GOOD MORNING--TURKEY PRESS SCAN ON APR 15

HURRIYET
-- ‘I WILL CLOSE MY COMPANY IF THEY OPEN BORDER’
Azerbaijani businessman Mubariz Mansimov, who is the chairman of Palmali Group, assessed Turkey-Azerbaijan relations: "Azerbaijani investments in Turkey only in the last two years are more than $10 billion. Turkish companies are also making significant business in Azerbaijan. I will not stay in a country that has an open border with Armenia, and I will close my company in Turkey."
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-- EIGHT-PERSON CITY TEAM TARGETED
The chief public prosecutor's office in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir initiated an operation against "Turkey’s working group," which comprises eight people and was set up by the PKK terrorist organization to plan and direct terrorist acts in Turkey. Following the technical pursuit that lasted one year, operations were staged in 57 places in 15 provinces – mostly in Diyarbakir. Fifty-one people, including three deputy chairmen of Democratic Society Party, or DTP, and three lawyers of Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK terrorist organization, were taken into custody.
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MILLIYET
-- ‘WE CAN NOT REMAIN INDIFFERENT TO SECTS’
Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug relayed important messages at the War Academy in Istanbul. He said religious sects that were organized around interest groups could not be called "nongovernmental organizations" and noted that "some religious sects present themselves as players in the democratic arena and that they have a strong position. However, the perception of this power is misleading."
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-- DTP MEMBERS DETAINED IN RAID ON PKK
Fifty-one people, including three deputy chairmen from the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, and head terrorist Ocalan's lawyer were detained in operations launched in 15 provinces against PKK affiliates.
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-- F-16 CRASHES IN BURSA
An F-16 warplane that took off from its base in the western province of Balikesir crashed in the Kemalpasa district in neighboring Bursa province. Wreckage of the plane was found, but there was no news about the plane’s pilot.
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SABAH
-- SURPRISING STATEMENTS FROM TOP TURKISH GENERAL
Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug emphasized "the people of Turkey" during a speech and said that "terrorists are human beings, too," calling for necessary arrangements to encourage them to lay down their arms. "Ataturk says, 'The founders of the Republic of Turkey are the people of Turkey.' He refers to the entire people living in this country. There is no religious or ethnic discrimination," Basbug told a meeting at the Istanbul War Academy. "After all terrorists are human beings, too. For us, the important things are to capture them alive and bring them to justice. There is a need for additional changes to the legal arrangements that would make them quit the organization," Basbug said.
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-- PROSECUTORS LAUNCH LARGE OPERATION AGAINST PKK
Police detained 51 people, including three deputy chairmen of the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, in simultaneous operations conducted in 12 provinces. Police raided offices and houses as part of the operation into what is said to be the PKK's city establishments that plan its terrorist attacks.

VATAN
-- TURKISH PEOPLE IS UPPER IDENTITY
Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said the Turkish Armed Forces was a party to the preservation of the nation-state and the unitary state structure. "The foundation of the Republic of Turkey is a revolution. The target of this revolution is to create a nation-state,” he said. “On basis of this idea, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, described the Turkish nation as, ‘The Turkish people who founded Republic of Turkey are called Turkish nation.’”
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-- OPERATION AGAINST PKK HITS DTP MEMBERS
Fifty-one people, including three deputy chairmen of the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, were detained in operations launched in 14 provinces against the PKK. It was reported that those detained were accused of directing the PKK’s illegal activities in the country.
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CUMHURIYET
-- OPPOSITION LEADER CRITICIZES ERGENEKON ARRESTS
Main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal severely criticized the latest wave of arrests made in the Ergenekon case. "This a terror operation. This is a coup d'etat. Coups are not always made by tanks, rifles and troops. This is a coup by the Justice and Development Party, or AKP. In fact, a coup by the prosecutors," Baykal told his party at the Turkish Parliament.
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-- BUDGET DEFICIT UP 337 PERCENT
Turkey's budget deficit skyrocketed in the first three months of 2009, increasing as high as 337 percent, to 19.1 billion Turkish Liras. The deficit was 8.7 billion liras in March.
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RADIKAL
-- REACTIONS POUR IN SUPPORT OF TURKAN SAYLAN
Reactions roused when the Association for Supporting Contemporary Life, or CYDD, and its chairwoman Turkan Saylan were included in the Ergenekon probe. Saylan's house was raided and her personal documents were seized. The Republican People's Party, or CHP, condemned the incident. The Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, or TUSIAD, pointed out the violations. The Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, also pointed out the same issue. National Education Minister Huseyin Celik said, "I felt sorry about Saylan." The Justice and Development Party, or AKP, group acting chairperson Nihat Ergun said, "The prosecutors may have made an excessive interpretation."
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-- RAIN AND SUN
Temperatures will rise during the week, but the whole country will see rain for the next two days. Meteorologists are expecting precipitation today across the country. Rain will continue to cover Turkey, with the exception of the Western parts, on Thursday and Friday ahead of sunny days predicted for the weekend.

YENI SAFAK
-- ALLEGED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON ERGENEKON SUSPECT
There has been an alleged assassination attempt on a major suspect of the Ergenekon investigation at a military hospital in Ankara, where he was receiving treatment. It has been claimed that retired Gen. Levent Ersoz was injected with "necrotizing faciitis," a deadly virus known as "the flesh-eating virus." Ersoz went into coma as his blood tests revealed traces of drugs that cloaked the virus and induced a heart attack. All of the medical staff at the Gulhane Military Medical Hospital have been interrogated. "They are trying to bury me into the dark. If I cannot see the light, they do not, either. If I talk they cannot see the light anymore," Ersoz allegedly says in voice recording.
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-- FORMER MEDIA MOGUL'S LUXURY MANSION GOES TO SABANCI
A luxury Bosphorus mansion once owned by Cem Uzan, a former media mogul in Turkey, has been sold to the country's Sabanci family for 58 million Turkish Liras (nearly $40 million). The 100-year-old Ahmet Afif Pasha mansion was seized by Turkey's savings and deposit insurance fund for Uzan family's debts.