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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 006374 
 
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 
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2006 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
State Funeral to be Held for Ecevit 
All papers report former Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who passed 
away over the weekend at age 81, will be laid to rest in a state 
funeral to be held in Ankara on Saturday. 
The Turkish Parliament held a special session yesterday in honor of 
Ecevit.  Prime Minister Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK 
Party that the former PM had left "lasting traces in Turkish 
democracy, and took his place in the history of politics as a 
distinguished person with his knowledge and courtesy."  Turkish 
General Staff (TGS) Chief General Yasar Buyukanit said after calling 
on Ecevit's widowed wife Rahsan that the nation felt deep pain over 
losing Ecevit.  On Tuesday, many politicians, bureaucrats, and 
friends and supporters extended condolences to Rahsan Ecevit, who 
reportedly requested that the funeral be delayed until the weekend 
to enable civil servants and workers to take part in the event. 
Mainstream papers continue to speculate that secular anti-AKP groups 
would stage a mass rally following Saturday's funeral at the 
Kocatepe Mosque in the Turkish capital.  The ruling AKP said its 
party congress to be held on the same day will not be postponed. 
 
Bulent Ecevit, born on May 28, 1925 in Istanbul, served as prime 
minister from January 1999 to November 2002 as well as on four 
previous occasions in the 1970s.  Ecevit, also a writer, translator 
and journalist, quit active politics in 2004. 
 
EU to Release Turkey Progress Report 
All papers report the EU Commission is to release today a progress 
report that will shape the future of Turkey's EU membership 
negotiations.  The report will warn that accession talks would 
suffer if Turkey declines to open its ports and airports to Greek 
Cypriot traffic.  Papers expect the EU Commission to delay a 
recommendation on whether to suspend the talks because of the Cyprus 
controversy until the beginning of December.  Hurriyet says the EU's 
next term president Germany, unwilling to deal with the Cyprus 
question, insists that the issue be resolved in three weeks.  Zaman 
comments the approximate one-month period till the EU summit could 
be used by "non-EU actors" to influence the developments, saying the 
US could step in to seek a breakthrough in Cyprus.  Sabah says that 
a recent statement of Prime Minister Erdogan concerning possible 
changes to Article 301 of the penal code had helped prevent a 
head-on collision with the EU. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn 
had welcomed the Erdogan statement.  According to papers, the report 
will also mention that the Turkish judiciary was not independent, 
underlining that Turkey had failed to curb the influence of the 
military in Turkish politics.  Violations of human rights continue. 
Non-Muslim minority foundations have been denied property rights, 
and Halki Seminary is still closed.  There is no mere military 
solution to the Kurdish problem, according to the forthcoming report 
which also calls for dialogue with the elected local officials in 
southeast Turkey. 
 
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday ties between Turkey and 
the EU were improving, adding he expected no crisis following the 
release of the report. 
 
Hurriyet reports the outgoing EU Commission Turkey representative 
Hansjorg Kretschmer will be replaced by Ambassador Marc Pierini, who 
is expected to present his credentials to President Sezer soon. 
Pierini, a member of the European Commission for approximately 30 
years, was the EU representative in Morocco, Syria and Tunisia 
before being appointed to Turkey. 
 
Turkish Jetfighters Fly Unarmed over the Aegean 
Hurriyet, Cumhuriyet and Zaman report that following the official 
visit of the Turkish General Staff (TGS) Chief General Yasar 
Buyukanit to Greece earlier this month, on Monday Turkish 
jetfighters began unarmed flights over the Aegean.  The Greek press 
 
ANKARA 00006374  002 OF 003 
 
 
has welcomed the development as an unprecedented goodwill gesture 
made by Turkey.  Hurriyet cites the leading Greek daily Ta Nea as 
reporting that the unarmed flights by Turkish jetfighters had been 
"a first in the last decade," defining it as a "goodwill gesture" 
from Turkey. 
 
$ 1 Million from the US for Avian Influenza Preparedness 
Yeni Safak reports that in a ceremony at the Ministry of Agriculture 
and Rural Development, US Ambassador Ross Wilson, Minister Mehdi 
Eker and World Bank Country Director Andrew Vorkink, signed the 
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant 
agreement in the amount of $1 million for Turkey's Avian Influenza 
Preparedness.  US Ambassador Ross Wilson stressed that $ 1 million 
grant will support development of safer poultry raising practices 
that will benefit rural farmers in the country. 
 
 
Belgian Appeal Court Verdict on Fehriye Erdal and on DHKP-C 
All papers report that Gentz Court of Appeals in Belgium revealed 
its reasoned verdict about members of the illegal Revolutionary 
People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) on Tuesday.  In its 
250-page reasoned verdict, the court described the DHKP-C as a 
terrorist organization and criminal gang and approved the verdict 
for Fehriye Erdal and ten other DHKP-C members. 
 
Editorial Commentary on Saddam Hussein, Iraq 
Gulay Gokturk argued in the conservative Bugun:  "Despite all of his 
crimes, Saddam will be recorded in the history books as a leader 
hanged by invasion forces in a country under occupation and ruled by 
a puppet government.  Ironically enough, the US is preparing for the 
death by hanging for Saddam on one hand, but at the same time is 
looking for a Saddam-like leader in order to keep Iraq territorially 
intact.  This kind of ending in Iraq is not a surprse at all.  It 
had to end this way because thre was no way for the invaders or the 
supportrs of the invasion to be right.  The invasion right from the 
start was against all the internationally accepted rules and 
principles, and time only proved that once again.  It is sadly true 
that we shall probably see more lives lost before the world accepts 
that imposing social engineering models on others can never work. 
Every society has to make progress at its own pace." 
 
Mehmet Tezkan argued in the mass appeal Vatan: "The debate over the 
Saddam verdict centers on whether it should be immediately executed 
or not.  Nobody is questioning whether he is guilty or not.  Shiite 
Arabs prefer an immediate execution of the death penalty because of 
the Dujail massacre while Sunni Arabs feel uneasy about the 
execution fearing a civil war.  Kurds on the other hand prefer that 
other cases against Saddam be taken up before execution of this 
verdict.  They want to see an official recognition of the Halapja 
massacre committed by Saddam, as they believe that it could serve as 
a strong card to play in the international political arena.  The 
truth is Saddam will be hanged sooner or later.  But that event will 
also be the beginning of colossal turmoil in Iraq.  Iraq is already 
experiencing a de facto division and Saddam's death will only 
accelerate the division process.  Realizing its failure in Iraq, the 
US started making plans to pull out.  This indicates that Washington 
acknowledges the fact that Iraq cannot be kept together any more. 
An Iraq divided into three is becoming a truth and Turkey had better 
make its game plan, acknowledging this very obvious point." 
 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV (7 A.M.) 
 
Domestic News 
 
- Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero and UNSYG Annan will visit Turkey 
on November 11 to join a high-level group meeting of the Alliance of 
Civilizations Initiative as well as to meet with Prime Minister 
Erdogan in Istanbul on November 12. 
 
ANKARA 00006374  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
- On November 18, Prime Minister Erdogan will participate in a 
meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations Initiative in New York 
where he will come together with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero and 
UNSYG Annan during his two-day stay in the US. 
 
- Prime Minister Erdogan will travel to Latvia on November 28-29 to 
take part in a NATO summit of 26 heads of state and government. 
 
- The main opposition CHP has filed a motion to declare the 13 
southeastern provinces hit by flash floods an emergency zone. 
 
- About 20 students were detained in protests against Turkey's High 
Education Board YOK at the Black Sea Technical University in the 
northern city of Trabzon. 
 
International News 
 
- US voters headed to polls in which some 200 million Americans are 
expected to vote for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 
33 of the 100 seats in the Senate, and 36 of the 50 state governors. 
 
 
- UN Environment Program executive director Achim Steiner said a UN 
team carrying out an environmental assessment of Lebanon after this 
summer's Israel-Hezbollah war confirmed that the Israeli forces used 
artillery containing white phosphorous. 
 
- New rules go into effect at EU airports according to which 
passengers are allowed to take only small amounts of liquids 
onboard. 
 
- Mortar attacks on a coffee shop in a Shiite neighborhood in north 
Baghdad killed at least 14 people. 
 
  Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON