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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001840 
 
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 
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2008 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Dangerous Escalation in the Southeast 
Milliyet, Hurriyet, Vatan, Aksam, Turkiye, Zaman and others: 
Mainstream Milliyet's headline reads "Dangerous Escalation" and 
reports that pro-Ocalan protests escalated the tension in the 
southeast and summarized the weekend protests.  Main opposition 
party CHP leader Deniz Baykal described the Diyarbakir incidents as 
an uprising and called on the government to take appropriate steps 
in response. Conservative-nationalist Turkiye notes MHP leader 
Bahceli said "Turkey is going through a period full of malicious 
traps with an escalation in ethnic provocations in the country.. 
Turkey is in a junction between the fight against terrorism and 
ethnic separatism"   Mainstream Vatan covers DTP's party group 
meeting in Diyarbakir extensively and characterizes DTP leader Ahmet 
Turk's speech as irresponsible provocation.  All papers report 
Turk's claim that "in the 1980s the Kurds were the target of 
cultural and social genocide and this paved the way for the rise of 
the PKK."  Tabloid Aksam and Islamist-oriented Zaman speculate that 
the DTP is fueling tensions to preserve its influence in the 
Southeast. 
 
Editorial Commentaries on the protests in the Southeast 
Mehmet Kamis commented in Islamist-oriented Zaman: ''The Prime 
Minister's trip to Diyarbakir seems to have really angered DTP 
circles and this anger has increased tension in the city. The PKK 
has been carrying the tension all over Turkey to city centres in the 
southeast and the timing of this is significant because it coincides 
with the Ergenekon trial. The PKK seems to be uncomfortable with the 
dismantling of a structure which is the cause for the PKK itself to 
exist.'' 
Mehmet Tezkan wrote in mainstream Vatan:  "The picture we saw in 
Diyarbakir during the PM's visit there was gruesome.  When the AKP 
came to power in 2002, terror was eliminated and the PKK was 
dispursed to the mountains.  Life in Diyarbakir went back to normal. 
 The perfect atmosphere was created for the politicians to solve the 
Kurdish issue.  It was the right time to take action, but 
unfortunately, nothing was done.  Six years after that we see the 
same picture again in Diyarbakir.  The shopkeepers pulled their 
shutters down again, children stone the police.  We see that just 
like ten years ago, the PKK are in the cities and towns again.  And 
we are using a wrong road map again to eliminate terrorism." 
Hasan Cemal wrote in mainstream Milliyet:  "If in a country the 
murderers are protected, the coup attempters are protected, those 
responsible for mass killings are not tried, and forming gangs is 
allowed, all in the name of "protecting the state", that means that 
there is no democracy in that country.  It means the country is not 
one with the rule of law, there are no human rights, no freedoms in 
that country.  Turkey is this kind of country.  Mr. Prime Minister, 
why don't you push the button to take the necessary steps, can't you 
see that the country is going backwards in the name of protecting 
the state?" 
 
NSC: "Terror will be solved within the Framework of Democracy" 
Hurriyet, Radikal, Sabah, Milliyet, Vatan, Cumhuriyet and others: 
In a meeting yesterday, the NSC decided to support the proposal of 
the "High Board for Combating Terror" for the establishment of a new 
institutional structure to strengthen coordination in the fight 
against terrorism.  Liberal Radikal reports that the NSC gave the 
message that terrorism threat would be solved on the basis of 
democracy. 
The Constitutional Court: "Headscarf Reforms Violate the Principle 
of Secularism" 
All papers:  The Constitutional Court announced its detailed ruling 
to reverse the law allowing headscarves on university campuses which 
had been adopted by the parliament last year..  The decision said 
the new law's amendments of articles 10 and 42 of the Constitution 
were against the principle of secularism. 
 
US Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried's Visit to Ankara 
 
ANKARA 00001840  002 OF 002 
 
 
Zaman, Sabah and Radikal:  Mainstream Sabah and Islamist-oriented 
Zaman reports that US State Department Assistant Secretary for 
European and Eurasian Affairs Dan Fried met with Foreign Ministry 
Undersecretary Ertugrul Apakan yesterday.  Zaman quotes anonymous 
Turkish diplomatic sources who said that Fried had paid a courtesy 
visit to Ankara on his way back from a trip to the Caucasus. 
Following MFA meeting, A/S Fried met with a small group of 
journalists and told them that "intelligence sharing with Turkey 
against the PKK will continue.  The PKK realizes that northern Iraq 
is not a safe place for it any longer."  Sabah claims that 
Undersecretary Apakan warned Fried to make sure that any new 
trilateral mechanism that will also include the Kurdish Regional 
Administration should not damage the tripartite mechanism that 
already exists among the Turkish and the US deputy chiefs of General 
Staff and General Odierno in Iraq. 
Editorial Commentary on Fried Visit 
Murat Yetkin wrote in liberal-intellectual Radikal: ''U.S. Assistant 
Secretary of State Dan Fried told a group of journalists yesterday 
in Ankara, 'I understand that the PKK attacks may be demoralizing. 
Yet, the Turkish military is fighting in a very tough geography. The 
enemy is coming up with new measures against our cooperation. But we 
are also coming up with new measures.' The fact that Turkey and the 
U.S. discussed what other things apart from intelligence sharing can 
be done against the PKK was confirmed by a high-level official that 
Radikal spoke to after the meeting. Fried had a three-hour 
comprehensive meeting with Undersecretary Ertugrul Apakan before his 
meeting with us (the journalists) and Iraq and the PKK were not the 
only subjects discussed. They also discussed the Caucasus, energy 
and Afghanistan.'' 
TV News: 
CNN Turk 
 
Domestic News 
 
- 56 people, including 23 children, have been taken into custody in 
connection with protests in Diyarbakir 
 
- Istanbul police directorate rejects media reports for torture in a 
police station 
 
- Referans daily has to pay compensation of  4,000 TL to AKP 
vice-chairman Mehmet Firat for insulting him 
 
- Budget debates start in the parliament 
 
 
International News 
 
- Iraqi Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said his cabinet agreed to 
make changes in a proposed security pact with the United States 
- India  and Pakistan begin trading between their respective parts 
of Kashmir for the first time in six decades 
- Turkish Embassy in Helsinki becomes target of arson attackWILSON