turkish requests for cross-border 
operations against the PKK to Kurdish leaders Barzani and Talabani, 
but they both rejected the Turkish request.  Meanwhile, Zaman 
reports that Turkish F-16 jets from the Second Tactical Air Force 
Command at Diyarbakir carried out bomb attacks against the Kani 
Massi and Snaht regions of "South Kurdistan" in northern Iraq. 
 
Lockheed Martin Offers Turkey Advanced Patriot Missile System 
Aksam reports that American company Lockheed Martin offered to sell 
Turkey the PAC-3 missile defense system, an upgraded version of 
Patriot defense missiles.  Turkey's Defense Industry 
 
ANKARA 00004937  002 OF 002 
 
 
Undersecreteriat is expected to release soon a tender for foreign 
companies interested in the program for medium range missile defense 
systems. 
 
Editorial Opinion: "Turkish Self-Confidence and Syrian Double Talk" 
Commenting in the English language The New Anatolian, Cengiz Candar 
warns that Syrian officials should not be trusted: "What is 
annoyingly cynical is Bashar Assad's concern for Lebanese 
sovereignty which has been trampled over for more than two decades 
by Syria.  Syria still does not recognize Lebanon as a sovereign 
nation and does not have any diplomatic relations with it.  Lebanese 
sovereignty for Bashar's regime is synonymous for 'Syrian freedom of 
action in Lebanon' and the unimpeded right of Syria to arm 
Hezbollah.  That is why he sees the deployment of UN troops along 
the Lebanese-Syrian border as a hostile act against Syria.  As long 
as Turkish officials are not naove enough to believe everything that 
they hear (and why) in Damascus and as long as they are able to 
translate Syrian double talk, there is no problem." 
 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV (8 a.m.) 
 
Domestic News 
 
Q Public Sector Union KESK withdraws from collective bargaining 
talks with the government 
Q Outgoing Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok bid farewell to Prime 
Minister Erdogan 
Q Five PKK terrorists give up themselves to the security forces in 
Sirnak 
 
 
International News 
 
Q In a letter to the troops, Israeli army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz 
has acknowledged for the first time that there were shortcomings in 
the military's performance during the recent fight against 
Hezbollah. 
Q Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned that a deployment of 
international troops along Lebanon's border with Syria would be a 
hostile act. 
Q Astronomers downsize solar system from nine planets to eight. 
Pluto loses its planetary status. 
 
  Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON