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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001410 
 
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, AUGUST 7, 2008 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
21 Academics Resign in Protest of the President's Rector 
Appointments 
All papers report the aftermath of President Abdullah Gul's 
rejection of university-nominated rector candidates who oppose 
lifting the headscarf ban in universities.  Gul refused to appoint 
nine out of 21 candidates who were elected to become rectors of 
their universities.  Instead, he appointed those who came second or 
third in their respective universities' voting, but who do not 
oppose the headscarf in universities.  Among the rejected candidates 
was Akdeniz University Rector Mustafa Akaydin, who, as the head of 
the inter-university board, opposed efforts by the ruling AKP 
government earlier this year to lift the headscarf ban in 
universities.  "The President's rejection is due to ideological 
reasons.  If he had been an impartial president, the result would be 
different.  I'm paying the price for the headscarf question," said 
Akaydin.  Gul also appointed Professor Jale Sarac as the Rector of 
Dicle University in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.  Sarac, 
who came second in the voting at her university, had run as a 
candidate from the AKP in the 2007 general elections. 
 
On Wednesday, 12 professors, including a dean, resigned from 
Istanbul Technical University (ITU) to protest the appointments.  In 
Ankara, Gazi University Medical Faculty Dean Professor Ayse Dursun 
and her deputy resigned because Gul appointed Professor Riza Ayhan 
-- who was vetoed by former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer -- as the 
new rector of the university.  The chief physician of Izmir's Dokuz 
Eylul University Hospital, Sedef Gidener, also resigned.  Gidener 
was not appointed by Gul even though she won the elections in her 
university.  In total, 21 leading academics resigned.  Liberal 
Radikal says, "Gul's removal of all rectors who are known as AKP 
adversaries has opened a new period in higher education in which all 
balances in the universities have changed." 
 
Editorial Commentary on Rector Assignments 
 
"Rector Assignments" 
Ergun Babahan criticizes the rector selection system in mainstream 
Sabah (8/7):  "While there were no reactions to President Sezer's 
rector assignments, there is harsh criticism of several of Gul's 
appointments.  As a matter of fact, YOK's system to assign rectors 
is very wrong.  Under the name of elections, personnel is 
distributed among candidates, the candidate who gets the most 
personnel (votes) has the power to even name his or her spouse as 
the winner.  Also, scientific criteria have always been treated as a 
secondary priority during the rector elections.  The correct way to 
elect a rector is through an election among the university's board 
of trustees.  By establishing such a system, the President will be 
saved from controversial assignment decisions." 
 
CHP-Military Row over YAS Decisions 
All papers report the controversy between the military and the 
opposition CHP because the High Military Council (YAS) expelled no 
one at their August 4th meeting for fundamentalist activities.  In a 
news conference on Tuesday, the CHP deputy group chief Kemal 
Kilicdaroglu slammed the military for having "warm ties" with the 
ruling AKP government.  Kilicdaroglu also accused the military of 
being "bribed" by the AKP government because they gave outgoing TGS 
Chief General Yasar Buyukanit an expensive armored luxury car. 
 
Following yesterday's TGS statement denouncing Kilicdaroglu's 
charges about the YAS meetings, the President's Office responded 
with a statement criticizing the allegations.  "It cannot be 
understood how a political party representative (i.e., 
Kilicdaroglu,) can ignore the public good and criticize the good 
relations between state institutions, or why that representative 
would be unhappy that the YAS issued no expulsions.  The claim that 
the President was not going to sign the YAS decisions is factually 
incorrect, while the claim that a vehicle was purchased at an 
 
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extraordinary sum for a retired TGS chief is slander," the statement 
said. 
 
Islamist-oriented Zaman carries the headline, "The CHP is Uneasy 
with Government-Military Harmony."  Papers comment the military and 
the President reacted strongly to Kilicdaroglu's comments. 
 
Editorial Commentary on the Kurdish Issue 
 
"The Path to EU Membership Depends on Solving the Cyprus and Kurdish 
Issues" 
Hasan Cemal commented in mainstream Milliyet (8/7):  "If Turkey 
wants to advance on the path to EU membership, then it is obliged to 
solve the Cyprus problem and the Kurdish problem.  The path to the 
EU will be blocked if these problems are not solved.  If the EU path 
is blocked then the path to the democratic state of law will be 
blocked as well.  If Turkey is not a democratic state of law, 
foreign investors will not invest, which will cause vast economic 
problems in Turkey.  While Turkey should continue its rightful fight 
against violence and poverty in order to eliminate the PKK problem, 
Turkey should take serious measures to prevent people from joining 
the PKK and also, to bring down the ones who are already in PKK 
camps in the mountains.  If Turkey cannot or does not take necessary 
measures to find a solution to the Kurdish issue, it cannot continue 
to advance on the path to the EU.  The more Turkey distances itself 
from the EU path, the more Kurdish nationalism and separatist views 
will increase.  Therefore, the PM should display political 
determinism and courage to solve this specific issue." 
 
TV News: 
CNN Turk 
 
Domestic News 
 
- CHP deputy chairman Bihlun Tamayligil accused the AKP government 
of trying to find an excuse for the reluctance of the Iranian 
President Ahmadinejad to visit Ataturk's Mausoleum during his 
upcoming visit to Turkey. 
 
- An explosion at one of the gas stations near Erzincan in eastern 
Turkey has temporarily cut oil transportation through the 
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline.  The local officials have 
ruled out sabotage. 
 
- The government is taking measures to prevent speculative increases 
in food prices during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan. 
 
International News 
 
- The Iraqi Parliament adjourned for a month-long break without 
reaching an agreement on a provincial elections law.  The Iraqi 
Parliament will reconvene August 9. 
 
- The Japanese city of Hiroshima marked the 63rd anniversary of the 
U.S. nuclear attack on the city. 
 
- The Hamas-controlled parliament in Gaza proposed an initiative for 
reconciliation between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah 
movement. 
WILSON