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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000241 
 
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 PREL KPAO
SUBJECT: ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT 
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2009 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Peace Plans for Nagorno Karabakh 
Mainstream Hurriyet reports that Turkish Foreign Minister Ali 
Babacan flew to Baku to meet Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and 
discuss a peace plan for Nagorno Karabakh.  According to Hurriyet , 
details of the plan were drafted during meetings at the Munich 
security conference last weekend. The plan calls for Armenia to 
gradually hand the territories around Nagorno Karabakh back to 
Azerbaijan.  In addition, Azeris who were forced to leave their 
homes in these territories would be allowed to return to their 
homes.  Also, an Interim administration would be established in 
order to determine the status of Nagorno Karabakh and finally, an 
international peacekeeping force could be deployed at the border 
between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. 
 
Meanwhile, tabloid Aksam reports that Babacan postponed his trip to 
Lithuania in light of Egyptian President Mubarak's upcoming visit to 
Turkey.  Following the visit of Mubarak, Babacan will go to Yemen, 
the paper notes.  Islamist-oriented Zaman reports that Serbian 
Foreign Minister Jeremic has postponed his visit to Turkey on 
February 24-25, in reaction to the recent trip of FM Babacan to 
Kosovo.  The paper notes that Belgrade "was infuriated by Babacan's 
comments in Kosovo saying that Turkey was mobilizing international 
support for Kosovo."  On the same day Serbian Foreign Ministry 
officials contacted the Turkish Embassy in Belgrade to express their 
concern over the Turkish support for Kosovo. 
 
Baykal in Brussels 
Mainstream Milliyet reports that main opposition party CHP leader 
Deniz Baykal met with EU Commission Chair Jose Manuel Barroso in 
Brussels yesterday.  During his speech at the European Policies 
Center, Baykal stressed that his party strongly supported all 
efforts to make Turkey an EU member and the negotiations should end 
in Turkey's full membership in the union.  Baykal said "reforms and 
legal adjustments have been made upon the EU's direction.  All these 
were done to improve democratic life in Turkey, however, today we 
cannot say that Turkish people are more secure, free and more 
European compared to seven years ago.  European values have been 
damaged gradually by the assignments on higher levels in the fields 
of education and culture.  With each step of the AKP government, 
Turkey has become more conservative and changed its direction 
towards the values of the Middle East.  The level of pressure on the 
media in Turkey has never been this high.  Corruption and 
irregularities have reached to the highest levels.   Even the 
understandings regarding terrorism changed according to religious 
tendencies.  We cannot consider ourselves as a part of the geography 
of Hamas and Hezbollah.  The EU looks at the secularism issue 
through their own glasses and considers our determination on 
secularism as antidemocratic.  Unfortunately, some circles are 
trying to change Turkey's structure.  And defending secularism is 
not only the military's duty but at the same time it is the 
politicians' and public's duty.  The CHP is ready to carry Europe's 
democracy and human rights standards to Turkey." 
 
5 Military Officers Detained under 'Ergenekon' Investigation 
Media outlets report on Tuesday, police detained five military 
officers in Istanbul and Balikesir under the 'Ergenekon' 
investigation after an Air Forces prosecutor ordered their arrest. 
The military prosecutor's office earlier questioned 20 military 
officers and War College students under a scheme named "Headquarters 
Houses," in which military students were allegedly brought together 
in secret anti-government meetings.  The Turkish intelligence 
organization MIT earlier notified the military General Staff (TGS) 
about anti-government activities of an illegal network within the 
military in "Headquarters Houses," according to reports. 
 
AKP Leaders' Children Make Huge Profits in Business 
Hurriyet and Cumhuriyet report that since AKP swept to power in 
Turkey in 2002, the children of some of the ruling party leaders and 
 
ANKARA 00000241  002 OF 003 
 
 
cabinet ministers have built 18 companies and have made millions of 
dollars in profit.  In "Talented Kids," leftist-nationalist 
Cumhuriyet reports the children and relatives of cabinet ministers 
Kemal Unakitan (Finance), Binali Yildirim (Transport), Faruz Nafiz 
Ozak (Housing), and Osman Pepe (Forestry) all made at least 1 
million dollars before they turned 30, in spite of the fact that 
they had no business dealings before the AKP began governing Turkey. 
 Prime Minister Erdogan's son Bilal is a partner in a jewelry 
company Atagold and a foreign trade company Maye besides being the 
Turkey distributer of the American cosmetics producer Bellapierre. 
The PM's elder son, Burak, bought the 4,495 dwt ton of Safran-1 ship 
for 2,350,000 dollars immediately after he founded MB Maritime Co. 
in 2007.  Food company AB Gida, owned by the wife and children of 
Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, made 22.1 million lira in profit in 
¶2005.  AB Gida, however, paid no VAT to the state in the same year. 
The company also began selling pasteurized liquid egg under the 
brand "Unakitan," and the VAT for liquid egg was lowered by the 
government, say papers. 
 
