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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000862 
 
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: TURKISH MEDIA REACTION 
FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2009 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Aslandogan: "No One Has the Power to Destroy the Gulen Movement" 
(Papers) 
Milliyet, Radikal, Aksam, Cumhuriyet and Zaman report the 
Washington-based CSIS hosted a meeting on the "Fettullah Gulen 
Movement."  Gulen Institute board member Alp Aslandogan said the 
Gulen movement has "millions of members," and in the future, it may 
expand to cover a considerable portion of the Turkish people.  In 
"Aslandogan Challenges from the US," leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet 
quotes Aslandogan as saying "No one has the power to destroy our 
movement."  "All Turkish citizens are potential members of our 
movement," according to Aslandogan.  "We provide support to 
political parties within the framework of issues, values and 
attitudes.  Some businessmen donate at least 10 or 15 percent of 
their profits to the movement," Aslandogan reportedly said. 
 
Editorial Opinion on Coup Document Controversy 
 
Fikret Bila wrote in mainstream Milliyet: "There is no way to be 
certain about this controversial document unless the genuine one is 
available.  The one in the prosecutor's file as well as the printed 
one in the newspaper are all copies.  An original copy should be 
found somewhere, of course, that is if it was not shredded 
intentionally." 
 
Huseyin Gulerce wrote in Islamist oriented Zaman: "I believe the 
document is real, and all of this tells us something very urgent and 
important: Our pride, i.e. the Turkish army should get rid of their 
coup plotting mentality and stop weakening the military's image as 
soon as possible." 
 
Tamer Korkmaz wrote in Islamist oriented Yeni Safak: "It looks like 
the perpetrators of this coup plotting document are against General 
Basbug and TGS's command as well.  This is a network working behind 
the backs of its supervisors." 
 
Murat Yetkin wrote in liberal-intellectual Radikal: "It was very 
important to see good crisis management following the document 
controversy.  Neither the military nor the government made any 
tension-mounting statements.  If anyone out there hopes for a 
deepening of tensions between the government and the military, they 
will certainly be disappointed." 
 
Musavi Supporters Continue Protests over Election Results in Iran 
Media outlets report the supporters of the pro-reform presidential 
candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi marched in silence in Tehran, 
demanding the annulment of the June 12 election results.  The 
protestors dressed in black to mourn the deaths of seven protesters 
killed in clashes over election results.  In "The Mourning March," 
mainstream Sabah says hundreds of thousands of Musavi supporters 
marched in Tehran to protest the killing of eight of their friends 
killed in rallies held over election results.  In "Tens of Thousands 
Mourn in Tehran," leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet says the reformists 
continued their protests "uninterrupted" after the poll results are 
announced.  Papers also report Robert Fisk of The Independent made 
public a "secret letter" sent by the Interior Minister to religious 
leader Hamanei, which says Musavi won 13 million more votes than 
Ahmadinejad.  In "What if All is a Coup to Oust Ahmadinejad," 
Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak quotes The Guardian's Seamus Milne 
warning that if the outcome is true, then the protests could be a 
plot to topple Ahmadinejad, since it would be "impossible to explain 
the 11 million vote difference between Ahmadinejad and Mosavi with 
fraud."  Papers comment the chances of bringing down the mullahs' 
system appears remote, and that the ruling clerics still maintain 
strong public support and are defended by the Revolutionary Guard. 
Papers also report the Iranian government has directly accused the 
US of "meddling in the crisis." 
 
Editorial Opinion on Iran 
 
 
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Oktay Eksi wrote in mainstream Hurriyet: "The ongoing events are an 
indication of a new Iran even though hasty conclusions can be 
deceptive.  At this point, it will be unrealistic to expect a change 
of regime, but a new election is still a possibility." 
 
Sami Kohen wrote in mainstream Milliyet: "Ankara's position is to 
work with any winning government in Iran.  The U.S. as well as the 
Western countries on the other hand are neither committed to 
Ahmedinejad nor fully engaged with the opposition represented by 
Musavi.  They prefer to wait and see since current situation in Iran 
has a potential to bring some unexpected surprises as well." 
 
