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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006415 
 
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 
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2006 
 
  In Today's Papers 
 
  The Alliance of Civilizations Meeting 
  All papers reported that a group of twenty prominent world figures 
met in Istanbul yesterday and issued a report calling for urgent 
efforts to heal the growing divide between the Muslim and Western 
worlds.  The report said that the main causes of the rift between 
Muslim and Western societies are not religion or history, but recent 
political developments, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict along with Western military interventions in countries like 
Iraq and Afghanistan.  In a speech to the group, PM Erdogan said 
that the Alliance of Civilizations initiative is the "global peace 
project of the 21st century."  UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said 
that the problem is "not the Koran, the Old Testament or the Bible; 
the problem is political." 
 
  Iraq and the PKK 
  Several Iraq-related stories are covered in the Turkish press. 
Cumhuriyet and Milliyet report that the Iraqi government issued a 
report naming 42 terrorist organizations in Iraq and that the PKK 
was not among them. Hurriyet and Sabah report that Iraqi Prime 
Minister Nuri al-Maliki will come to Ankara on November 15-16 and 
will have meetings with President Sezer, PM Erdogan and FM Gul. 
Iraqi Special Envoy for Countering the PKK Shirwan al-Waili, 
reportedly, will be accompanying the Prime Minister to Ankara. 
 
  In addition, Hurriyet, Milliyet, Cumhuriyet, Vatan and others 
cover the remarks of US Democrat Party leader Howard Dean during an 
interview with Fox TV.  The papers report Dean said that the PKK 
problem stems from the US occupation of Iraq and that if the US 
hadn't gone into Iraq, PKK terror wouldn't be a serious problem. 
"Turkey is one of our most important allies.  The PKK terrorist 
organization conducts activities in Turkey and this may cause Turkey 
to enter northern Iraq.  Turkey's intervention in Iraq would be the 
worst thing that could happen," Dean said. 
 
  Survey on Attitudes towards EU, Foreign Relations 
  Yeni Safak gives extensive front page coverage to a survey carried 
out by polling company ANAR.  The survey shows that 54.1% of the 
interviewed supported Turkey's EU accession, and 37.1% objected to 
EU membership.  60.1% of the interviewed were skeptical about 
Turkey's EU membership, believing that Turkey would never be 
admitted into the EU.  When asked which relationships should be 
given more importance in foreign affairs, 31.6% said the EU, 22.9% 
said the Turkic world, 21.3% said the Islamic world, 15.2% said 
neighboring countries, 3.3% said the US, and 3.9% said "other." 
ANAP, conducting the survey for Yeni Safak, queried a random 
sampling of 2640 people in 12 provinces. 
 
  TV Highlights 
  NTV (7 A.M.) 
 
  Domestic News 
 
  - Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir rejects allegations that he used 
municipal vehicles to carry supplies for PKK 
  - 50 people have been detained in Sivas for trafficking narcotics 
  - An Istanbul court sentenced former DYP deputy Sedat Bucak to one 
year 15 days imprisonment on charges of assisting and sheltering an 
organized crime organization in the Susurluk case. 
 
  International News 
 
  - Armenian lobby groups in the US are pressing the Bush 
Administration to withdraw the nomination of Richard Hoagland as 
Ambassador to Armenia. 
  - Austrian Foreign Minister Plassnik suggests a "time-out" may be 
wise in the EU membership talks with Turkey 
  - A bomb planted in a minibus exploded in eastern Baghdad killing 
 
ANKARA 00006415  002 OF 002 
 
 
16 people 
  - The Arab league has decided to lift the American-led embargo 
against PalestineVisit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON