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TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 24, 2007 
 
 
Strache Admits Neo-Nazi Contacts 
 
¶1. The leader of the Freedom Party (FPOe), Heinz-Christian Strache, 
has acknowledged that he had contacts with the German neo-Nazi group 
Wiking Jugend, which was banned in 1994. ORF television quotes 
Strache as stressing that he was never a member and that he was last 
in touch with the group in 1990. The FPOe leader also said he had 
been part of a group that tried to get food parcels over the border 
to then communist East Germany in 1989 by throwing those "care 
packages" over the Berlin Wall. However, ORF TV comments, the FPOe 
boss described these events as having taken place at a time in 1989 
when the Berlin Wall had already fallen. The current controversy 
involving the Freedom Party leader arose after a daily newspaper 
published a photo of Strache earlier this week, which appeared to 
show him with members of the Wiking Jugend, according to ORF TV's 
prime time news Zeit im Bild I on Thursday. 
 
 
US Criticism of Darabos 
 
¶2. Austrian media continue to report on an interview published in a 
leading daily on Thursday, in which Defense Minister Norbert Darabos 
called the United States' plans for a missile defense shield in some 
eastern European countries a "provocation." ORF radio reports that 
the US State Department is apparently "not happy" with the 
Minister's statements, and has reacted in an "unusually harsh" way. 
State Department spokesperson Gonzalo Gallegos stressed that 
Darabos' comments are "not helpful." The US views the Cold War as 
"being over," and now faces a "new strategic environment that 
requires us to move beyond Cold War thinking," ORF radio quotes. 
All major Austrian media continue to report on Defense Minister 
Norbert Darabos' interview with centrist daily Die Presse of 
Thursday, and the State Department's response to the Minister's 
comments. Like all media, ORF online news quotes State Department 
spokesperson Gonzalo Gallegos as saying that "such comments are not 
helpful, and we now face a new strategic environment that requires 
us to move beyond Cold War thinking." Gallegos added that the US 
"has been open and transparent with all EU and NATO allies on this, 
and we'll continue to do so. We are discussing missile defense with 
the Russians." ORF online also notes that Karl Schwarzenberg, the 
Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, where part of the missile 
defense system is to be set up, has also criticized Darabos for his 
statement. The Austrian Minister was a "man with downright pacifist 
tendencies, which is commendable as such, but rather strange in a 
defense minister," Schwarzenberg said. Mass-circulation daily 
Oesterreich headlines "Darabos is taking on the US," and adds that 
the State Department was "not amused by" the Defense Minister's 
statements. 
Meanwhile, mass-circulation daily Kurier reports on Darabos' growing 
difficulties in the Defense Ministry and with the Austrian military. 
The daily headlines "The minister is taking cover," pointing to 
Austria's military reform, where "no clear goal is in sight," and to 
the fact that Darabos is facing increasing criticism, while army 
officers are becoming more and more frustrated with the Minister's 
wayward and meandering course. Particularly, the plan to downsize 
Austria's military personnel by about 20 percent, mainly through 
early retirements and "golden handshakes" has cost the minister 
vital support, the daily suggests. 
 
 
"Gedenkdiener" Denied Entry to the US 
 
¶3. Sourcing the New York Times, a leading Austrian daily reports 
that a program allowing Austrians to volunteer in Holocaust 
institutions in the US in lieu of serving in the Austrian military 
has been disrupted because of difficulties in obtaining visas from 
the American government. Since 1992, the Austrian government has 
been offering participation in this program, known as Gedenkdienst. 
The daily outlines the case of Valentin Hofer, who applied for an 
internship with the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust under the 
program, and whose visa application was eventually rejected, after 
months of delays. 
Austrian Press Agency APA, sourcing the New York Times, also reports 
on the case of Valentin Hofer, an Austrian who applied for a 
so-called Q1 visa, which makes possible cultural exchange between 
Austria and the US. The costs for the visa application were borne by 
the Los Angeles Museum where Hofer had applied and whose director 
has meanwhile announced his intention to sue, if the situation 
cannot be settled amicably. The immigration authorities had refused 
to grant the visa on the grounds that Hofer as a high school 
graduate was not in a position to represent the culture of his 
country. The Ministry for European and International Relations in 
Vienna had no knowledge of the case until Wednesday afternoon. Its 
spokesman Alexander Schallenberg referred to the importance of the 
"Gedenkdienst" and expressly stressed that the Austrian government 
gives it "as much support as we can," and is prepared to help out 
"whenever there are problems." Both APA and centrist daily Die 
Presse emphasize the fact that Hofer's case is the only one of this 
kind. The Presse quotes Florian Wenninger, head of the "Gedenkdienst 
Society," who states: "What is clear is that, since September 11, we 
have been facing much bigger problems trying to get visa for our 
volunteers." According to Wenninger, this has not just to do with 
the terror fears, but with the fact "that bureaucracies have the 
tendency to develop a momentum of their own." The Austrian Embassy 
in Washington DC has also expressed its dismay over the visa 
problems. Spokesperson Wolfgang Renezeder, in an interview with the 
daily, called the rejection of Valentin Hofer and others 
"incomprehensible." He expressed his hope that the cases in question 
"can still be resolved satisfactorily and the visa will be granted 
yet." 
 
 
Senator Calls for Troop Pullout from Iraq 
 
¶4. A senior Republican Senator has called on US President George 
Bush to withdraw some 5,000 US troops from Iraq by the end of the 
year. Senator John Warner, former chairperson of the Senate Armed 
Forces Committee, said the US needed to show Iraqi leaders that its 
commitment to Iraq was not open ended. Senator Warner's comments 
came a day after President Bush warned of serious consequences of an 
early troop pullout, says ORF radio early morning news 
Morgenjournal. 
 
 
Second Round of the Presidential Election in Turkey 
 
¶5. The Turkish Parliament is holding a second round of voting today 
to choose the country's next President. The frontrunner, former 
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of the ruling AKP Party, seems 
unlikely to get the necessary two-third majority today. However, he 
is expected to win the required simple majority in a third round 
next week, according to ORF online news. 
McCaw