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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001107 
 
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 
THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Constitutional Reforms, July Elections Process 
All papers report the Turkish Parliament will hold Thursday a second 
round of voting on constitutional reforms allowing direct election 
of the president by people and changing the presidential term to a 
maximum of two consecutive five year terms.  On Wednesday, the 
parliament accepted Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's petition to 
withdraw from the presidential contest, in which he had been the 
sole candidate.  Meanwhile, President Sezer signaled he will veto 
constitutional reforms related to the presidential election, saying 
the reforms had not been discussed enough and the process was moving 
too fast.  Prime Minister Erdogan said on Wednesday the AKP would 
field candidates 25 years of age and older in the forthcoming 
general elections. 
 
The main opposition CHP chairman Deniz Baykal said his party has 
reached full consensus with the center-left DSP with regard to 
election alliance, adding he was now waiting for final confirmation 
from DSP leadership.  Several papers report DSP provincial branches 
opposed unification with CHP. Papers expect Baykal and DSP leader 
Zeki Sezer to participate together in the March 13 "republic rally" 
in Izmir, the Aegean port city known to be a bastion of secular 
republicans. 
 
Prime Minister Erdogan told the press yesterday the parliament would 
recess from May 11-14 this week, but would continue working until 
the end of May. 
 
Turkey's Kurdish Party to Run as Independents in Elections 
All papers report Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party DTP said on 
Wednesday it would field independent candidates in the July 22 
parliamentary elections to circumvent the 10 percent threshold for 
parties to enter the parliament.  DTP aims to win 37 parliamentary 
seats in 40 provinces.  Former Kurdish lawmakers Leyla Zana, Hatip 
Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak will run as independent 
candidates from the DTP.  Papers remind readers of a political ban 
on these former MPs, saying the High Election Board (YSK) will 
decide whether they will be allowed to enter the elections. 
 
Papers expect AKP and CHP to act together to block DTP plans. 
According to constitutional reforms to be passed by the parliament, 
the names of independent candidates will be placed in the ballot 
lists together with the names of the other candidates, and not on 
separate sheets of paper as was the implementation in previous 
elections.  This is expected to bring considerable loss of votes for 
DTP in east and southeast Turkey where most of the voters are 
illiterate, comment papers. 
 
Editorial Commentary on Barzani, DTP 
Semih Idiz writes in the mainstream daily Milliyet: "When Barzani 
talked about the political solution to the PKK problem, he knew what 
he was talking about and he knew that his approach would be received 
positively by Europeans.  Given the positive developments in the 
Northern Ireland issue, unlike Turkey, Barzani apparently watches 
the European agenda very closely and thus he was trying to create a 
parallel between the Northern Ireland issue and the PKK issue. 
Since the most recent consensus on Northern Ireland/IRA was very 
much welcomed by the US and the EU, Barzani is now suggesting the 
same method to resolve PKK issue.  Knowing that his approach would 
be immediately rejected by Ankara, he passes the ball to the 
European's with the hope that Ankara will face pressure from the EU. 
 In short, Barzani is broadening his area of diplomatic influence 
against Turkey." 
 
Okay Gonensin writes in the mainstream daily Vatan: "The Democratic 
Communal Party (DTP)'s base is made up of Turkey's Kurdish citizens 
and therefore it retains a nationalistic character.  If DTP joins 
the parliament this time, it will be an important milestone for the 
pro-Kurdish party's participation in the democratic process.  The 
 
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terrorism dimension of the Kurdish issue has not yet been resolved. 
Any members of the DTP in the parliament will be expected to 
contribute to efforts to end PKK terrorism.  At this point, the DTP 
should be getting rid of the PKK shadow over itself.  If that goal 
is achieved, it will benefit everybody -- Kurdish citizens and 
Turkish citizens." 
 
F-16 Contract to be Signed Tomorrow 
Liberal Radikal reports that US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson and 
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul will sign a $1.6 billion 
contract tomorrow for the sale of 30 F-16 war planes to Turkey. 
According to the agreement the F-16s will be manufactured in Turkey 
by the Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI).  The manufacturer of F-16s, 
the Lockheed Martin Corp., will transfer F-16 manufacturing 
equipment to Turkey and will cease manufacturing F-16s in the US. 
In the past, the F-16 project had caused controversy between the 
Turkish Defense Industry (SSM) and the Pentagon. 
 
Ambassador Edelman Denies the Allegations that he was Angry with the 
AKP 
Mainstream Milliyet reports that in an interview with the newspaper, 
former US Ambassador to Turkey and number three of the US Defense 
department, Eric Edelman denied the allegations that he was angry 
with the AKP.  Edelman said "I fully support Turkey's EU membership 
and appreciate the efforts of the AKP government in that direction." 
 He added that he learned about the military memorandum of April 27 
the next day and he did not take part in the shaping of the US 
reaction to the memorandum. 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV, 6.00 A.M. 
 
Domestic News 
 
- Yasin Hayal, a key suspect in the assassination of Armenian 
journalist Hrant Dink, said in several letters to the prosecutor 
that he would not have joined the plot if he could foresee the 
terrible consequences the murder inflicted on Turkey. 
 
- Professor Turkan Saylan, the head of the association for 
supporting modern life, expects attendance in May 13 Izmir rally to 
surpass the previous rallies held in defense of the secular 
republic. 
 
- Education Minister Huseyin Celik said in Turkey only five 
provinces will be left without universities after the implementation 
of his government's plan of opening new universities in 17 
provinces. 
 
- More than 30 were injured yesterday in fighting between Kemalist 
and leftist students in Ankara University. 
 
- Moody's Investors Service said in a statement the recent political 
uncertainty in Turkey is unlikely to derail the country's current 
ratings and its ongoing economic and political reforms. 
 
International News 
 
- A suicide car attack on the interior ministry in the Kurdish city 
of Erbil killed 19 people, including a Turk, and injured dozens. 
The attack came on the day Vice President Dick Cheney made a 
surprise visit to Iraq. 
 
- Four Iraqi journalists were shot dead by gunmen on Wednesday near 
the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. 
 
- A NATO air strike killed 21 civilians, including women and 
children, in southern Afghanistan. 
 
- The German government has earmarked Euro 6.3 million to fit 
 
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together about 600 million shreds of secret police files ripped up 
in panic by Stasi agents after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. 
 
WILSON