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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000492 
 
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 
MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
 
AKP Maintains Comfortable Overall Lead in March 29 Local Elections 
Media outlets report Turkey's ruling party AKP won the nationwide 
municipal elections held on Sunday, but public support for the party 
fell to its lowest level since the party was established.  The 
distribution of votes among the political parties in Sunday's vote 
was as follows: AKP 39.1 percent, CHP 23.1, MHP 16.2, DTP 5.3, and 
the Felicity Party (SP) 5.3.  Mainstream Milliyet comments "For the 
first time since 2002, Prime Minister Erdogan's AKP won less votes 
than in previous elections.  Papers underline that support for the 
AKP declined by three percent in comparison to the 2004 municipality 
elections, and by eight percent in comparison to the 2007 general 
elections. 
 
The AKP kept its mayoral seats in the capital Ankara and the 
country's largest city Istanbul, where the competition with the main 
opposition CHP candidates ran tight.  The ruling party, however, 
lost key cities that Prime Minister Erdogan had campaigned hard to 
take, including Izmir, Diyarbakir and Adana.  The biggest surprise 
came from the Mediterranean province of Antalya where the AKP mayor, 
Menderes Turel, lost to CHP candidate and former rector of the 
city's university, Mustafa Akaydin.  In Ankara, the CHP's Murat 
Karayalcin and MHP's Mansur Yavas increased their votes against 
three-time winner Melih Gokcek from the AKP.  Mainstream Hurriyet 
says the CHP Istanbul mayoral candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who 
earned a good reputation through his fight against corruption in 
politics, boosted the center left and partly center right votes. 
 
Papers also report CHP officials claimed fraud in the counting of 
the votes in Ankara and Istanbul.  While the counting of the votes 
continued late Sunday night, the computer system of the High 
Election Board (YSK) collapsed around when Kilicdaroglu told the 
press he was slightly ahead of Topbas.  CHP said it had "serious 
concerns" over the reliability of the election results in Istanbul 
and Ankara. 
 
Editorial opinion on election results: 
 
Mehmet Yilmaz wrote in mainstream Hurriyet: "There are significant 
lessons to take from the voters' choices among the three major 
political parties.  The ruling AKP cannot continue under a 
fight-with-everybody approach and it should return to its reformist 
approach.  The CHP can move forward only under genuine leadership 
and vision.  And the MHP is also in need of new leadership.  Given 
the increased level of voter support as well as the overall 
conservative nature of Turkish society, the MHP has emerged as the 
political alternative to the AKP." 
 
Sedat Ergin wrote in mainstream Milliyet: "The ruling AKP is the 
winner, but this is somehow a wounded victory.  There is no 
political instability as a result of this election, but the main 
opposition has now gained more political morale compared to previous 
local election performance." 
 
Bulent Korucu wrote in Islamist oriented Zaman: "There is a certain 
degree of weakness in the AKP's victory.  It stems from the wrong 
candidates as well as party organization's laziness by focusing only 
PM Erdogan's personal leadership and charisma." 
 
Yasin Aktay wrote in Islamist oriented Yeni Safak: "The AKP has 
continuously increased its voter support every time during local and 
general elections, except this one.  There are some serious losses 
for the AKP in certain districts.  All of this will open the door 
for self criticism, which is a good thing." 
 
 
March 29 Polls Analyses in the Press 
Papers observe that the March 29 elections changed the political map 
 
ANKARA 00000492  002 OF 003 
 
 
of Turkey significantly; the CHP dominated the northwestern and 
western provinces whereas the AKP lost ground against the 
pro-Kurdish DTP in the eastern and southeastern provinces but 
maintained its strongholds in central Turkey.  Leftist-nationalist 
Cumhuriyet ties the decline in the support for the AKP to the 
economic crisis and the corruption claims in the government and the 
municipalities held by the ruling party.  The pro-government, 
Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak stresses the AKP renewed a "vote of 
confidence" in the elections.  Islamist-oriented Zaman says the AKP 
managed to preserve its popularity despite the economic crisis, but 
received a warning from voters to be more careful in the nomination 
of candidates.  Business daily Referans sees the election results as 
a reaction to Prime Minister Erdogan who has repeatedly said before 
the polls that the global economic crisis "by-passed" Turkey. 
Mainstream Sabah strikes a similar tone, saying the impact of the 
economic crisis reduced support for the AKP, especially in the 
industrialized western provinces hit by the crisis.  Zaman says the 
CHP has increased support when it dropped the debates about the 
nature of the regime while the MHP received approval from its voters 
as well as a message to continue its "democratic stance."  The paper 
sees the increase in support for the Islamist SP as its voters' 
approval of the election of Numan Kurtulmus as party leader.  The SP 
has almost tripled its votes in a short period of only 
one-and-a-half years, a shift seen due to the change of leadership 
from veteran Islamist leader Necmettin Erbakan, who was the symbol 
of the Milli Gorus (National View) to Numan Kurtulmus, a new face 
appreciated by young conservatives.  Leftist Taraf sees the rise in 
the support for SP as the Islamist voters' reaction to the failure 
of Erdogan's AKP government in ending headscarf restrictions. 
Papers report SP leader Kurtulmus said the decrease in the support 
for the AKP would trigger early general elections. 
 
