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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 000121 
 
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 
MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2007 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Armenian Editor-Activist Shot Dead in Istanbul 
All papers:  On 19 January, an unemployed teenager shot dead Hrant 
Dink, editor-in- chief of the Turkish-Armenian Agos weekly, in front 
of the paper's offices in downtown Istanbul.  Dink, of Armenian 
heritage, was active in various democratic platforms and civil 
organizations, promoting free speech and rights issues pertaining to 
the Armenian community in Turkey.   Ogun Samast, the suspect in the 
murder of Dink, was arrested after an image of him caught on 
security cameras was broadcast on television.  On Saturday, police 
captured Samast, 17, at a bus station in the Black Sea coastal town 
of Samsun.  He was carrying a gun at the time.  He told 
investigators he shot Dink because Dink had "insulted Turks." 
Police also detained six other suspects.  Samast and six other 
suspects are being questioned in Istanbul, police said.  One 
suspect, Yasin Hayal, served 11 months in jail for the 2004 bombing 
of a McDonald's restaurant in the Black Sea coastal city of Trabzon. 
 
 
The murderers of Dink and of a Roman Catholic priest in Trabzon a 
year ago are both from Trabzon, are both minors from poor families 
who frequented internet cafes and who were considered quiet types. 
Papers underline that after the killing of the priest, an armed 
attack on the Council of State (Danistay) was carried out and a 
judge was shot.  The assassination of Dink appears to be a 
continuation of the earlier incidents.  People who know Samast said 
he was a high-school dropout, had no job and was spending most of 
his time at internet cafes around his neighborhood. 
 
Dink had written in his last column that he was worried about 
increasing death threats against him.  "What's unbearable is the 
psychological torture that I'm living in, like a pigeon, turning my 
head up and down, left and right, my head quickly rotating."  On 
January 10, he wrote, ''My computer is loaded with e-mails full of 
anger and threats.''  He added that his pleas for official 
protection went unanswered.  "We will silence you in a way that you 
will never speak again," one of the letters said. 
 
On Friday and over the weekend, thousands of Turks rallied to 
express their horror at the killing.  Many well-wishers continue 
condolence visits to Agos daily lighting candles and leaving 
flowers.  Groups protesting the murder chanted "We all are 
Armenians, we all are Kurds, long live the friendship of peoples." 
Various NGOs condemned the assassination during demonstrations 
staged in different cities, including Adana, Van, Izmir, Denizli, 
Diyarbakir, Tunceli, Hatay, and Mersin. 
 
Dink will be laid to rest on Tuesday, January 23.  Foreign Minister 
Abdullah Gul will attend the funeral on behalf of the government. 
Prime Minister Erdogan will reportedly not participate because he 
will be attending the inauguration of the Bolu Mountain pass 
together with visiting Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.  Papers 
say Turkey invited the Yerevan Administration and Armenian diaspora 
and religious leaders toparticipate in the funeral. 
 
Select Headlinesand Quotes on the Murder of Hrant Dink 
''Hrant Dink is Turkey,'' ran a front page headline in the 
mainstream Milliyet.  Sabah said of the killing ''The greatest 
betrayal.''  The Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak carried the headline 
on Saturday, "They have killed our Hrant."  Conservative/opinion 
maker Zaman said 62 journalists have been assassinated in the 
nation's 84-year history.  Many commentaries from over the weekend 
and today urge all the state staff including President Sezer, Prime 
Minister Erdogan, and General Buyukanit to attend Dink's funeral. 
Several columns call on Erdogan to change his mind and attend the 
funeral.  "People would like to see President Sezer, who did not 
feel the need to congratulate Pamuk (for his Nobel award), at the 
funeral of Dink," a commentary in Milliyet said.  Some articles 
 
ANKARA 00000121  002 OF 004 
 
 
blame Erdogan for not having done enough on the issue of Article 301 
and freedom of expression.  "One has the right to remind Prime 
Minister Erdogan, who did not utter a word when a national was 
almost going to be lynched because of Article 301 (referring to an 
incident in Trabzon last year) that he actually paved the way for 
this mad nationalism for the sake of the upcoming elections," said 
columnist Soli Ozel in Sabah over the weekend.  Hurriyet's Ferai 
Tinc holds the state responsible, asking why Dink was left 
unprotected even though he was the target of threats. 
 
Several other columnists worry about the consequences of this murder 
in terms of Turkey's image in the world, emphasizing that this 
incident has strengthened the Armenian diaspora which seeks to 
convict Turkey, and which turned European and US public opinion 
against Turkey.  They say the Dink murder has actually extended 
support to the Armenian genocide draft bill to be debated in the US 
Congress.  Derya Sazak of Milliyet said of Article 301, "This legal 
system brings forward the culture of hatred and lynching, in which 
Dink became an open target.  The murderers always chase moderate 
voices, which Turkey needs the most."  Another Turkish-Armenian 
journalist, Zaman's Etyen Mahcupyan, wrote over the weekend, 
"Perhaps, this is an opportunity for this nation to free itself of 
an identity shaped by bragging and heroic talk, and to create a new 
one.  If the majority is inclined toward violence in a country, if 
the keeper of the land does not want even the doves to live in its 
backyard, then that country is sick.  Turkey is sick.  I have always 
tried to see attempts at healing.  Today, however, I cannot help but 
see only disease". 
 
Turkey's Nobel winning novelist Orhan Pamuk held "Those who defended 
Article 301 and those who still want to keep it" responsible for 
Dink's death.  "Those who carried out a campaign against him, those 
who declared him an enemy of the Turks and pinpointed him as a 
target are responsible for his death," said Pamuk. 
 
The main opposition CHP deputy chairman Onur Oymen accused the 
government of failing to take security measures to protect Dink, 
although he had informed authorities that he was receiving death 
threats.  Nationalist Action Party (MHP) deputy leader Mehmet Sandir 
said Dink was an Armenian writer who had disagreements with the 
Armenian diaspora.  "A new ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for 
Liberation of Armenia) campaign may be launched.  The government 
must take measures to protect our diplomats," said Sandir. 
 
Prime Minister Erdogan said on Friday the fatal shooting of Dink was 
an attack on Turkey's peace and stability.  Deputy Prime Minister 
Premier Abdullatif Sener questioned the timing of the assassination 
of Dink and said the murder might be part of "a well-calculated 
plan."  "The murder should not be seen as an individual case," Sener 
said.  President Sezer said the murder was "ugly and shameful." 
Turkish General Staff (TGS) chief General Yasar Buyukanit strongly 
condemned the heinous attack against Dink.  "The shots fired on 
Hrant Dink were actually fired on Turkey, we expect the perpetrator 
to be caught as soon as possible so that the ugly ploy can be 
revealed," Buyukanit said in a statement. 
 
Editorial Commentary on the Death of Hrant Dink 
Ergun Babahan commented in the mass appeal Sabah (1/22):  "The 
triggerman has been arrested.  The government and the security 
officials in Istanbul are rather proud of themselves for fulfilling 
their duties.  However, they don't deserve any praise because if it 
wasn't for the security camera of a shop at the scene, the murderer 
would have continued to live his life in Trabzon freely.  Hrant Dink 
is not with us today because you failed to do your job properly and 
did not protect him.  One other aspect of the assassination is that 
the people responsible for Hrant Dink's murder are the ones leading 
Turkey into a chauvinistic atmosphere.  Those people who targeted 
Orhan Pamuk each time he opened his mouth, columnists who felt free 
to declare certain people either patriots or traitors, Justice 
Minister Cemil Cicek who defended the Turkish Penal Code's Article 
 
ANKARA 00000121  003 OF 004 
 
 
301 heatedly; these are the reasons that such an atmosphere has been 
established in Turkey.  Was the triggerman acting alone or was he 
the last link in a chain that includes the media, the politicians 
and the military?  It is time to turn and look into the mirror in 
order to come to terms with ourselves and our past." 
 
Mehmet Yilmaz observed in the mass appeal Hurriyet (1/22):  "Hrant 
Dink was a journalist who tried to explain something, but could 
never successfully get his voice heard.  Agos newspaper announced 
that it was Dink's last will that slogans not be chanted at his 
funeral.  Who knows, maybe he wanted us to think quietly while we 
were walking at his funeral.  To think about why he and his brothers 
had Turkish names as well their Armenian names, why he had to have 
his Turkish name on his passport, why an Armenian photographer said 
that his mother always called him by his Turkish name while he was 
playing in the park in Istanbul as a child, why Dink never made 
sergeant during his military service even though he had the 
necessary scores on his tests.  I read his sad life story from the 
papers that he was brought up in an Armenian orphanage in Istanbul 
and it was there that he met his wife.  But even though most of us 
listened to or read his life story with tears in our eyes, I am sure 
that none of us remembered that the Republic of Turkey forced these 
orphanages to shut down by confiscating these foundations' assets. 
Let us all remember that the court cases to correct this situation 
are still with the European Court of Human Rights and there is also 
still legislation in Parliament to address this.  There are so many 
issues we all have to think about while we are crying!" 
 
