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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002934 
 
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, DECEMBER 11, 2007 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Human Tragedy on Human Rights Day 
Hurriyet, Sabah, Milliyet, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, Zaman and others: 
All papers report that yesterday, on Human Rights Day, a small 
fishing boat carrying 85 illegal migrants from Iraq, Somalia and 
Palestine capsized and sank off the Aegean coast.  The boat was 
headed from Seferihisar to Greece, and capsized because of a storm 
and passenger overload.  Hurriyet says 43 bodies, including those of 
a woman and a child, were found on the shore.  Six survived the 
accident.  Described by mainstream Sabah as a "crime against 
humanity" the paper claims that each person paid 2500 Euro for 
passage from Turkey to Greece.  Liberal Radikal writes that "in the 
last five years, 310,000 illegal immigrants have been apprehended" 
in Turkey, and opines that this accident "draws attention to the 
necessity for an international platform promising to end the market 
for human trafficking." Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak notes that 
"every year there is at least one tragedy" like this, noting that 
"on Human Rights Day, these migrants drowned with hope." Illegal 
migrants use Turkey as a transfer point to go to European countries. 
 
 
"Shameful for Us" 
Gungor Mengi wrote in the mainstream daily Vatan: "Despite many 
statements issued for World Human Rights Day, yesterday's immigrant 
tragedy in the Aegean sea came like a punishment for Turkey.  Human 
trafficking is a shameful crime and Turkey, despite all of its 
efforts, fails to come clean in its own responsibilities.  The local 
Turkish authorities laid the blame for the disaster on the countries 
from where the illegal immigrants fled.  The fact of the matter is 
that we simply cannot get away with this by blaming others.  This 
unspeakable crime has two pillars in which Turkey is involved. 
First, Turkey has become a country of maids and sex workers who come 
illegally from former Soviet countries.  We all know about this, but 
we do not talk about it.  Second, Turkey is an important transit 
route used by human traffickers.  Traffickers provide false promises 
of hope as they rob these migrants of their money.  Sometimes these 
migrants are killed in our land.  It is unacceptable to suggest that 
Turkey should sit and wait until human traffickers are punished in 
their own homelands.  As a state, we have to exert our authority. 
The laws must be enforced against these criminals until their bitter 
end." 
 
President Gul Assigns Prof. Yusuf Ziya Ozcan as YOK President 
All papers report that President Gul appointed Middle East Technical 
University (METU) Professor of Sociology Yusuf Ziya Ozcan as the 
president of the Higher Education Board (YOK).  Cumhuriyet says 
Prof. Ozcan is known for his opposition to the headscarf ban in 
universities and for his closeness to the AKP government.  Milliyet 
says that, upon Ozcan's assignment, YOK's acting chairman Prof. 
Aybar Ertepinar resigned.  Ertepinar criticized the choice of Ozcan 
as "an initiative to eliminate the effectiveness of YOK.  From now 
on, YOK will be politicized."  Papers also claim that Ozcan is very 
close to Prime Minister Erdogan's Chief Policy Advisor, Ahmet 
Davutoglu. 
 
France Interferes in Turkey's EU Membership 
Sabah, Milliyet, Vatan, Hurriyet, Cumhuriyet, Zaman and others 
report, upon France's insistence, the words "membership" and 
"accession" were removed from the draft EU Summit declaration on 
enlargement strategy, and that the EU changed the title of a meeting 
with Turkey and Croatia later this month from a "membership 
conference" to an "intergovernmental conference.".  French President 
Sarkozy claims that Turkey has no place in the EU.  On France's 
insistence, the EU changed the event name from "membership 
conference" to "intergovernmental event."  Milliyet posits that the 
Turkish government was not pleased with the statement and the 
Foreign Ministry issued a written statement expressing Ankara's 
displeasure. 
 
 
ANKARA 00002934  002 OF 003 
 
 
Families Convince 155 PKK Terrorists to Come Back from the 
Mountains 
Zaman reports that this year a total of 155 terrorists left the PKK 
and returned home after their families' intervention.  Meanwhile, 
the debate continues concerning the government's strategy towards 
the PKK and whether a new type of amnesty will be offered.  Hurriyet 
says that PM Erdogan has "pushed the button for the return of 
terrorists to their homes" while Government Spokesman Cemil Cicek 
insists that there are no legal preparations for any new laws 
concerning an amnesty.  Sabah quotes CHP leader Baykal saying that 
"an amnesty law will boost the morale of the terrorists." 
 
Meanwhile, Yeni Safak reports that FM Babacan stressed that "the 
strategic partnership between Turkey and the US will continue until 
the PKK is finished." 
 
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Kosovo 
 
Sami Kohen commented in the mainstream daily Milliyet (12/11):  "The 
negotiation process regarding the political future of Kosovo ended 
in failure, despite the fact that all possible solution formulas 
have been tried.  It seems there is no more formula left to discuss. 
 However, Russia, hopeful for time for more diplomacy, continues to 
push for the extension of talks.  Time is running out for the UNSC 
to finalize a decision on Kosovo.  The deadline is set for December 
¶19.  Given the current situation, Kosovo's leader Taji is acting 
with common sense as he prefers to wait instead of declaring 
independence immediately.  In any case, Kosovo is moving toward 
independence, which brings up some scenarios about the future of 
Kosovo.  One possibility is the declaration of independence after 
waiting for a reasonable amount of time.  If that happens, Serbia 
will react and possibly close its border with Kosovo.  Another 
possibility is a Serbian military intervention in Kosovo, which the 
NATO army in Kosovo will prevent.  Another worst case scenario is 
the possibility of a Serbian uprising in Kosovo, which undoubtedly 
will be a disaster.  The EU, on the other hand, is on the verge of a 
serious rift because certain EU members, including Greece, the Greek 
Cypriot Administration, Romania, and Spain, are against secession. 
Kosovo will remain a hot topic with more possible scenarios in the 
days ahead." 
 
TV News: 
NTV 
 
Domestic News 
 
 FM Babacan said decisions adopted by PM Erdogan and US President 
Bush at their meeting on November 5 are being implemented 
gradually. 
 
A lieutenant died of a heart attack during commando exercises in 
Isparta. 
 
A survey conducted by Amnesty International shows that 63 percent of 
Turkish people have never heard of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights. 
 
One DHKP-C terrorist was killed by the security forces in Ankara and 
two policemen were injured. 
 
 
International News 
 
Greek arsonists burnt five diplomatic cars from Turkey, Italy and 
the Philippines. 
 
Libyan leader Qaddafi arrives in France for an official visit, his 
first there in 30 years. 
 
Iraqi FM Hosyar Zebari said officials from Tehran, Washington and 
 
ANKARA 00002934  003 OF 003 
 
 
Baghdad will meet on December 18 to discuss how to end the violence 
in Iraq. 
 
Russian President Putin announced that first Deputy PM Medvedev is 
his preferred successor. 
 
WILSON