Erdogan: Election Results Taught Us a Lesson, We'll Act Accordingly 
In his first statement about the results Sunday night, Prime 
Minister Erdogan acknowledged "dissatisfaction" in his party's 
failure to take the municipalities in cities such as Diyarbakir and 
Antalya.  Erdogan said the public taught his party a lesson and they 
would act in line with this.  The PM added that three reasons -- the 
global financial crisis, opposition against the ruling party in the 
media, and peoples' lack of appreciation for the AKP achievements -- 
were responsible in the decline in the AKP votes.  "We went below 
our targets, nevertheless, our votes are still more than the sum of 
CHP and MHP," said Erdogan. 
 
Cumhuriyet comments Prime Minister Erdogan set an ambitious target 
of winning the main municipalities such as Diyarbakir, Van and 
Tunceli in the mainly Kurdish east and southeast Turkey, and he 
mobilized state resources to win the support of voters, but the DTP 
candidates won landslide victories in these three provinces. 
Leftist Taraf emphasizes the state-run TRT television's Kurdish 
language broadcasts and the distribution of food and household goods 
to the poor families have not been sufficient to make people forget 
the "nationalistic messages" issued by the PM in the region before 
the elections, and the failure to end the fighting in the southeast. 
 Mainstream Sabah says the election results show the Kurdish issue 
cannot be resolved without the involvement of the DTP.  Mainstream 
Milliyet says the election results revealed significant increase in 
support of Kurdish nationalism in the mainly Kurdish areas. 
 
Mainstream papers expect Erdogan to make changes in the government, 
including cabinet reshuffle.  A column in liberal Radikal says the 
results will force Erdogan to pursue more realistic policies by 
showing that he does not have the unconditional support of voters. 
Many people in Turkey were discomforted by the hard-line messages 
issued by Erdogan over the recent months; the results, however, will 
make the PM to step back, says Radikal. 
 
Ambassador Jeffrey: The Obama Visit is An Indication of Turkey's 
Success 
Sabah daily carried an interview with Ambassador James Jeffrey in 
 
ANKARA 00000492  003 OF 003 
 
 
two parts in the Saturday and Sunday editions.  Ambassador Jeffrey's 
remarks as highlighted in the report are as follows: 
 
"The U.S. is Turkey's natural partner and friend, and the visit of 
President Obama is an indication of Turkey's success." 
 
"My visits to Sakarya Monument as well as to Maltepe Mosque just 
after assuming my role as Ambassador were meant to underline the 
importance of Turkey's founder Ataturk and to pay respect to the 
religious values of the predominantly Muslim Turkish society. 
 
"There is no fundamental change in America's views of Turkey.  The 
difference is in the tone; Secretary Clinton mentioned secularism 
but also emphasized the Muslim identity of Turkish society.  We 
don't say 'moderate Islam' any more.  People are moderate or 
radical, not states." 
 
"There are vast areas for bilateral cooperation between the U.S. and 
Turkey.  The significance of Turkey's importance is seen in its 
membership to NATO, the G-20 and other international institutions." 
 
"Turkey's EU accession is in the interest of the US.  Turkey is part 
of Europe both economically and commercially.  And the United States 
will continue to support Turkey's EU accession." 
 
"The PKK is a source of violence, terror and instability in the 
region. We have to deal with this problem. If military, political 
and legal measures fail to bring results, we will evaluate the 
situation." 
 
TV News (CNN Turk) 
 
Domestic 
 
- Seven people are killed and 99 others are injured in quarrels 
between party supporters across Turkey that flared up during 
Sunday's voting in municipality elections. 
 
- The funeral of Muhsin Yazicioglu, the BBP leader who died in a 
helicopter crash last week, will be held on Tuesday. 
 
- The cost of the five economic stimulus packages announced by the 
AKP government since October is estimated as 36.4 billion lira. 
 
- Turkey is the 20th largest importer of foreign goods in the world. 
 
 
World 
 
- Reports that Turkey might block Rasmussen's bid for the post of 
NATO secretary general by using its veto power raise the need to 
change the system of appointing top NATO officials. 
 
- Israel's cabinet decides to withhold Hamas prisoners' leisure and 
educational privileges until the Islamist group frees the captive 
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in the Gaza Strip. 
 
- Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the US has no plans to shoot 
down a missile that North Korea has said it will fire to launch a 
communications satellite. 
 
- US Vice President Joe Biden says Washington is not planning to 
lift its embargo on Cuba. 
 
JEFFREY