Can Dundar wrote in the mainstream Milliyet (1/22):  "President 
Sezer should walk right at the front of the funeral tomorrow as a 
symbol of this country's integrity.  The representation of the 
government and the military at the top level will give a message to 
the world that Turkey condemns the assassination.  Turkey now should 
demonstrate bold gestures such as opening the border and starting 
diplomatic relations with Armenia, naming the street on which he was 
assassinated after Dink; having all newspapers distribute copies of 
Agos' as their supplement.  If Turkey could learn lessons from 
Dink's death and use Dink's ideology as a turning point, then it 
will be able to lift its head up and face the world." 
 
Burns Visits Turkey 
Milliyet, Cumhuriyet, Radikal and Zaman reported over the weekend 
State Department Under Secretary Nicholas Burns issued important 
messages during his meetings with Turkish leaders in Ankara; that 
the PKK problem must definitely be solved, the Kirkuk referendum 
should be held this year, Washington will do its best to block a 
possible Armenian genocide bill at the US Congress, and Turkey and 
the US will continue working together in the region as strategic 
partners.  Papers note that Burns has asked Turkey to combat 
terrorism without resorting to cross-border military incursions into 
northern Iraq. 
 
AKP MPs Camp near Ankara 
All papers report Prime Minister Erdogan told a meeting of his 
ruling AKP lawmakers over the weekend in Kizilcahamam near Ankara 
that 2007 will be "a year of competition and a new beginning," in 
remarks perceived by AKP officials and press as a signal indicating 
Erdogan's plans to run for president.  Touching on several issues, 
Erdogan predicted that a USD 10.9 billion debt Turkey owes to the 
IMF will drop to USD 6 billion by the end of 2007.  The PM 
reiterated his government's determination for EU membership, 
stressing that Turkey has done everything in fulfilling its 
responsibilities to that end.  Erdogan also rejected accusations 
that the AKP government has made concessions with regard to the 
Cyprus question. 
 
Baghdad Plane Crash Survivor Sent to Turkey 
Radikal, Cumhuriyet and Zaman reported over the weekend that 
Abdullah Akyuz, the sole survivor of a Moldovan plane carrying 
mostly Turkish workers crash near Baghdad was sent to Turkey on 
 
ANKARA 00000121  004 OF 004 
 
 
Saturday, and is now being treated in a hospital in Ankara.  Akyuz 
is in serious condition, with several fractures and burns over his 
body, yet he appears to be suffering no memory loss, his doctors 
said. 
 
TUSIAD Calls for New Constitution 
All papers reported over the weekend that Turkey's influential 
business group TUSIAD said because Turkey's 1982 Constitution was 
drafted by the military, they were calling for a new constitution 
with the broad participation of the nation.  TUSIAD based its call 
on its 1997 report, "Perspectives for Democratization in Turkey," 
that examined Turkey's democracy in the last decade with several 
recommendations for elections, political parties, and the judiciary. 
 The report says the existing 10-percent national threshold should 
be lowered to 5 percent, the Turkish General Staff affiliated to the 
Defense Ministry, the National Security Council (MGK) be abolished, 
the powers of the president be reduced, and that military courts be 
abolished. 
 
 
TV News: 
(NTV, 7.00 A.M.) 
 
Domestic News 
 
- The Turkish Parliament will hold a closed session Tuesday to 
debate developments in Iraq. 
 
- EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss direct trade 
with Turkish Cyprus. 
 
- The Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I will deliver a speech 
Monday on inter-religious dialogue at the Parliamentary Assembly of 
the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg. 
 
- A 5.0-magnitude earthquake was reported Sunday morning in the 
eastern province of Agri.  There are reportedly no casualties. 
 
- Financial Times report the emerging markets bank Standard 
Chartered is the frontrunner to buy medium-size Turkish lender 
Oyakbank in a deal that could be worth USD 2 billion. 
 
International News 
 
- President Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan website claimed 
the US was preparing for the establishment of a military base in 
northern Iraq on the border with Iran. 
 
- President Papadopoulos said he will not accept procedures designed 
to create two separate legal entities in Cyprus. 
 
- Palestinian President Abbas and exiled Hamas leader Meshaal kick 
off talks to establish a national unity government. 
 
- Hillary Clinton holds an early lead over other top candidates in 
the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. 
 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON