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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001640 
 
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 
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009 
 
Media Highlights: A/S Gordon Visit Aftermath;  Crowley Comments on 
Iran;  Davutoglu on Iran's Nuclear Program; 
Chief Prosecutor Initiates Investigation Against the AKP; 
Turkey-Egypt Bilateral Naval Exercises 
 
 
A/S Gordon Sends Three Warnings to Turkey 
In a weekend article, senior columnist of mainstream Hurriyet, Sedat 
Ergin commented on A/S Gordon's recent visit to Ankara and says 
"Gordon's visit was a preparation visit to PM Erdogan's US visit on 
December 7.  Looking at his remarks carefully, one can say that 
Turkey and the US disagreed on three issues:  The US Administration 
expects Turkey to change its stance and stop tolerating Sudanese 
President Bashir.  Secondly, Gordon drew attention to Turkey's "zero 
problem with the neighbors" policy and conveyed US' expectation for 
Israel to be included in the list of neighbors.  In an interview 
with The Guardian, Gordon openly said that the US doesn't share 
Turkish confidence regarding Iran's nuclear program."  Sedat Ergin 
believes that these issues will come to the agenda of Obama-Erdogan 
meeting unless the disagreements are eliminated until the meeting on 
December 7. 
 
Also in today's Milliyet, columnist Semih Idiz cites "a high level 
American diplomatic source" and notes that Washington expects to see 
"a speedy process of ratification" for the Turkey-Armenia 
normalization protocols, because "a campaign for April 24 genocide 
resolution will start soon in the U.S."  The writer however urges 
Washington not to create a link between the two issues: "If 
Washington starts pressuring Ankara with this argument, it will only 
help for a backfire." 
 
Spokesman Crowley Comments on Iran's Nuclear Program 
Turkish media extensively covered State Dept Spokesman Philip 
Crowley's comments on Iran, at the weekend. Saturday's mainstream 
Hurriyet reports that speaking at the Foreign Press Center in 
Washington on Friday, Crowley told journalists that US concerns 
regarding Iran 's nuclear program are "not gossip, but quite real." 
Adding, "we're eagerly anticipating the international inspection 
report which will come out later this month, regarding the recently 
disclosed nuclear facility in Qum." Crowley also added that the US 
has valued Turkey 's role as a mediator. 
 
Turkey Offers Tehran New Nuclear Formula 
Today's Hurriyet reports that Foreign Minister Davutoglu offered a 
Turkish plan to store Iran's uranium in Turkey stating "We could 
store it just like a trustee."  FM Davutoglu's who commented while 
on his way to Spain said he was still waiting for a response from 
Tehran.  "Turkey facilitated a negotiation channel between the West 
and Iran over Iran's uranium issue for the last 10 days and 
submitted a proposal to the parties for the storage of Iranian 
uranium.   Iran had previously accepted the idea of storing the low 
grade uranium in another country but Ahmedinejad had to step back 
after harsh criticism from the opposition in his country.  The 
Iranians trust us and our doors are open." added Davutoglu. 
According to Hurriyet, Davutoglu confirmed that Turkey has the 
technology necessary to meet Iran's uranium storage needs. 
 
Chief Prosecutor Initiates Investigation Against the AKP 
Mainstream Sabah reports that it has been learned that Yargitay 
Chief Prosecutor's Office initiated an investigation against the AKP 
for not abiding with the law state principles.  Reportedly, the 
prosecutor's office initiated the investigation for the recent 
judicial wiretapping crisis saying that the AKP has violated the 
article 68 of the constitution by tapping judiciary. 
 
Turkey-Egypt Bilateral Naval Exercises 
Mainstream Sabah and liberal Radikal cite the Turkish General Staff 
website in reporting that Friendship Sea-2009 Turkish-Egypt 
Bilateral Military Exercise would be performed in Eastern 
Mediterranean in November 16 and 21, 2009.  The target of the 
 
ANKARA 00001640  002 OF 002 
 
 
exercise is to boost cooperation between the Naval Forces of the two 
countries.  Turkey attended the exercise with two frigates, two 
assault boats, a submarine, a corvette, a tugboat, two fast petrol 
boats, and an underwater assault team.  Egypt attends the exercise 
with two frigates, two assault boats, a ship, a helicopter and an 
underwater assault team. 
 
 
Upcoming events: 
 
- November 16:  President Gul will receive Justice Minister Sadullah 
Ergin and Court of Appeals President Hasan Gerceker to discuss 
allegations for wiretapping in judiciary 
 
- November 16:  Italian President Napolitano will come to Turkey for 
an official four day visit 
 
- November 16-18: PM Erdogan attends FAO summit held in Rome 
 
- November 23: Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin 
Ben-Eliezer will come to Turkey 
 
 
 
TV News (CNN Turk) 
 
Domestic 
 
- Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, head of union of judges and prosecutors 
(YARSAV) , fails to win a seat in YARSAV's board of directors 
 
- TGS rejects allegations that Ergenekon suspect Colonel Cicek had a 
lunch with army commanders before his interrogation 
 
- Report prepared by the EU commission says that Turkey managed to 
avoid a deep financial crisis in the global economic turmoil because 
of the reforms in banking and finance 
 
 
World 
 
-  President Obama says time is running out for diplomacy in a 
dispute over Iran's nuclear program 
 
- Palestinian officials say that they are preparing to ask the UN to 
endorse Palestine as an independent state without Israel's consent 
because they are losing faith in the peace talks. 
 
- Israeli PM Netanyahu stresses that he prefers to speak to Syria 
directly but if there is going to be a mediator, he prefers France 
because he doesn't think that PM Erdogan can act objective mediator. 
 
JEFFREY