GOOD MORNING--TURKEY PRESS SCAN ON JAN 5

HURRIYET
-- THOUSANDS IN TURKEY RALLY AGAINST ISRAELI OFFENSIVE
Thousands of demonstrators in Turkey protested Israel as it launched a ground operation into Gaza following a week-long of missile attacks. Nearly two thousand people gathered outside the Israeli Consulate General in Istanbul late on Saturday. Thousands of protestors also rallied in a demonstration on Sunday at Istanbul's Caglayan Square. Fifty thousand people held another demonstration in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.
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-- OVER 150 THOUSAND NATURAL GAS CONSUMERS UNDER THREAT, EXPERTS WARN
A chamber for mechanical engineers warned that 40 percent of Istanbul's 4 million natural gas consumers were under serious threat due to lack of protective measures against carbon monoxide poisoning from natural gas heaters. Engineers said many of the households using such heaters were lacking proper chimney equipment and ventilation holes. Seven students were killed last Thursday in the Turkish capital, Ankara, and two others were killed in Istanbul from carbon monoxide poisoning.
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MILLIYET
-- RELOCATION IN FIGURES OF TALATPASA
All details of Talat Pasha's notebook, on which he reported all changes in Armenian population in all provinces, have come to daylight. According to the figures, Armenian population dropped by 972,000 people after the relocation. Death toll is indefinite. Almost all notes of Talat Pasha, the interior minister in 1915 (the time of relocation) have appeared in the new book of journalist Murat Bardakci, "Talat Pasha's Abandoned Records". The notes include comparative results of Armenian population in 1914 and after relocation in all provinces. According to those notes, the Armenian population was 1,256,403 in 1914 and the number dropped to 284,157 after relocation.
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-- TURKEY PROTESTS ISRAELI ATTACKS
Turkey protested Israeli attacks on Gaza with demonstrations throughout the country. According to security sources, 200,000 people gathered in Istanbul and 50,000 people have gathered in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir. There were protests also in Trabzon, Adana, Bursa and Sirnak.

SABAH
-- "ISRAEL CAUSED A HUMANITY TRAGEDY"
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel led to a humanity tragedy in Gaza. He accused Israel of using excessive force. Meanwhile, President Abdullah Gul said at a TV program that recent developments in Gaza were heartbreaking. "What Israel has done is nothing but atrocity," he said.
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-- EMPLOYMENT DROPS IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
According to a survey carried out by the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK), the rate of registered employment has dropped in the Turkish manufacturing industry in October 2008. More than 44 thousand people were fired in October in the industry.

VATAN
-- ANKARA CONDEMNS ISRAELI GROUND OPERATION
Turkey condemned Israel's ground operation into Gaza on Sunday. "We consider the Israel's ground operation despite all warnings and reactions of the international community unacceptable, and we severely condemn it," said a statement issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. President Abdullah Gul described the Israeli operation as "a grave brutality." "It is deeply painful to see people losing their lives under attack of some heaviest weapons," Gul said.
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-- PROTESTORS ACROSS TURKEY RALLY AGAINST ISRAELI OFFENSIVE INTO GAZA
Thousands of people gathered in rallies to protest Israel's ground operation into the Gaza Strip. There were wide demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara, Adana and in several cities. "Down with Israel," protestors chanted, burning an effigy of Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert. Also some two thousand people gathered outside the Israeli Consulate General in Istanbul chanting slogans against Israel.
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CUMHURIYET
-- MEDIATION ROLE FOR ANKARA BETWEEN HAMAS, AL FATAH
As Israel launched a ground offensive into Gaza following its air operations, Washington Post writer David Ignatius called the U.S. president-elect to find a settlement between Hamas and Al Fatah under Turkey's mediation. The Greek daily Ethnos wrote that the UN was also considering a settlement between the two rival Palestinian factions under Turkey's mediation.
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RADIKAL
-- FIRST QUARTER OF 2009 CRITICAL
Sabanci Holding's Chair of Board of Executives Guler Sabanci assessed the economic crisis for Radikal. She said the first quarter of 2009 was a critical time to take action. "Every day spent in vain, to reverse the slowing down economy, will make things harder. This will also have a political cost," said Sabanci.
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-- AN END TO SEARCH FOR "NEW SECULARISM"
A rather different move came from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Justice and Development Party (AKP) where calls for a change of definition of secularism in the constitution were rising until now. Erdogan argued that secularism's definition and spirit in the constitution should be protected as they are. "We have to protect our republic, our democracy, our understanding of secularism and social state principle with their spirits defined in the constitution," said Erdogan.

YENI SAFAK
-- TURKEY CONDEMNS ATROCITY
Isreal's inhumane atrocity over Gaza was protested throughout the country. In rallies held in Istanbul, Trabzon, Tokat, Samsun, Adana, Bayburt, Safranbolu and Diyarbakir, tens of thousands of people protested Israel's massacre of civilians. Thousands of people who attended the rally organised by Felicity Party (SP) in Caglayan square in Istanbul, prayed for the survival of the Muslim population in Palestine.
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-- PM ANALYSED CRISIS WELL
State Minister in Charge of the Treasury, Mehmet Simsek, said though 2009 might be a tough year, it would not be a year in vain. "Mr. Erdogan and our team analysed the effects of the crisis better then officials of most countries. An agreement with IMF will help us get over the crisis with less damage," said Simsek.