INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary

Published: Mon 28 Apr 2003 12:10 PM
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0121
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY
APRIL 28, 2003
1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary
for April 28, 2003. Please note that Turkish
press reports often contain errors or
exaggerations; AmConsulate Adana does not vouch
for the accuracy of the reports summarized here.
POLITICAL, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS
2. Sabah/Cumhuriyet/Radikal/Evrensel: Based on
a tip that a vehicle carrying illegal fuel and
drugs from Baskale township to Van, the teams
affiliated to Van Jandarma Command positioned
themselves in Kuruca pass. It is claimed as the
driver disobeyed the "halt" warning, the jandarma
opened fire on the car that came to the
checkpoint after midnight. The driver, Cetin
Kahraman, was killed at the scene as a result of
jandarma's gunfire. Based on the investigation of
the case, a master sergeant and a private were
detained. Claiming neither illegal fuel nor drugs
were found in his vehicle but that he was
deliberately killed, Kahraman's relatives, as
they were taking the dead body from the hospital
and bringing it to the front of the governorate
building, booed the soldiers and shouted slogans.
The police opened fire in the air to disperse the
crowd protesting the incident. 6 policemen and
two relatives of Kahraman were wounded in the
ensuing disorder, and about ten police cars were
damaged. According to the papers, the police
arrested between 7 to 15 persons involved in the
incidents.
3. Sabah/Cumhuriyet/Milliyet/Hurriyet/
Evrensel/Radikal Turkiye/Milli Gazete:
As a result of clashes that bursted out
between a group PKK/KADEK militants and
the security forces on patrol in Yeniyazi
village of Genc (Bingol), 2 soldiers were
killed while two others were wounded. The
operation launched in the region is still
continuing.
4. Radikal: The dead body of Siddik Kaya, 45,
who left his home in Mus in November 2002 on the
grounds that he was called by NCO Cemal San, was
found last Thursday at the bank of Murat river, a
tributary of Euphrates. Siddik Kaya's father,
Tekdemir Kaya, said a village-guard relative of
theirs was killed by PKK militants last year, and
thereafter the village guards perceived his
family as an enemy, and claimed the NCO with whom
his son had met surrendered his son to the
village guards for money. Five months after
Siddik Kaya's mysterious disappearance, villagers
near Bulanik town at the bank of Murat River
found his dead body. Kaya's eyes and mouth were
taped, his hands were folded in the back, and he
had marks of strokes in the neck and bruises on
the legs, and sandbags were tied to his back. The
dead body was taken for autopsy to Istanbul's
Forensic Medicine which said Kaya was killed as a
result of brain hemorrhage caused by gunfire that
had fragmented the skull and damaged the brain.
Filing a petition with the Human Rights Committee
of the National Assembly, the HRA again demanded
for the necessary investigation and solving of
the case.
5. Cumhuriyet: As the Dutch soldiers deployed in
Batman for operating the Patriot missile systems
expedite their departure from Turkey, they
donated to Batman State Hospital the medical
equipment and 200 beds they had brought for the
field hospital they had set up for themselves.
The Patriot missile experts announced the Batman
State Hospital as a sister hospital of a military
hospital in Holland, and promised to send more
medical devices. Also, the US soldiers leaving
the area distributed 7 tons of foodstuffs to the
needy people in town.
6. Milli Gazete: It is reported by Anatolian News
Agency that Kizilay's -Turkish Red Crescent-
relief to Iraq, consisting of 5 trucks of material,
4 ambulances, and 2 communication devices arrived
Silopi of Sirnak, will leave for Mosul and Kirkuk
tomorrow.
ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS
Bolge: The farmers' organizations in Adana
welcomed the government's draft resolution that
will provide 35 percent subsidy in diesel
consumption by farmers. The President of Chamber
of Agriculture, Cumali Dogru, announced that the
draft resolution left open the farmers' hope for
cheap diesel while the President of the Chamber
of Agricultural Engineers warned that the records
of the direct support program would create
problems in the payment of the diesel subsidy.
HOLTZ
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