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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000224 
 
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, FEBRUARY 7, 2008 
 
ANKARA 00000224  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Turkish Parliament Passes Headscarf Amendment in First Round of 
Voting 
All papers report the Turkish Parliament met Thursday and voted to 
change the constitution to lift a ban on wearing Muslim headscarves 
at universities, a ruling opposed by the CHP and secularist circles. 
 The headscarf ban will remain in place for teachers and civil 
servants.  In the final vote of the first round, the amendment to 
the constitution to end the ban was approved by 404 to 92, easily 
exceeding the required two-thirds majority threshold of 367.  The 
amendment is expected to be approved in a final round of voting on 
Saturday as both the AKP and MHP have more than a two-thirds 
majority of seats in parliament. 
 
The views of the AKP were explained by the party's women lawmakers 
Guldal Aksit, Nursuna Memecan, Ozlem Turkone and Aysenur 
Bahcekapili.  Deputy PM Cemil Cicek criticized the opposition CHP by 
saying, "You are like the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, spreading 
radioactive fear and horror.  In Turkey, secularism is based on 
human rights and democracy, different than the secularism concept in 
North Korea or the Soviet Union."  The pro-Kurdish DTP Diyarbakir 
Deputy Aysel Tugluk said the AKP represents political Islam, but 
that for the sake of freedoms, they would vote in favor of the 
amendment.  CHP leader Deniz Baykal, after meeting with visiting 
Turkish Cyprus "Prime Minister" Ferdi Sabit Soyer yesterday, said 
MHP's support for the draft would increase polarization in society. 
Baykal pledged the CHP would take the draft to the Constitutional 
Court.  Deputy Parliament Speaker Meral Aksener (MHP) blamed men for 
the headscarf crisis, saying if men were not involved, the issue 
could have been solved more easily.  Papers also report AKP Deputy 
Chairman Egemen Bagis told a gathering in Berlin yesterday that 
women lawmakers should be allowed to wear the headscarf in the 
parliament. 
 
Leftist Taraf reports "more than 1,000 professors signed a petition 
to lift the headscarf ban at universities."  Mainstream Vatan says 
"Turkey is polarized between the secularists, Islamists and Kurdish 
activists."  Mainstream Milliyet and leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet 
report the AKP government is preparing to reduce the number of 
members of the Court of Appeals after stern warnings came from the 
top court about the principle of secularism. 
 
Editorial Commentary on Turban Reforms 
Semih Idiz wrote in mainstream Milliyet (2/7):  "I explained in an 
earlier column that EU diplomats were astonished by FM Babacan's 
efforts to link the headscarf issue to EU reform criteria.  Their 
official message is 'the turban is an internal issue for Turkey.' 
However, our 'off the record' conversations indicate they are 
following the issue very closely.  The general belief among the EU 
diplomats is this: 'If the AKP pursues the headscarf issue in the 
face of rising social tension, the AKP government can show the same 
determination on Article 301 and the Foundations Law.'  Europe does 
not consider the 'turban freedom' step as a step toward democracy 
and freedom.  Instead, this move is considered an example of Turkey 
embracing Islam, thereby distancing itself further from Western 
values.  EU diplomats feel no one should ignore the existing 
religious pressure in local neighborhoods in Turkey.  Therefore, the 
turban issue can speedily turn into a 'rights of those who do not 
wear the turban' issue.  The turban debates clearly show that there 
is no effective political opposition in Turkey.  Because there is no 
powerful opposition in the parliament, people immediately turn to 
the military, the streets or the judiciary to defend their rights. 
Secular circles also made mistakes on the turban issue.  If their 
stance was not so harsh against the turban issue, the AKP would not 
act so radically, and the whole issue would not be such an intense 
ideological clash.  FM Babacan was right to say that 'such debates 
damage our image abroad.' However, Babacan must analyze more 
carefully why Turkey's image is damaged abroad." 
 
 
ANKARA 00000224  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
Mehmet Yilmaz commented in mainstream Hurriyet (2/7):  "During a 
meeting in Germany last January, AKP Deputy Chairman Egemen Bagis 
asserted that woman should be free to wear a headscarf even in the 
parliament.  Although Bagis later claimed this was his personal 
opinion, we all know that he is not alone in his opinion.  This is 
the main concern of many of those who opposed liberating the 
headscarf at universities.  They believe that, eventually, the 
headscarf will enter all other public services as well.  The AKP 
government seeks to apply religious rules on social life, with such 
rules gradually applying to public services as well.  This is not a 
beneficial path for Turkey to follow." 
 
Survey: Headscarf Least Important Factor in Blocking Girls' 
Education in Turkey 
Liberal Radikal carries on its front page an opinion survey 
conducted by the economic and social research foundation TESEV, 
which says the headscarf is a minor obstacle to girls' education. 
Failure to pass the university entrance exam, marriage, and having 
to work are the main obstacles. 
 
The survey shows 49 percent of female students cannot even attend 
high school due to their families' objections.  Twenty-nine percent 
of the girls cannot go to university because they fail to pass the 
university entrance exam.  Fourteen percent do not continue onto 
higher education because they marry, and 10 percent cannot go to 
university because they have to work.  The headscarf ranks eighth in 
the list of factors that block the education of girls. Only 16 of 
the interviewed 1557 women, a mere one percent, do not attend 
university because of the headscarf restrictions.  The survey was 
conducted by a team headed by Bogazici University professors Binnaz 
Toprak and Ersin Kalaycioglu through one-on-one interviews with 1557 
women and 993 men across Turkey in 2004. 
 
Thousands of Kurds Protest Turkish Military Operations against the 
PKK 
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Taraf, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, Zaman and 
others report around 4,000 pro-Kurdish DTP supporters spent last 
night camping in tents in the border province of Sirnak at the 
Kasrik passage between the Cudi and Gabar mountains.  The protest 
aimed to end Turkish military operations against the PKK.  DTP 
Deputy Chair Emine Ayna urged the Turkish Parliament to rescind the 
motion that authorized operations, and called on the PKK to shift to 
a position of 'inaction.'  The protesters shouted slogans in favor 
of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan, asking for the prison conditions of 
the PKK leader to be improved. 
 
Civilian Court Passes Demirtas Case to Military Court 
Hurriyet, Sabah, Taraf, Radikal, Zaman, Yeni Safak and others report 
a court has ruled that it does not have jurisdiction in the case of 
forged medical reports involving 182 suspects, including Nurettin 
Demirtas, the leader of the pro-Kurdish DTP.  The Sixth Criminal 
Court in Ankara ruled to pass the files of the suspects to the Air 
Force Military Court. 
 
Suspicions Grow Ludwigshafen Blaze a Racist Arson Attack 
All papers speculate that the blaze which killed nine Turks in the 
western German city of Ludwigshafen on February 3 was a racially 
motivated crime.  Five of the victims were children.  German police 
say the cause of the fire is unclear but they are looking into 
allegations that it was an arson attack.  Islamist-oriented Yeni 
Safak and Zaman as well as several mainstream papers say suspicions 
were growing that arsonists were responsible for the fire, and 
"racist young men" had threatened a family who lost members in the 
blaze.  Prime Minister Erdogan, due to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel 
on Friday, will visit the site tomorrow.  On Wednesday, German 
integration commissioner Maria Boehmer laid a wreath at the site of 
the blaze.  Visiting Turkish State Minister Sait Yazicioglu, 
attended the wreath-laying with Boehmer, and warned against jumping 
to premature conclusions about it being a racially-motivated attack. 
Papers carry photographs of Boehmer and Yazicioglu hand-in-hand. 
 
ANKARA 00000224  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Papers quote German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble as saying 
Turkey's ambassador to Germany, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, "should be 
taught manners" for saying it was strange German politicians had 
already concluded that the fire had no "xenophobic motive" before 
police had found the cause.  Mainstream Hurriyet and several 
television channels report German neighbors shared the grief of 
Turkish families who lost loved ones in the blaze. 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV 
 
Domestic News 
 
- Two police officers were wounded Wednesday night in a roadside 
bomb attack in Yuksekova in the southeastern province of Hakkari. 
 
- Authorities in the village of Karli in Kocaeli province near 
Istanbul began culling poultry after bird flu was detected in the 
region. 
 
- Kamu-Sen labor union has the poverty limit for a family of four 
calculated as 2,463 YTL, while the monthly minimum food spending for 
one person amounts to 940 YTL. 
 
International News 
 
- A Turkish freight ship carrying dangerous material caught fire 
close to Croatian territorial waters in the Adriatic Sea Wednesday. 
The vessel is likely to sink, but all crew members and passengers 
were rescued. 
 
- John McCain won the Republican primary in California and in enough 
other states to gain a clear lead in his party's nomination race. 
 
- Russian deputy FM Alexander Losyukov said the research rocket 
fired by Iran on Monday "adds to general suspicions that Iran wants 
to create nuclear weapons." 
WILSON