Erdogan, Chavez Posters in Beirut 
Mainstream Milliyet reports that in Dahiya, a poor Shiite 
neighborhood in Beirut controlled by Hezbollah, Turkish Prime 
Minister Erdogan and Venezuelan President Chavez's posters were 
posted on billboards and walls along the roads.  Erdogan and Chavez, 
the "two brave men," were shown as role models next to Arab leaders 
who remained silent in the face of the Israeli assault on Gaza, 
reports Milliyet. 
 
Ece Temelkuran wrote in mainstream Milliyet: "In the streets of 
Beirut, there are posters featuring Prime Minister Erdogan and 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as 'real symbols of manly behavior' 
as opposed to 'Arab men who sleep.'  That degree of popularity may 
be flattering for Erdogan, but it raises the potential danger of 
making the AKP look like a symbol of support for Hamas and 
Hezbollah." 
 
Editorial Commentary on Turkey's Foreign Policy 
 
Hakan Albayrak wrote in Islamist oriented Yeni Safak: 
"Representatives from the Turkish NGO Mazlum-Der met with Minister 
of Justice Sahin to lobby for a campaign against Israel.  Mazlum-Der 
wants Israeli officials to be tried on charges including crimes 
against humanity and genocide.  This Mazlum-Der campaign should be 
wholeheartedly supported.  We are looking forward to seeing Minister 
Sahin's approval to open the case against Israel." 
 
Abdulhamit Bilici wrote in Islamist oriented Zaman: "A former 
high-level American official commented that PM Erdogan's Davos 
antics reminded him of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.  At first 
I thought it was merely a flattering remark, but a deeper look into 
Carter's history indicates that there is indeed a resemblance.  In 
particular, Carter differs from other American leaders in that he 
seeks a balance between Palestine and Israel; he also supports the 
inclusion of Hamas during negotiations for peace." 
 
Sami Kohen wrote in mainstream Milliyet:  Sudan is a country with 
richnatural resources and lots of possibilities for increased 
investment from Turkish businessmen.  Also, it is possible that 
Sudan's Islamist government has the sympathy of PM Erdogan, which 
could explain the reason why Turkey is pursuing such close ties with 
this African country, led by a man who is charged with the ethnic 
cleansing of over 200,000 women, children, and civilians.  Yet, out 
of a sense of moral sensitivity and out of respect to our allies who 
are members of the ICC, it is important that Turkey not forget the 
ICC's genocide charges against Al-Bashir." 
 
TV News (CNN Turk) 
Domestic 
 
- Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan flew to the U.S. after he was 
 
ANKARA 00000241  003 OF 003 
 
 
discharged from an Ankara hospital after undergoing a coronary 
angiogram.  Unakitan, diagnosed with three blocked arteries, will be 
treated by Turkish M.D. Professor Murat Tuzcu at Ohio's Cleveland 
Clinic. 
 
- The Turkish Parliament approves a government motion to deploy a 
frigate off the coast of Somalia to join operations against piracy. 
 
 
- A Turkish court tells the Interior Ministry to initiate legal 
procedures for the extradition of Abdulkadir Aygan, a former PKK 
militant turned 'confessor,' from Sweden where he was given asylum. 
 
 
- Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin issued a notice according to 
which prison inmates will be allowed to see their spouses and 
children on Valentine's Day. 
 
- Independent MP Mesut Yilmaz, former chairman of Anavatan Party, 
will establish a new political party which, he said, would be an 
"alternative to the ruling AKP." 
 
World 
 
- Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party has a narrow lead over 
former PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud in Israeli elections Tuesday, 
according to television exit polls. 
 
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has visited Baghdad for the first 
time, in an effort to rebuild ties. 
 
- Thousands of Iranians rally in the capital Tehran, celebrating 30 
years of the Iranian revolution. 
 
- President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia set a new post-Soviet record 
in weapons sales last year. 
JEFFREY