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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001245 
 
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, MAY 22, 2007 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Turkish anti-Terror Envoy Removed from Office 
All papers report the Turkish government removed retired General 
Edip Baser, Turkey's special envoy for countering the PKK, from 
office on Monday soon after he stated doubts over the efficiency of 
a tri-lateral mechanism between Turkey, Iraq and the US for 
coordinating efforts against the terrorist group.  The Prime 
Ministry announced that Baser's replacement would be Foreign 
Ministry Undersecretary Ambassador Rafet Akgunay.  Baser's remark, 
published in several papers Monday claiming "This mechanism has 
already finished," is seen by papers as the last straw for the 
government, which had been uneasy with Baser's statements for a 
while.  Baser also told Sabah on Monday that he planned to resign in 
June.  Papers report the US Ankara Embassy spokesperson told the 
press, "the US government remains firmly committed to working with 
Turkey against the PKK.  We believe that the envoy dialogue has been 
a positive part of that process." 
 
Editorial Commentary on Baser's Removal 
Oktay Eksi writes in the mainstream daily Hurriyet: "Anyone in 
Turkey who believes that PKK terrorism can be ended through 
coordination with the US should no longer keep their hope.  Even 
Turkey's envoy for countering terror General Baser has declared that 
enough is enough.  The US, to begin with, proposed this mechanism in 
order to pretend to be doing something about the PKK.  Yet as Baser 
has expressed on various occasions, the countering terror mechanism 
only helped Turkey waste another nine months.  Given the replacement 
of General Baser with a diplomat, we can easily conclude that the 
Turkish government does not expect anything from this mechanism any 
longer." 
 
Ibrahim Karagul argues in the Islamist-oriented daily Yeni Safak: 
"The counter terrorism coordination effort has totally lost its 
meaning.  In any case, it was designed to influence Turkey's Kurdish 
policy based on American interests and to use the PKK as a trump 
card.  General Baser was removed from duty, but he was planning to 
resign anyway.  Turkey, despite all its good intentions, was left 
with a story of failure.  The fact of the matter is that the failure 
of this mechanism was very obvious from the beginning.  The US felt 
the need to distract Turkey's attention from a cross border 
operation into Northern Iraq, and so a coordination mechanism was 
invented.  The process of countering the PKK has led to a dead end, 
and it is terminated now.  Soon after the elections, we will see the 
beginning of a new process to design Turkey's regional policy which 
does not have any chance of success unless Washington and London are 
kept out of the loop." 
 
Paper: Al-Qadi Interrogated in Riyadh 
The leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet reports under a page one 
headline, "Has al-Qadi Been Arrested?" that the Saudi financier 
Yasin al-Qadi has been interrogated while in custody in Riyadh for 
the last two months on charges of supporting al-Qaeda.  Al-Qadi was 
arrested with the knowledge of the US intelligence and some 
high-level Turkish officials, says Cumhuriyet. 
 
Ankara Prosecutor Launches Investigation into Bribe Claims during 
Presidential Elections 
Sabah, Milliyet, Vatan, Cumhuriyet and others:  Ankara Chief Public 
Prosecutor started an investigation into allegations that some 
deputies of opposition CHP and ANAP were offered bribes to 
participate in the presidential elections.  CHP leader Deniz Baykal 
claimed that a businessman close to PM Erdogan, offered gifts to a 
CHP deputy if he had attended the Presidential election rounds. 
ANAP deputy Huseyin Ozcan claimed that he was offered bribe by a 
prominent businessman for the same purpose.  CHP deputy Zeynep Damla 
Gurel said that AKP deputies forced her to attend the Presidential 
election rounds. 
 
Turkish Delegation to Pay a High Level Visit to Baghdad 
 
ANKARA 00001245  002 OF 002 
 
 
Sabah, Zaman:  A delegation, led by Turkish special Iraqi envoy Oguz 
Celikkol will pay a visit to Baghdad in the near future to meet with 
the Iraqi PM and FM and to demand concrete steps for combating PKK 
terrorism.  In order to give the message that Turkey's counterpart 
is the Iraqi central government, the Turkish delegation will not 
meet with any leaders from Iraqi Kurdish Administration. 
 
Angry Locals Attack Brothels in Yozgat 
All papers report hundreds of angry locals in the Sorgun township of 
the central Anatolian province of Yozgat attacked eight houses they 
claimed were used for prostitution.  Yozgat Governor's Office said a 
group of local people, angered after a drunken man allegedly 
belonging to a prostitution racket cursed them, set fire to eight 
brothels.  Police detained 12 from the group, which caused a group 
of 500 to gather to in the morning hours to demand their release. 
Police reinforcements from neighboring provinces were sent to Sorgun 
early Monday, say papers. 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV 
 
Domestic News 
 
- 494 defense companies will participate in this year's IDEF defense 
fair in Ankara. 
 
- Dikmet Onat, the head of teachers' labor union Egitim-Sen, said he 
received death threats when he announced that a book which was 
distributed for free to students in Denizli in connection with the 
birthday of the Prophet Muhammad contains calls for jihad. 
 
- A 4.8-magnitude earthquake was reported Monday evening in the 
Mediterranean near the island of Crete. 
 
- The Bursa-based Karsan automobile producer will export specially 
designed "Standard Taxi" cabs to the US and Canada.  Karsan will 
gain USD 400 million for its yearly exports of 20,000 taxis as of 
¶2009. 
 
International News 
 
- Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told a youth conference in 
Rome Turkey belongs to Europe, but full membership would be a "long 
and complicated" process. 
 
- Lebanese tanks renewed Monday heavy shelling on a Palestinian 
refugee camp, raising fears of increased civilian casualties. 
 
- A mortar round hit Iraq's parliament inside Baghdad's heavily 
fortified Green Zone on Monday. 
 
- Iraqi National Security Advisor Muvafaq al-Rubai told Britain's 
Independent that in 2004, the US army tried to kill the Shiite 
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr after luring him to peace negotiations at a 
house in the holy city of Najaf, which it then attacked. 
 
WILSON