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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000498 
 
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, APRIL 1, 2009 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Obama Will Meet Opposition Party Leaders in Ankara 
Media outlets report U.S. President Barack Obama, who is expected to 
arrive in Ankara on April 5, will hold a meeting with opposition 
leaders in the Turkish parliament.  Obama will pay a visit to 
Ataturk's Mausoleum (Anitkabir) in the morning on April 6, and will 
later deliver a speech at the Turkish Parliament.  Turkish sources 
said Obama wanted to hold talks with the leaders of opposition 
parties, according to papers.  CHP and DTP agreed to meet President 
Obama during his time in Ankara.  MHP said their party leader Devlet 
Bahceli is reluctant to meet with Obama together with other party 
leaders, but will join a one-on-one meeting with the U.S. President. 
 Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan said Obama would meet with each of 
the three opposition party leaders briefly at his office in the 
parliament.  Obama will also have a 15-minute meeting with Toptan 
before addressing the lawmakers for 45 minutes. 
 
Editorial Commentary on President Obama's Upcoming Visit to Turkey 
 
Murat Yetkin wrote in liberal-intellectual Radikal: "Even though 
President Obama's Turkey visit coincided with the Alliance of 
Civilizations meeting, co-chaired by Spain and Turkey, President 
Obama's main focus of his visit is U.S.-Turkey relations.  Protocol 
officials have worked out a concession with the attendance of 
President Obama to the Alliance of Civilization reception and the 
dinner in order not to disappoint the Turkish and the Spanish 
leaders.  In other words, President Obama be present at the event 
but will not be part of meetings.  As Ambassador Jeffrey stated on 
March 12, President Obama is coming here because he wants to visit 
Turkey and because he believes in the importance of Turkey." 
 
March 29 Elections: The Aftermath 
Mainstream Milliyet points to the changes in the preferences of 
voters: The AKP entered the political arena in 2002 by winning 34 
percent of the vote.  In 2007 parliamentary elections, support for 
the party soared to 47 percent.  The AKP, however, lost the support 
of 815,000 voters in the March 29 municipal elections.  Liberal 
Radikal notes support for the AKP dropped by 17 percent whereas 
support for the Felicity Party (SP,) CHP and MHP rose in Sunday's 
elections.  Mainstream Vatan says the "rule" never changes -- 
support for governments declines when economic growth slows down, as 
it had been the case when Turkey's gross domestic product shrank by 
6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to Turkish 
Statistics Institute (TUIK) data released Tuesday. 
 
Mainstream Hurriyet reports the main opposition CHP leader Deniz 
Baykal said, "Turkish politics will not be the same anymore." 
Baykal stressed the AKP government "had to admit there is a decline 
in its power."  Furthermore, Baykal said, "The period of trying to 
control of the judiciary and to silence the media is over.  The 
period of manipulating the economy for different goals has ended." 
 
Baykal said that there was 7.5-point increase in public support for 
his party, and added the CHP would fulfill its responsibilities to 
respond to the rising public support.  On the CHP's poor 
performances in the mainly Kurdish east and southeast areas, Baykal 
said a "detailed analysis" would be conducted in order to increase 
the visibility of the party in the Kurdish areas. 
 
Cicek 'Worried' over the DTP Success in Elections 
Media outlets report government spokesman Cemil Cicek's "worries" 
over the picture that has emerged after the municipal elections. 
Mainstream Hurriyet reports Cicek said, "In certain regions of the 
country, there is no party other than the pro-Kurdish DTP.  The DTP 
has won Igdir, which is on the border with Armenia.  The AKP only 
won Mardin in that region.  One needs to take a careful look to that 
region."  Leftist Taraf says Cicek made "poisonous" comments 
regarding the victory of the DTP in Igdir, saying "They have reached 
the Armenia border, and the situation should be examined in light of 
 
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Turkish security," which Taraf calls an "ultra-nationalist approach 
within the AKP" to the Kurdish issue. 
 
Editorial Commentary on March 29 Elections Aftermath 
 
Ali Bayramoglu wrote in Islamist oriented Yeni Safak: "The ruling 
AKP should carefully examine the election's outcome and act 
accordingly.  Given the results, the AKP will enjoy a jump in 
popular support if it pursues liberal and democratic rhetoric, and 
if it makes the EU reforms a priority." 
 
Fikret Bila wrote in mainstream Milliyet: "The military seems to 
have taken a lesson from the last general elections in 2007.  When 
the military tried to use its influence over politics against the 
AKP, it actually worked for them to gain for more popular support. 
This time, under General Basbug's leadership the military stood away 
from politics and deliberately refrained from making any comments 
besides on issues related to security and terrorism.  As proven by 
the March 29 local elections, internal dynamics of democracy with 
free will of people is the best remedy for problem solving." 
 
Turkey-Israel to Hold Joint Naval Exercises in Summer (Cumhuriyet) 
Leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet reports Turkey and Israel will hold 
joint naval exercises in the summer.  On Monday, Turkish and Israeli 
Foreign Ministry undersecretaries Ertugrul Apakan and Yossi Gal held 
a meeting in Ankara for the first time since the "Davos crisis" 
between PM Erdogan and Israel's Shimon Peres to discuss ways for 
repairing the strains in bilateral ties, says Cumhuriyet. 
 
TUBITAK Sacks Editors in Controversial Move 
Mainstream Hurriyet reports the Turkish science and technological 
research institution TUBITAK's board fired six editors of the 
Science and Technology journal, who have played a key role in 
transforming the journal into an internationally renowned science 
magazine.  Hurriyet says the editors who were fired discovered the 
personnel "changes" made by the board when they checked the website 
of the magazine they were editing.  TUBITAK came under the spotlight 
last month when its board removed articles about Charles Darwin and 
the theory of evolution from the Science and Technology magazine's 
March issue, causing heated controversy. 
 
Turkish Economy Contracts 6.2 Percent in Last Quarter of 2008 
Media outlets report the Turkish economy contracted by 6.2 percent 
in the last quarter of 2008, according to data released Tuesday by 
the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).  Business daily Referans 
sees the shrink as "a warning for the government."  The paper says 
that "after Taiwan, Turkey demonstrated the second worst growth 
performance in the global economic downturn."  Analysts predict this 
is going to be the first of negative figures, the first quarter will 
be worse, perhaps more than 9 percent, and Turkey's poor performance 
will prevail through the third quarter.  The global crisis has 
sparked the first economic contraction since the AKP came to office 
in 2002, driving the jobless rate to the highest in four years and 
fueling calls for the governing party to agree on a new deal with 
the IMF, comment papers. 
 
Sabah Correspondent Reports from Guantanamo 
Mainstream Sabah's correspondent visited the US detention facility 
in Guantanamo and reported, "Since 2002, more than 700 prisoners, 
including ten Turks, were kept in Guantanamo prison in Cuba.  There 
are no Turkish prisoners there now and total number of prisoners are 
¶240.  Three thousand US troops protect the base and the prisoners. 
In order to remain anonymous, the guardians address each other with 
the nick names.  If there are any prisoners who decide to go on 
hunger strike, they are forced fed through nose catheters. 
Prisoners are kept in three different camps in the base: Camp Delta, 
Camp 5 and Camp 6.   Our first stop was Camp Delta.  Only the well 
behaved prisoners were kept here, and the rest were sent to Camp 5 
and 6.  According to the base data 65 percent of the prisoners are 
distributed between these two camps."  The series of reporting from 
 
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Guantanamo will continue tomorrow. 
 
US and Iranian Reps Meet at Afghanistan Summit at The Hague 
Mainstream Hurriyet reports that US Secretary of State Hilary 
Clinton stressed at the Afghanistan Summit in The Hague that US 
Special Envoy for Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke had a short and 
sincere meeting with Iranian Deputy FM Muhammed Mehdi Ahundzade. 
Clinton added that the meeting was not pre-scheduled and the two 
reps did not speak on any specific issue but just agreed not to 
interrupt ongoing contacts. 
 
TV News (CNN Turk) 
 
Domestic 
 
- On Thursday, Prime Minister Erdogan will join the G-20 meeting in 
London. 
 
- Prime Minister Erdogan is expected to reshuffle his cabinet after 
President Obama's visit to Turkey next week. 
 
- At least 30 leading Spanish companies will come to Turkey in June 
or July to discuss possibilities for cooperation. 
 
World 
 
- A CSIS report on Turkey advises the Obama administration to 
strengthen dialogue with Turkey. 
 
- President Abdullah Gul said Turkish troops would have left Cyprus 
by now had the Greek Cypriots approved the 2004 UN-backed Annan Plan 
for the reunification of the island. 
 
- Iraq has started flying drones along its borders to stop foreign 
fighters and arms infiltrating through neighboring countries. 
 
JEFFREY