The following are translations of excerpts from the Turkish press.
LET'S SEE WHAT THEY HAVE
On his way to Libya, PM Erdogan commented on disclosure of U.S. State Department documents on Wikileaks' web site. He said: "Let's wait and see what they disclosed. It is too early to comment. We will evaluate what they disclosed and later, we will comment if necessary."
PM Erdogan will meet with Col. Kaddafi and will receive "Human Rights Award" from the Kaddafi Human Rights International Committee.
http://haber.gazetevatan.com/eteklerindeki-taslari-bir-doksun-bakalim/343337/1/Gundem
ERDOGAN IS OUR LEADER
Legendary Palestinian guerilla leader Layla Halid said: "Turkey, under AKP Government, started to understand what the Middle East means. We are closely listening to what Erdogan says. Erdogan is like our own leader. Israel is becoming lonely after Mavi Marmara incident. Turkey will lead the Middle East."
http://haber.gazetevatan.com/erdogan-liderimiz/343283/1/Gundem
THESE WORDS WILL MAKE ARINC CRAZY
Wikileaks documents on Turkish politics leaked yesterday. A document signed by former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman said that there is a rivalry between Erdogan and Gul, that Erdogan thinks that he is gifted by God and Arinc is his potential competitor and a problem in the [ruling] party. In documents, Edelman's successor, James Jeffrey, describes Arinc as "Erdogan's dog."
http://haber.gazetevatan.com/arinci-cok-kizdiracak-ifadeler/343361/1/Gundem
I DID NOT MAKE AN OFFICIAL COMPLAINT AGAINST THOSE STUDENTS
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan emphasized the importance of the freedom of expression in his meeting with university rectors and mentioned the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) students who were sentenced to jail for protesting the PM.
Erdoğan said he did not make an official complaint and noted that it was the decision of the judicial system. Erdoğan said he was not even informed about the incident.
DEED DELIVERED TO PATRIARCHATE
The deed of the Greek Orphanage in Buyukada, Istanbul was delivered to a lawyer of the Fener Greek Patriarchate Murat Sofuoglu. Sofuoglu said: "I think we are the first country in Europe which followed the verdict of the European Human Rights Court and gave back the real estate to the original owner."
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/16403578.asp?gid=373
WIKILEAKS FILES SHOW U.S. WORRIES ABOUT TURKISH PM'S DEPENDABILITY
Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks to German news magazine Der Spiegel shows U.S. diplomats have doubts about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's dependability as a partner.
American diplomats distrust Erdoğan and his unrealistic views on the world, wrote Der Spiegel. He gets his information almost exclusively from newspapers with links to the Islamists and allegedly has little time for the analyses of his ministries, the diplomats believe.
The prime minister, one of the United States' most important NATO partners, has surrounded himself with "an iron ring of sycophantic [but contemptuous] advisors," writes a diplomat.
Despite his bragging, he is afraid of losing power, according to the dispatches viewed by Der Spiegel. One source is quoted as telling the Americans: "Tayyip believes in God but doesn't trust Him."
Erdoğan's advisers and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu are portrayed as having little understanding of politics beyond Turkey. A high-ranking government adviser, quoted by U.S. diplomats, describes Davutoğlu as "exceptionally dangerous" and warns that he would use his Islamist influence on Erdoğan.
A cable signed by the U.S. ambassador in January 2010 says the foreign minister wants to reassert on the Balkans the influence the Ottoman Empire used to exert on the region. But the foreign minister overestimates himself and Turkey, wrote the U.S. diplomats. Turkey sums up a cable translated into German by the magazine, "have the ambitions of Rolls Royce but the means of Rover."
WIKILEAKS UNLEASHES FLOOD OF CONFIDENTIAL U.S. CABLES
WikiLeaks has unleashed a torrent of more than a 250,000 confidential U.S. cables detailing a wide array of potentially explosive diplomatic episodes, The New York Times said Sunday.
The newspaper reported details of a tense standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel, plans to reunite the Korean peninsula after the North's eventual collapse, bazaar-like bargaining over the repatriation of Guantanamo Bay detainees and a Chinese government bid to hack into Google.
The cables detail fresh suspicions about Afghan corruption, Saudi donors financing al-Qaeda, and the U.S. failure to prevent Syria from providing a massive stockpile of weapons to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon since 2006.
The whistle-blower website's chief Julian Assange said earlier Sunday the release of the U.S. documents by the whistle-blower website would cover "every major issue," as governments braced for damaging revelations.
"Over this last month much of my energy and activities have been spent preparing for the upcoming release of a diplomatic history of the United States," Assange said.
"Over 250,000 classified cables from U.S. embassies all around the world, and we can see already in the past week or so that the United States has made movements to try to disarm the effect that this could have."
The White House immediately slammed the release as a "reckless and dangerous action" that puts lives at risk around the world.
"To be clear — such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
U.S. officials in recent days have raced to contain the fall-out by warning more than a dozen countries, including key allies Australia, Britain, Canada, Israel and Turkey.
Late on Saturday Washington ruled out negotiating with WikiLeaks, saying it possessed the cables in violation of U.S. law.
In a letter to Assange and his lawyer that was released to the media, the U.S. State Department also said the planned leak would endanger the lives of "countless innocent individuals."
"We will not engage in a negotiation regarding the further release or dissemination of illegally obtained U.S. government classified materials," State Department legal adviser Harold Koh wrote.
U.S. officials said this was in response to a letter Assange had sent to the State Department on Friday in which he had tried to address concerns that the planned release placed individuals at risk.
"As far as we are aware, and as far as anyone has ever alleged in any credible manner whatsoever, no single individual has ever come to harm as a result of anything that we have ever published," Assange said on Sunday.
The State Department said in its letter to Assange that WikiLeaks would also "place at risk on-going military operations" while aiding "traffickers in human beings and illicit arms, violent criminal enterprises and other actors that threaten global security."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Sunday that his government had not been warned by the Americans about any specific sensitive materials.
British officials said some information might be subject to voluntary agreements between the government and the media to withhold sensitive data governing military operations and the intelligence services.
The Sunday Times of London quoted one government official as warning that British citizens in Muslim countries could be targeted in a violent backlash over any perceived "anti-Islamic" views expressed.
Russia's respected Kommersant newspaper has said the documents included U.S. diplomats' conversations with Russian politicians and "unflattering" assessments of some of them.
Turkish media said they included papers suggesting that Ankara helped al-Qaeda in Iraq and that Washington helped Iraq-based outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK], which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States.
U.S. officials have not confirmed the source of the leaks, but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a former army intelligence agent arrested after the release of a video showing air strikes that killed civilian reporters in Iraq.
WikiLeaks argues that the first two document dumps — nearly 500,000 U.S. military incident reports from 2004 to 2009 — shed light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sweden recently issued an international warrant for Assange's arrest, saying he is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual molestation.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=wikileaks-unleashes-flood-of-confidential-us-cables