AWACS Will Use Konya Air Base 
Mainstream Sabah reports that Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak 
Ozugergin confirmed reports that NATO AWACS aircrafts will be 
stationed in the Konya NATO base to conduct operations in 
Afghanistan.  Ozugergin pointed out that the decision was reached at 
the NATO Defense Ministers' Summit in Brussels on June 11-12. 
 
Court of Appeals Acquits Four Policemen Who Were Charged with Murder 
in Mardin 
Mainstream Milliyet and Sabah report on the Court of appeals ruling 
in favor of four policemen who were charged with the killings of 12 
year old Ugur Kaymaz and his father in a raid in Kiziltepe, Mardin 
in 2004.  The high court said that the police opened fire on the boy 
and his father in self-defense despite the Forensic reports saying 
that the boy had nine bullet wounds on his back, he was too young to 
hold a gun and there were no signs of clashes.  The lawyer of Kaymaz 
family is prepared to take the issue to the European Court of Human 
Rights. 
 
Hilary Clinton Fractures her Elbow 
Sabah, Milliyet, Hurriyet, Bugun, Star, Zaman:  Today's papers 
report that US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton fractured her right 
elbow in a fall on Wednesday.  Clinton was on her way to the White 
House when she fell and injured her elbow.  She was treated at the 
George Washington University Hospital and will undergo surgery in 
the coming week. 
 
Islamist-oriented Zaman and conservative Bugun headlines read that 
"Clinton argued with Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman about Jewish 
settlements in the West Bank, and after that she fell and fractured 
her elbow."    At a joint press conference with Lieberman after 
their meeting at the State Department, Secretary Clinton said "The 
US continues to want a halt to settlement activity in the West Bank. 
 No informal agreement on the subject that may have been reached 
between the Bush administration and Israel is valid."  However, 
Lieberman held firm to Netanyahu's position that settlements must be 
allowed to grow to accommodate population trends and said "we really 
don't have any intention to change the demographic balance in the 
West Bank and can't accept this vision of absolutely, completely 
freezing settlements. "  Standing beside Lieberman, Secretary 
Clinton politely rejected his comments by saying "we want to see a 
halt to the settlements.  We think that is an important and 
essential part of pursuing the efforts leading to a comprehensive 
peace agreement." 
 
TV News (CNN Turk) 
 
Domestic 
- The Turkish Parliament will debate on Tuesday a motion asking to 
extend the mandate of Turkish troops within the body of the United 
Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another year. 
 
- The Interior Ministry appointed 37 police chiefs to new provinces. 
 Izmir police chief Huseyin Capkin was appointed as the new police 
chief of Istanbul.  Ankara's police chief Ercument Yilmaz replaced 
Capkin in Izmir, whereas Kayseri's Orhan Ozdemir became the new 
police chief of Ankara. 
 
- On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and the IMF's first 
 
ANKARA 00000862  003 OF 003 
 
 
deputy managing director John Lipsky are expected to participate in 
a meeting of Turkey's influential business group TUSIAD. 
 
- Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will travel Friday to Russia to 
meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. 
 
- At least 100 villagers in the southeastern province of Batman are 
taken into custody for attempting to stage protests against foreign 
companies extracting oil in the region. 
 
World 
 
- Prime Minister Erdogan will visit Athens on June 20-21 to attend 
the opening of the new Acropolis Museum.  On June 25 Erdogan will 
move on to Albania and from there he will go to Brussels to receive 
the Crans Montana Forum's peace award Prix de la Fondation. 
 
- Russia reportedly delays customs procedures for Turkish exporters 
in retaliation for a Turkish decision to speed up the Nabucco 
project. 
 
- The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejects reports that the events for 
the promotion of Turkey in France were cancelled over France's 
negative stance over Turkey's EU membership. 
 
- The last summit of the EU's Czech presidency in Brussels discusses 
proposing Jose Manuel Barroso for a second five-year term as the EU 
Commission president. 
 
- The Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill will visit Turkey from July 
4-6. 
 
JEFFREY