INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary,

Published: Wed 27 Aug 2003 04:13 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 0226
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,
AUGUST 27, 2003
1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary
for August 27, 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. Milliyet / General Oktar Ataman, who
started his position in Elazig recently,
stated that the "integration" law has not
been very successful. During his visit to
the Elazig Governor, Ataman announced that
there were 279 applications for amnesty,
but only two of them are from the rural
areas (Editor's Note: Most of the other
applicants are currently in prison).
3. Milliyet, Bolge / In Adana, in the last few
days, police warned a group shouting
slogans praising PKK/KADEK and Ocalan. The
group threw stones at the police and the
police opened fire. As a result, five
children were injured. Kerem Ugur, Adana
Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) leader,
stated that it was a circumcision ceremony
and they were dancing when the police came
and opened fire on the people without
warning. A man with the initials R.A, who
witnessed the incident, stated that there
wasn't a circumcision party or a wedding as
stated in the papers. According to R.A,
DEHAP organized the party to announce the
September 1 Peace Day meeting.
4. Evrensel / In Adana, during a circumcision
ceremony, a car opened fire on people.
About 10 people, including four children,
were injured. People claimed that it was a
police car in disguise. A group of people
gathered in a park the day after the
incident and shouted slogans praising
DEHAP. The Adana DEHAP leader criticized
the police and the government for their
anti-democratic policies.
5. Milli Gazete / In Adana police fired
warning shots in the air after warning a
group of 300 people who were allegedly
praising terrorist groups. The people
threw stones at the police before the
warning shots. Four people were injured
during the incident. The group had
gathered to announce the DEHAP meeting on
August 31 (Editor's Note: Items 4, 5, and 6
are believed to be different reports of the
same incident. We reported initially on
this in August 26, 2003 Southeast Turkey
Press Summary. These are the additional
reports of today's newspapers).
6. Hurriyet, Turkiye / Adana health
authorities announced that they are going
to immunize about 321 thousand children
against measles between September 29 and
October 17.
7. Evrensel / An Urfa province police officer,
who was allegedly in disguise, beat a
minibus driver who was listening to Kurdish
music in his minibus.
8. Evrensel / In Igdir province, Murat Akkus
applied for the approval of the start of a
television station broadcasting in Kurdish,
Turkish and Azeri.
9. Zaman / The National Independence Army
Association in Adana announced that it
supports a decision to send Turkish troops
to Iraq (Editor's Note: The Association is
composed of war veterans).
ECONOMIC
10. Turkiye / Mersin Free Zone reported a trade
of 1,376,000,000 USD in trade in the first
seven months of 2003.
11. Expres / In front of the Adana governor's
office, the State Employees' Union
Confederation (KESK) held a meeting to
protest the degree of increase in their
salaries. A woman with seven children
looking for a job criticized the state
workers for not being satisfied with what
they have.
CULTURE and TOURISM
12. Cumhuriyet / Osman Aydin, Governor of
Elazig, announced that he had made initial
contacts to plan the 11th International
Hazar Poetry Reading Evenings, which would
be held for the first time in Azerbaijan.
The festival has been organized in Elazig
for the past 10 years.
REID
View as: DESKTOP | MOBILE © Scoop Media