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Viewing cable 06ANKARA6143, ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06ANKARA6143 2006-10-27 12:57 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Ankara
VZCZCXRO2307
OO RUEHDA
DE RUEHAK #6143/01 3001257
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271257Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9650
RUEKJCS/CJCS WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC//PA
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU
INFO RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS 7544
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1519
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1271
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 5531
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 5247
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1912
RUEUITH/DET 1 39LG ANKARA TU
RHMFIUU/USDOCO 6ATAF IZMIR TU
RHMFIUU/39OS INCIRLIK AB TU
RHMFIUU/AFOSI DET 523 IZMIR TU
RHMFIUU/39ABG INCIRLIK AB TU
RHMFIUU/AFOSI DET 522 INCIRLIK AB TU
RUEUITH/AFLO ANKARA TU
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 006143 
 
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, OCTOBER 27, 2006 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Afghanistan 
Milliyet reports Turkey will send a brigadier general to the 
multinational force command in Afghanistan to be commanded by an 
American full general.  Also, a Turkish brigadier general will take 
over the Kabul Regional Command in April to serve until the end of 
next year.  Turkey will increase troops in Afghanistan to 900 from 
the existing 620.  A high-level military source told Milliyet 
"Turkey will of course send troops to Afghanistan.  What we have 
been saying from the outset is that the ISAF mission does not 
include fighting against terrorism." 
 
Additionally, several papers report some 85 villagers were killed in 
a NATO military strike against suspected Taliban militants in the 
insurgents' former southern stronghold of Kandahar, according to 
Afghan officials.  The UN Afghanistan mission has asked for a 
comprehensive investigation into the incident. 
 
Commenting in leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet, Mumtaz Soysal, argues 
that Turkey should not be drawn into the fight against the Taliban 
in Afghanistan:  "The pain and agony of Afghanis never end.  They 
used to suffer from Taliban fundamentalists, a radical group created 
and established by the US in order to counter the Soviet Union, and 
they are now living in the crossfire with Western soldiers.  As the 
recent story about German soldiers in Afghanistan indicates, the 
suffering of the Afghani people is continuing one way or the other. 
Interestingly enough, the story about German soldiers coincided with 
the NATO efforts to move combat forces to areas outside of Kabul. 
Germany has been very cooperative with the US so far, and it remains 
to be seen whether this request will also be accepted by Berlin. 
Turkey also received the same request and was asked to fight against 
Taliban.  Fortunately, the Turkish Chief of General Staff was smart 
enough to make clear that Turkey cannot do this and he made his 
statement even when the question was still in the rumor stage. 
Let's hope that the government of Turkey also shows similar smarts." 
 
 
Edelman, Satterfield on Iraq, the PKK 
All-news broadcasters NTV, CNN-Turk and Skyturk-TV reported in their 
main newscasts and early morning news programs that Undersecretary 
of Defense Eric Edelman said at the Turkish National Day reception 
at the Turkish Embassy in Washington that the US Administration was 
not considering relocating troops in Iraq to be stationed in the 
north of the country.  "The Baghdad government opposes the partition 
of Iraq, and the US supports Iraq's integrity," Edelman said, 
stressing again that "No one in the US Administration wants Iraq 
divided." 
 
Meanwhile, at a press conference in Washington, State Department 
Iraq Coordinator David Satterfield responded to a question by saying 
"We are not happy with the progress recorded against the PKK.  More 
forward steps are needed to ensure that the PKK will not resume its 
operations in the future," indirectly criticizing the Iraqi Kurds. 
Satterfield emphasized that the terrorist organization must lay down 
its arms immediately. 
 
Writing in the economic-political daily Dunya, Haluk Ulman compares 
the war in Iraq to the war in Vietnam: "President Bush finally 
admitted that the situation in Iraq was worsening although this was 
basically an expression of the de facto situation.  It took a very 
long time for Bush to see the reality in Iraq -- he was receiving 
lots of comments as well as warnings from observers about the 
situation resembling Vietnam ever since the beginning of the Iraq 
invasion.  When it comes down to the two bloody situations, there 
are certainly many similarities between the-then picture in Vietnam 
and the current picture in Iraq.  However there is also a big 
difference between the two.  When the US decided to pull out from 
Vietnam, there was at least an authority to take over the 
administration.  In Iraq, there is no organized power who can take 
 
ANKARA 00006143  002 OF 004 
 
 
responsibility from the US since the country has been driven into 
chaos and anarchy.  President Bush is facing trouble both militarily 
and politically.  Whether and how he will be able to overcome this 
trouble will be interesting to watch." 
 
Cengiz Candar, commenting in the conservative Bugun, suggests that 
Turkey undergo a "comprehensive mentality change" regarding 
strategic policy issues:  "On Iraq, the ongoing approach is almost 
narrowed down to being anti-American and waiting for the failure of 
the Bush administration's policy.  In fact, there are many 
developments in our neighborhood which require that we better shape 
a political stance by evaluating the situation independent from 
domestic political considerations.  The recent proposal on Iraq by 
Richard Holbrooke, who is potentially a strong figure for the 
Secretary of State position in a Democrat Party administration, is 
 
SIPDIS 
good enough to shake nkara.  Holbrooke is clearly asking for a 
polcy change in Iraq and suggesting the transfer o American troops 
to northern Iraq.  Let's notforget that Senator Biden, to whom 
Holbrooke made reference in his open letter to Bush, has been a 
staunch supporter of dividing Iraq into three.  The main point is 
this: Do we, as Turkey, have a political stance on this and other 
proposals?  Do we have a game plan?  Has Turkey prepared a project 
to ensure its security and Iraq's stability?  If we cannot provide 
positive answers to these questions, the rest is doomed to be empty 
talk." 
 
Barroso on Turkey's EU Drive, van der Linden Visits Turkey 
All papers report in a statement to Italian daily Corriere Della 
Sera, a pessimistic European Commission President Jose Manuel 
Barroso said Turkey was running late on reforms required for 
membership.  "We hope the EU term president Finland can prevent 
aborting the negotiations.  But honestly, I am really worried," 
Barroso said. 
 
On the other hand, Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe 
(PACE) Chairman Rene van der Linden met with Foreign Minister 
Abdullah Gul in Ankara on his four-day official visit to Turkey with 
a 28-member delegation.  No statement was made after the meeting. 
The PACE Chairman later said he did not expect a "train crash" 
during Turkey's EU drive.  Friday Linden will join a roundtable 
meeting held by the prestigious Bilgi University in Istanbul. 
Poll: Turkish University Students on Honor Killings 
Hurriyet and Radikal report that in the eastern city of Van, despite 
an attempt by her father to protect her, a 15-year old girl, who had 
a baby without being married, was killed by her brother for damaging 
the family's honor.  Papers quote the local public prosecutor as 
saying that the family decided to designate the brother to kill the 
girl, in order to remove what they saw as "a stain on their honor." 
 
 
Additionally, Hurriyet carries a public opinion survey conducted 
among 4,449 university students which indicates that 55.3 percent 
believe girls must preserve their virginity until marriage whereas 
32.4 percent disagree, with only 5.4 percent saying virginity was 
"an old tradition."  30.9 percent of the Firat University students 
in eastern Turkey say honor killings may be committed, followed by 
28.8 in the Adana-based Cukurova University, 18.7 in the 
conservative Selcuk University in Konya, 17.1 in the 19 Mayis 
University in the Black Sea city of Samsun, 9.8 in the Akdeniz 
University in the Mediterranean city of Antalya.  The lowest 
approval for honor killings came from major cities Istanbul and 
Ankara with 3.4 percent from Istanbul's Bogazici University and 3.1 
from Ankara's Hacettepe University. 
 
Islamist Company Transfers Funds to 'Naksibendi' Sect 
Hurriyet, Milliyet and Radikal have been demanding the arrest of 
pro-Islamic businessman Dursun Uyar for collecting enormous funds 
from devout masses in Turkey and Germany before going bankrupt four 
years ago.  Uyar, the owner of the Islamist Yimpas Holding, was 
sentenced to prison.  His case is pending at the Supreme Court of 
 
ANKARA 00006143  003 OF 004 
 
 
Appeals.  Hurriyet says for the past four years the Duyar file has 
been shelved at the Court of Appeals and in another eight months the 
case will be thrown out because of the statute of limitations, 
reporting on Sunday that despite an Interpol arrest warrant, he was 
seen with four cabinet ministers attending a funeral on Friday. 
Hurriyet and Milliyet also cite the German Die Welt reporting part 
of the money collected by Yimpas in Germany, 29 million Australian 
Dollars, had been transferred to the leader of the influential 
Naksibendi sect, Muharrem Cosan, in Australia, and another part to 
the sect members in Turkey.  The Die Welt report claimed Prime 
Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Gul also belonged to the 
Naksibendi sect. 
 
Turkish Engineers Claim Bush, IMF Intervened in Cargill Case 
Radikal reports Turkish Chambers of Engineers' Union TMMOB has 
warned parliamentarians in a letter that a court ruling stipulating 
the closure of Cargill facilities in the Bursa province had been 
turned down by the higher court (Danistay), emphasizing that 
President Bush and the IMF had intervened to see a solution to the 
problems of the US food giant's facilities which had been built 
illegally on agricultural land.  TMMOB said a recent bill enacted to 
take the issue out of judiciary control was a violation of the 
principles of a law state. 
 
TUSIAD Invites Armenian Businessmen to Turkey 
The economic/political daily Referans reports Turkey's influential 
business group TUSIAD has invited Armenian businessmen to Turkey to 
join a meeting of the Black Sea and Caspian industrialists to be 
held November 27 in Istanbul. 
 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV (8 a.m.) 
 
Domestic News 
 
- Prime Minister Erdogan told the London-based Al-Hayat daily the US 
and its coalition partners have failed in the war in Iraq. 
 
- The US Land Forces Commander General Peter Schoomaker is to meet 
Friday with the Turkish Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug 
as well as Turkish General Staff Chief General Yasar Buyukanit in 
Ankara. 
 
- Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will participate in the 14th 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Council 
of Ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday. 
 
- On Friday, the EU Commission is expected to release the first part 
of a Euro 259 million package of financial support to Turkish 
Cyprus. 
 
- The former chief of IMF Turkey Desk Reza Moghadam said Turkey has 
achieved a significant economic success, and macroeconomic stability 
and structural reforms should be continued to maintain this 
achievement. 
 
International News 
 
- Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in skirmishes in the Gaza 
Strip on Thursday. 
 
- An Israeli high court has rejected a plea of Palestinian villagers 
who were affected by the Israeli security fence which traversed 
their lands. 
 
- Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas stressed they had 
abandoned the 'good-boy policy' in the controversy regarding the 
access of Greek Cypriot vessels to Turkish ports. 
 
 
ANKARA 00006143  004 OF 004 
 
 
- Some 30,000 Greek teachers rallied in Athens and Salonika while 
civil servants staged a nationwide strike in support over teachers' 
demands for pay hikes. 
 
  Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON