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Viewing cable 03ANKARA2940, ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
03ANKARA2940 2003-05-06 14:12 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Ankara
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002940 
 
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
SUBJECT: ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT 
TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2003 
 
 
THIS REPORT WILL PRESENT A TURKISH PRESS SUMMARY UNDER THREE 
THEMES: 
 
 
HEADLINES 
BRIEFING 
EDITORIAL OPINION 
                    -------------------- 
 
 
HEADLINES 
 
 
MASS APPEAL 
Bush conveys Sezer condolences, offers help - Sabah 
Bush makes surprise call to Sezer - Milliyet 
Arab mayor for Mosul, w/ Kurd deputy - Hurriyet 
Mosul polls first free election in Iraq - Aksam 
Garner: Barzani in interim Iraqi administration - Turkiye 
`Ms. Anthrax' under arrest - Aksam 
Poll: No Democrat candidate came close to Bush - Milliyet 
TGS strongly denounces speculation on NSC - Vatan 
Turkish companies feeling pulse at Equity International 
meeting - Turkiye 
Rumsfeld: Finding Iraqi WMD might take time - Sabah 
 
 
OPINION MAKERS 
`Interim mayor' for Mosul - Cumhuriyet 
Shiites, Sunni alliance against invaders - Yeni Safak 
Turkish Cypriot opposition: Political solution essential - 
Radikal 
Papadopoulos appeals to conscience of Greeks going North - 
Zaman 
Gul to meet with EU envoys in Crete May 25 - Yeni Safak 
North Korean missiles `locked' on U.S. - Cumhuriyet 
 
 
FINANCIAL JOURNALS 
Government vows to step up fight against corruption - Dunya 
Pentagon hurdle for Turkish contractors - Finansal Forum 
 
 
BRIEFING 
 
 
Bush calls Sezer: Dailies report President Bush's phone call 
to President Sezer on Monday, offering condolences for the 
Bingol earthquake but also asking for Turkey's support for a 
solution on Cyprus.  Sezer said Ankara expected some 
positive steps forward from the Greek Cypriots, and that the 
new openings on both sides of the island inspired hope. 
Bush also assured Sezer that the U.S. was acting in line 
with Turkey's sensitivities in Iraq, papers underline. 
 
 
Earthquake/corruption: The prosecutor in Bingol has issued a 
search and arrest warrant for the corrupt contractors of 
buildings wrecked in the recent earthquake.  Dailies claim 
that the AKP government was planning to take advantage of 
the disaster to make swift changes to the public procurement 
law.  Government officials want housing and energy tenders 
to be excluded from the new law, so that houses for 
earthquake victims can be completed before winter.  Papers 
suspect that the AKP government had been considering changes 
to the public procurement law so that it can give its 
supporters a larger share from lucrative state contracts 
without the transparency required by the new law. 
 
 
Iraq jobs for Turks: Papers say that the hawks in the 
Pentagon were putting pressure on American companies to 
refrain from cooperating with Turkish subcontractors in 
Iraq's reconstruction.  Turkish companies, particularly 
giants like Koc and Sabanci groups are alarmed by this 
negative course of developments in Washington.  The 
Washington Administration will force Turkish businessmen to 
form partnerships with Northern Iraqi Kurdish companies if 
they want to win contracts `easily,' "Star" claims. The 
paper goes on to say that both the PUK and KDP leadership 
have given Ankara the message that Turkish companies could 
bypass the negative attitude of Americans against Turks only 
through partnership with Kurdish firms.  "Star" comments 
that Washington, striving to decrease tension between Ankara 
and the Northern Iraqi Kurdish groups, might be using the 
Iraqi contracts as a trump card. 
 
 
TGS uneasy about speculation: The TGS (Turkish General 
Staff) issued Monday a strongly worded statement to `show 
the military's decisiveness in facing enemies of republic 
who attempt to undermine unity.'   The statement said that 
the military was the foremost guarantor of Turkey's secular 
democratic regime.  The statement also harshly criticized 
foreign and domestic press reports alleging disagreement 
among military commanders. The TGS message was aimed at 
press reports claiming a duel of words between the 
government and military wings of the NSC during meetings. It 
declared these reports to be untrue,.  Mainstream papers see 
the statement as the strongest message issued by the TGS 
under Gen. Ozkok's command. 
 
 
EDITORIAL OPINION: US foreign policy in post Saddam Iraq 
 
 
"Pax-Americana in the Middle East" 
Sami Kohen wrote in mass appeal Milliyet (5/6): "In the 
aftermath of the Iraq war, we have been observing the steps 
taken by the US in the Middle East as its new strategy. 
Washington has started implementing an American order, the 
Pax Americana if you will,  in the Middle East and beyond. . 
These are the current steps that are being taken:  The 
restructuring of Iraq is underway in its all dimensions, and 
it is happening in the way the US desires. . The US is 
revising its current alliances with old friends, but also 
has started establishing new alliances in the region, such 
as with Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. . Syria is the new target 
for the US, which was pronounced as part of axis of evil. 
Yet it seems things are moving to a direction where 
Washington sees no point for a military operation at least 
for the moment as proven with the SecState Powell visit. . 
The Bush administration has also started dealing with the 
Palestine issue, which happens to be the major source of 
tension in the Middle East. . All of this indicates that 
President Bush's doctrine or the Pax Americana in a broader 
sense, is now coming true." 
 
 
PEARSON