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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000666 
 
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, MARCH 23, 2007 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Egypt's Mubarak Visits Turkey 
All papers report visiting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met with 
Prime Minister Erdogan and Turkish General Staff (TGS) chief Yasar 
Buyukanit on Thursday.  Mubarak, at a joint press conference with 
President Sezer at the end of their talks yesterday, said ties 
between Turkey and Egypt have reached a new dimension after signing 
of a free trade agreement.  Sezer described Egypt as a key partner 
and a friend of Turkey.  Sezer pointed to the problems in the Middle 
East, saying they reflected a general mood of desperation.  Sezer 
reportedly asked Mubarak in their meeting to suspend a controversial 
agreement with the Greek Cypriots for oil exploration in eastern 
Mediterranean.  Mubarak, declining to make a clear response to 
Sezer, said Turkey and Egypt should intensify consultations to 
resolve the disagreement.  Mubarak is expected to depart Ankara 
Friday afternoon after meeting with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. 
 
 
Investigation into Police Negligence in Hrant Dink Murder 
Hurriyet, Milliyet,Vatan, and others:  Investigating possible 
negligence in Hrant Dink's murder, Interior Ministry inspectors 
claimed that the Istanbul police Department didn't do enough to 
prevent the assassination of journalist Hrant Dink and demanded 
Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah be tried for negligence. 
The Inspectors' report also said that the Intelligence Department 
chief Ahmet Ilhan Guler should stand trial for breach of duty.  The 
report highlighted that although the Trabzon Police department sent 
information regarding a possible assassination of Dink to them, the 
Istanbul Police department failed to take measures to prevent it. 
 
Arinc Letter to Pelosi on the Armenian Resolution; Opening of 
Akdamar Church 
Milliyet, Zaman, Sabah, Hurriyet, and others:  Parliament Speaker 
Arinc sent a letter to Speaker of US House of Representatives, Nancy 
Pelosi and requested her to prevent the passage of the Armenian 
genocide resolution.  In his letter Arinc highlighted the strong 
alliance and friendship between Turkey and the US and noted that the 
passage of the resolution would deeply hurt US-Turkey relations, as 
well as Turkish-Armenian relations. 
 
Meanwhile, talking to Anatolia News Agency (AA), Armenian Patriarch 
Mesrob II said that an Armenian resolution by the US Congress would 
not bring any benefit and would have a negative impact on the 
dialogue between Turkey and Armenia.  The Patriarch also said that 
the name of the church on Akdamar Island in Van is not Akdamar 
Church, but "Surp (Sacred) Cross Armenian Church."  He had suggested 
to the government that cross ceremonies should be held at that 
church every year, however, he has not gotten any response yet. 
Milliyet reports that Armenian Foreign Minister Oskanian said that 
they have received an invitation from Turkey for the ceremony of the 
opening of the restored church but the fact that the border between 
Turkey and Armenia is closed would cause them major difficulty in 
traveling there.  He added that "it takes only four hours to get 
from Yerevan to Van and if Turkey wants to make a gesture, it should 
open the border." 
 
Kurdish Leaders Face Probe over Nevruz Remarks 
All papers report the office of the prosecutor in Diyarbakir has 
initiated legal action against Kurdish party DTP leader Ahmet Turk 
and former Kurdish lawmaker and activist Leyla Zana for their 
speeches made during Nevruz celebrations.  Turk had called the PKK 
leader Abdullah Ocalan "Mr." whereas Zana cited Iraqi President 
Jalal Talabani, northern Iraqi administration president Massoud 
Barzani and Ocalan as "the three leaders of the Kurdish people." 
Turk and Zana will be tried under Article 215 of the Turkish Penal 
Code for "praising a crime and a criminal." 
 
Editorial Commentary on Palestine, Iraq 
 
ANKARA 00000666  002 OF 003 
 
 
Abdulhamit Bilici writes in the intellectual Islamist-oriented daily 
Zaman:  "Israel not only pressured for an embargo against Palestine 
but also put the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian 
administration and parliamentarians in prison.  Every country in the 
region considers the West's treatment of Palestinian politics as an 
indication of the clear double standard.  The never-ending democracy 
rhetoric contradicts the fact that some of the elected Palestinian 
deputies are imprisoned.  Had the efforts intensified toward 
encouraging Hamas' participation in the democratic process, the 
situation could be different and better.  Instead, Hamas was given 
discouraging signals regarding democratization.  The fact that Hamas 
agreed to share the government with Fatah, even though it didn't 
have to, was not enough to end the embargo against Palestine. 
Advocating flexibility is more important than ever in the Middle 
East.  Hamas presents its flexibility and gets a tough stance in 
return, which shows that Israel is the uncompromising side in this 
dispute." 
 
Adnan Bostancioglu observes in the leftist daily Birgun:  "After 
four years of occupation, everybody points to the severe problems of 
instability, poverty and other issues in Iraq.  Can we possibly 
believe that Iraq is heading toward a period where the insurgency 
will diminish, sectarian clashes will be replaced by the national 
consensus and Iraq will end up being a state of laws, as the US 
official statements claim?  The reality says just the opposite.  The 
insurgency is growing even more than ever before and security cannot 
be established across the country despite the presence of 140,000 
occupation forces.  Al Qaeda which was not significant in Iraq 
before the occupation has now become the strongest organization. 
Given the situation, it remains a daydream to hope that the US will 
be successful by adding 20,000 troops.  Just like ensuring 
stability, democracy is an illusion in the desert.  Ending the 
occupation is certainly a good thing for the future of Iraq.  This 
was the common message during the world-wide protests against the 
occupation of Iraq.  However, the end of the occupation does not 
necessarily mean the settlement of every issue that Iraq has been 
suffering.  We must pursue an end for the occupation, but at the 
same time we cannot hope for something optimistic after that 
either." 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV (6 a.m.) 
 
Domestic News 
 
- Prominent Turkish philanthropist and businessman Kadir Has died of 
a heart attack at the age of 86.  Has had established a university 
in Istanbul, and was widely admired for donating USD 600 million to 
education and health causes. 
 
- UN inspectors probing the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister 
Rafiq Hariri have met in Istanbul with the Turkish prosecutors 
investigating al-Qaeda member Louai Sakka. 
 
- Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said Turkey should review 
its customs union agreement with the EU.  "Turkey cannot compete 
with countries such as Germany and Britain where Common Custom 
Tariffs are implemented," Sener stressed, elaborating that EU 
commodities are brought into Turkey through low customs taxes while 
Turkish goods are exported with higher rates. 
 
- Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc will be in Italy on Friday to join 
ceremonies held to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty. 
 
International News 
 
- Turkish Cyprus is to apply to the UN after hearing reports 
claiming Greek Cyprus has hired 1000 mercenaries from Greece. 
 
- James Holmes, the head of the American-Turkish Council, said the 
 
ANKARA 00000666  003 OF 003 
 
 
US Congress was likely to reject the Armenian genocide resolution. 
 
 
- A French court ruled in favor of humor weekly Charlie Hebdo that 
had printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, rejecting accusations 
by Islamic groups claiming the publication incited hatred against 
Muslims. 
 
- The Dutch Parliament has urged Turkey to exempt Turkish Dutch 
nationals living in the Netherlands of compulsory military service 
in Turkey. 
 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON