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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 000317 
 
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@SDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2007 
 
 
General ttee Chairman Tom 
Lantos, who had been a leading supporter of Turkey for years in 
blocking the Armenian genocide bills.  Being aware of the importance 
of the Jewish lobby in efforts to block the Armenian Genocide Bill, 
the Turkish General Staff sent a note to Lantos and other 
representatives close to the Jewish lobby last week detailing the 
history of military cooperation between Turkey and Israel.  Congress 
sources say that the note had a positive affect on some 
representatives and made them withdraw support for the Armenian 
genocide bill.  Today, Buyukanit, will stress to Lantos that the 
possible acceptance by the US Congress of this bill could have a 
serious impact on relations between Turkey and the US. 
 
Editorial Commentary on Turkey-Armenia, Armenian Resolution in the 
US 
Cengiz Candar argues in the economic-political daily Referans that 
is time for Turkey to "change its established lines" in its Armenia 
policy:  "Turkey needs to make a distinction between its approach to 
the diaspora, its treatment of Armenian citizens in Turkey, and its 
relationship with Armenia.  These three are certainly correlated, 
however; finely-tuned politics requires the ability to make a 
distinction among them.  If Turkey establishes diplomatic ties with 
Armenia and opens the border, not only will it help us to gain more 
geopolitical influence by opening the only closed border gate in 
Europe, but it will also be a good gesture to our citizens of 
Armenian origin.  Such a policy approach can ease the relationship 
within the EU process and provide an easing of Turkish-American 
ties, too.  Apart from that at least some in the Armenian diaspora 
will be disarmed if such a policy change is implemented.  Having 
diplomatic ties with Armenia and having an open border gate does not 
necessarily mean that Ankara agrees with Yerevan on everything. 
Just an example: We have diplomatic and cultural ties with France, 
but at the same time we have a wide variety of political disputes 
with Paris.  Turkey rightfully disapproves of the Armenian 
occupation of Nagorno Karabakh.  Yet if we continue to act with this 
rationale, shouldn't we cut ties with the US due to its occupation 
of Iraq?  Diplomatic, commercial and economic ties with Armenia do 
not require Turkey's recognition of Karabakh's current status.  If 
there was such a prevailing rule, Turkey should not have 
relationship with countries that do not recognize the existence of 
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.  This is the very time to 
change the establisoreign eon or not.  Qo far, resolutions to this effect were 
prevented by US administrations.  US Presidents did not mention the 
word 'genocide' in their April 24 messages.  This somehow created 
joy in Turkey and was presented as a foreign policy achievement.  In 
reality, we accepted that it was okay for US presidents to imply 
genocide as long as they did not pronounce the word.  American 
administrations exerted such efforts [to prevent a resolution] with 
the argument of 'not harming Turkish-American ties.'  This argument 
by itself is an indication that the US takes the genocide claim as 
an undeniable fact.  The policy is basically about this: 'genocide 
happened but we should not accept it now for the sake of our 
relations with Turks.'  One commentator was suggesting that 
international arbitration might be a good way to deal with the 
issue.  I believe that there should be a search for other ways to 
 
ANKARA 00000317  002 OF 004 
 
 
deal with such a chronic issue.  It seems now is the time to listen 
to different voices." 
 
PKK in Europe 
Sabah, Hurriyet, Milliyet, Aksam and others:  Papers report that 
Patrick Devedjian, an adviser to French interior Minister Nicolas 
Sarkozy, met with 14 PKK militants who were arrested in Paris, and 
tried to convince them that Sarkozy played no role in the 
in the operations in Europ.  Altayli stressed that his paper's 
Parisrepresentative interviewed Judge Thiery Fragnoli of the 
Anti-Terror department in Paris and heard from him that the 
operations in Paris were launched to stop money laundering there; it 
is not Europe-wide operations; and the US had no influence over such 
operations. 
 
Greek Daily Interviews PKK Leader Aydar 
The leftist/nationalist Cumhuriyet carries on page one excerpts of 
an interview Zubeyir Aydar, a leader of the outlawed PKK, gave to 
the Greek daily Elefterotipia in Brussels.  Aydar said the 
EU-inspired democratic changes such as Kurdish television and radio 
stations in Turkey's southeast were "positive, but not sufficient." 
Aydar said he preferred Turkey to proceed on the path toward the EU. 
 "Turkey's derailment on the road to EU will make it more 
militaristic which will result in more bloodshed in the region."  On 
the role of the US in the region, Aydar said, "The United States is 
our protector coming from a long way.  US troops cannot pullout of 
Iraq, because such a withdrawal will bring massacres at 
unprecedented scales in northern Iraq and the rest of the country." 
Aydar praised Massoud Barzani's call for an amnesty for the PKK in 
Turkey, maintaining that Turkish authorities, the US anti-terrorism 
envoy, and the regional authorities needed to talk with the PKK if 
they wanted to grasp the Kurdish reality.  He said the PKK will 
never lay down its arms unless their conditions are met.  "If we lay 
down arms," Aydar stressed, "Our strongest trump card will be lost." 
 
 
Olmert Due in Ankara on Thursday 
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, Zaman, Yeni Safak 
and others report Prime Minister Erdogan has warned his Israeli 
counterpart Ehud Olmert a day before he arrives for talks in Ankara 
that Israel should respect Muslim feelings and reconsider plans for 
archaeological excavation work near the Muslim holy place al-Aqsa in 
Jerusalem.  Erdogan underlined that Turkey was disturbed by the 
Israeli construction work which came when new opportunities were 
seen regarding the revival of the Middle East peace process, when 
Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a unity government in Palestine. 
Erdogan added that Muslims' approval was needed before any new step 
to be taken in Jerusalem, urging Israel to respect international 
agreements with regard to the protection  City 
Te liberal/intellectual Radikal reports tensions are rising in 
Turkey's Mediterranean port city of Mersin due to the activities of 
ultra-nationalist groups in the town, 40 percent of whose population 
is Kurdish.  Although there are currently no problems between the 
Turks and Kurds, the rising nationalism in the city may cause ethnic 
tensions.  Kemal Canay, the head of the Mersin branch of National 
Forces, a racist-nationalist association, was seen last week in 
 
ANKARA 00000317  003 OF 004 
 
 
televised video footage of an swearing-in ceremony saying to a group 
of members that they had a list of 13,500 "traitors," who would be 
"called to account."  Canay said, "Some 90 percent of those who 
commit offences in Mersin come from the east.  Mersin has been 
invaded by the PKK and Zionists.  The Turks do not commit crimes." 
The Mersin branch of the Izmir-based Turkist-Nationalist Ethnic 
Association had earlier launched a campaign for halting the increase 
of Kurdish population.  In April last year, the Patriotic Forces 
Union had organized a "flag march" in which 20,000 participants 
carried a 2-kilometer long Turkish flag, chanting "Mersin is 
Turkish, will stay Turkish."  The far-right Nationalist Action Party 
(MHP) and pro-Kurdish DTP told Radikal they disapprove of such 
associations seeking to see a confrontation between different 
ethniciti`hts 
NTV (6 A.M.) 
 
Domekish Parliament rejected tionn detained in the central Anato,ian 
city of Kayseri for sending threatening mail to the Turkish-Armenian 
bilingual daily Agos. 
 
- A Prosecutor has demanded up to 15 years in prison for heating 
system attendant Esref Aydin for the boiler fault which blew up a 
five-storey building used to house military families in Diyarbakir 
last year, killing eight people. 
 
- The deadly bird flu virus has been detected in Esentepe village in 
the southeastern province of Batman. 
 
- The Turkish Parliament is to set up a special commission to 
research the impacts of global warming. 
 
International News 
 
- Addressing an EU seminar in northern Cyprus, Turkish Cyprus leader 
Mehmet Ali Talat said his country would join the EU as soon as the 
Cyprus question is resolved. 
 
- General Peter Pace, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 
the discovery that explosive devices in Iraq were made in Iran does 
not necessarily mean the Iranian government was involved in 
supplying insurgents. 
 
- Italian authorities have uncovered an arms smuggling ring 
preparing to transfer over 500,000 weapons and ammunition from 
Russia and China to Iraq and Libya. 
 
- Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders said the Koran contains "plenty of 
terrible things," and that "If Muslims want to stay in the 
Netherlands, they should throw away half the Koran." 
 
- A Belgian government-backed report blames Belgian authorities and 
the ruling elite for collaborating with the Nazis persecuting Jews 
during World War II. 
 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
 
ANKARA 00000317  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
WILSON