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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000098 
 
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 
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2010 
 
Media Highlights: 
 
How the US Is Playing 
 
"Bad Surprise for Obama" (Milliyet) 
Media is united in calling it a defeat for President Obama as 
Democrats lose their majority in the Senate with the victory of 
Republican Scott Brown in the elections in Massachusetts.  In 
"Election Shock for Obama in Democrat Stronghold," liberal Radikal 
thinks, "as Obama fails to achieve his promises, he loses both 
public support and now his numerical advantage in the US Congress," 
noting "this will put Obama's healthcare reform in trouble."  In 
"Democrats Lost Majority in the Senate, This Will Cause Difficulties 
for Obama," leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet says that as a result 
"political balances will change dramatically," thus "Obama's 
important initiatives will be disrupted."  Islamist oriented Yeni 
Safak headlines, "Obama Lost His Stronghold," and opines that "on 
the anniversary of his first year in office, Obama had his first 
defeat in the 38 year-stronghold in Massachusetts."  Mainstream 
Hurriyet calls it a "Naked Blow to Obama," and highlights that "with 
the victory of the Republican Brown, whose naked pictures appeared 
in Cosmopolitan back in 80s, Obama lost his 'super majority' in the 
Senate." 
 
In the Headlines 
 
Bloody Coup Plan Allegations (Milliyet) 
All papers and TV channels extensively cover the news about a 5,000 
page coup scenario published by the leftist Taraf daily.  According 
to the Taraf story, a military coup plan titled "Balyoz" 
(sledgehammer) was drafted in 2003, shortly after the AKP came to 
power by the then 1st Army Commander General Cetin Dogan.  According 
to the plan, the military was to systematically create chaos in 
society through violent acts like bombing the Beyazit and Fatih 
Mosques and the shooting down of a Turkish military jet in the 
Aegean to prove that AKP was insufficient in foreign policy. 
Conservative-nationalist Turkiye headline reads "Chilling 
Scenarios", mainstream Vatan headlines "The Last Sledgehammer from 
Taraf Daily" and liberal Radikal's headline questions "Is it a Coup 
Plan or Scenario?"  Milliyet reports that yesterday evening retired 
General Cetin Dogan made a statement through a web site (t24.com.tr) 
noting that the alleged plan was a war game scenario which was 
prepared within the context of the 'war game, exercise and seminars' 
and that such scenarios are prepared in the military all the time 
and all commanders are aware of such scenarios. 
 
FM Davutoglu: "Yerevan Should Remain Committed to Its Signature" 
(Hurriyet) 
All papers today report that Foreign Minister Davutoglu was called 
by his Armenian counterpart Nalbandian while Davutoglu was in 
Jeddah.  The Turkish Foreign Minister expressed Turkish concerns 
about the recent developments and said "Yerevan is expected to 
clarify the situation and to show political determination to pass 
the protocols."  Davutoglu rejected allegations that the Turkish 
side was delaying the process and reminded Armenia that Armenia was 
behind Turkey in the process of approving the protocols. 
Islamist-oriented Zaman headlines "Erdogan Tells Yerevan Not to 
Touch Protocol" and says that in a press conference in Jeddah 
yesterday PM Erdogan criticized the Armenian judiciary's 
intervention in the protocols between the two countries by saying 
"Armenian Constitutional Court's decision is unacceptable.  We sent 
the protocols to the parliament without any change, however, Armenia 
tries to operate on the protocols.  If it is not corrected, it will 
harm the process."  Mainstream Haber Turk reports that the main 
opposition CHP leader Deniz Baykal claimed the protocols signed 
between Turkey and Armenia are invalid after the ruling of the 
Armenian Constitutional Court.  MHP leader Bahceli, on his part, 
called on the government to withdraw the protocols from the 
parliament's agenda. 
 
Commentary.  In "Collision Foretold" columnist Murat Yetkin of 
 
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liberal Radikal warns about upcoming problems that Turkish politics 
will have to deal with and highlights the Armenia protocol as one of 
the major ones: "Ankara reacted to the Armenian Constitutional 
Court's reference to a genocide while sending the signed protocols 
to its parliament.  We understand that there was an exchange of 
reproach between FM Davutoglu and Armenian FM Nalbandian over a 
phone conversation.  Armenia, on the other hand, is reacting to a 
link made by Turkey about Turkish parliament's ratification and a 
solution to Nagorno Karabakh between Azerbaijan and Armenia.  Prime 
Minister Erdogan made this link repeatedly and also Turkish internal 
politics forces it to be so.  However neither Russia nor the United 
States want Turkey to tie the protocol with Karabakh issue.  In this 
regard, the position of the US is particularly important because the 
April 24 genocide lobby in the Congress has started working already. 
 The signatures reached over 140." 
Mainstream Hurriyet's Oktay Eksi thinks that there is a mistake only 
in the Yerevan diplomacy: "Armenian court clearly made a link 
between protocols and territorial demands as well as genocide 
claims.  This is an effort to kill the protocol spirit entirely." 
However Cuneyt Ulsever in the same paper has a different argument: 
"What the Armenian court did was making a reference to the Armenian 
Declaration of Independence which is no secret and which is 
something the Turkish Foreign Ministry should have known better 
before signing these protocols.  Moreover it was Turkey first that 
imposed a precondition for ratification process when PM Erdogan on 
many occasions made a link between protocols and a solution to 
Karabakh."  Mainstream Milliyet's Taha Akyol observes disappointment 
in both ends: "When signing the protocols, as an immediate outcome, 
Yerevan was expecting to see the border opened and Ankara was hoping 
to see a historian commission to examine the genocide.  None of it 
happened and with the Armenian court's ruling the protocol spirit is 
gone already." 
 
Greece Doesn't Want Turkish Commander at Larissa Base (Cumhuriyet) 
Leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet reports Greek daily Ta Nea claims the 
Papandreou government does not want a "Turkish commander" at the 
Larissa Base, the second largest NATO air headquarters in the 
Aegean.  The Greeks, otherwise, threatened to veto the restructuring 
of the Alliance at the February 4-5 NATO summit to be held in 
Istanbul.  Greek Defense Ministry officials have also demanded a 
Greek commander be appointed as the deputy of the US commander at 
NATO's HQ in Izmir, Cumhuriyet cites the Greek press. 
 
Banned pro-Kurdish DTP appeals to European court (Milliyet, Zaman) 
Former members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), 
recently closed down by the Constitutional Court, have filed a case 
with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in which they argue 
that the Constitutional Court is not impartial since it was 
established by a constitution drafted by the military junta that 
took over the government on Sept. 12, 1980.  Mainstream Milliyet 
notes that BDP Sirnak deputy Hasip Kaplan stressed that the 78 page 
case file has been received by the ECHR jurists already. 
 
The Heron Failure (Aksam) 
Mainstream Aksam reports that after Israel's failure to have the 
Heron drones "fly for 24 hours at an altitude of 30,000 feet," 
Turkey and Israel adjusted the deal between them to make the 
unmanned aircraft fly continuously for 6-8 hours.  Five years ago, 
Turkey and Israe signed a drone deal worth USD 183 million, 
according to which Israel would deliver ten Herons to Turkey in 
¶2007.  Nevertheless, Israel has not yet been able to deliver any 
drones to Turkey, says Aksam. 
 
 
TV Spotlight (CNN Turk) 
 
"Hunger strike" staged by the former state tobacco and liquor 
monopoly "Tekel" workers has entered its third day. 
 
Syrian acting vice-president Mohammad Nazif will visit Ankara on 
Thursday to meet with Prime Minister Erdogan. 
 
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Turkey's elite business group TUSIAD will hold a meeting Thursday to 
pick a new president. 
 
On January 28, the AK Party government will hold another "workshop" 
to discuss the problems of Alevis in Turkey. 
 
Israeli Military Intelligence General Amos Yadlin warns Turkey is 
drawing closer toward Islamic radicalism and further from Israel and 
the West. 
 
Human rights activists reported the death toll after four days of 
clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs in the Nigerian city of 
Jos and nearby communities has topped 464. 
 
The US Patriot missiles soon to arrive in Poland will reportedly be 
located in Morag, near the Baltic coast, instead of on the outskirts 
of Warsaw. 
 
The British government halts flights between Britain and Yemen over 
terrorism concerns in wake of the attempted bombing of a flight to 
Detroit last year. 
 
A UN report suggests Afghans paid USD 2.5 billion in bribes over the 
past 12 months. 
 
JEFFREY