This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS ADANA 000108
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM IZ TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY AUGUST 19, 2004
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 19,
2004. 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
ZAMAN, CUMHURIYET, RADIKAL, EVRENSEL, HURRIYET, SABAH, TERCUMAN,
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: Many DEHAP supporters from neighboring
provinces went to Pazarcik and Narli townships, Kahramanmaras
province, to attend the opening ceremony of a monument-like tomb
for high-ranking PKK militant Engin Sincer, who had been killed
last year in the Kandil Mountains, Northern Iraq, as a result of
an internal dispute. The Jandarma did not allow DEHAP supporters
to go to Seyrantepe village, where the monument has been
erected, on the grounds that all kinds of meetings in
Kahramanmaras, Turkoglu, and Pazarcik, between August 17-18, had
been banned. DEHAP supporters, who formed a ten kilometer long
queue of vehicles, closed the Gaziantep-Narli highway to traffic
for some time. GOT forces detained two persons. Sincer's family
announced that they were going to have a burial commemoration
according to the traditions of the Alevi sect, and that they did
not have any political objectives.
MILLIYET: The inspectors from the Interior Ministry did not find
the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, who visited the family of a
PKK/Kongra Gel militant to express his condolences, guilty.
Inspectors determined that Mayor Baydemir's visit to the family
in an official vehicle was not contrary to the law.
CUMHURIYET: In Van province, the Anti-smuggling and Organized
Crimes Teams from Baskale Security Directorate seized 51.344
kilos of heroin in the secret compartments found in a vehicle
traveling from Hakkari to Van. The court imprisoned two persons
having connections with drugs.
EVRENSEL, ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: In Bismil township, Diyarbakir
province, a six-person committee delivered a petition signed by
11,541 persons demanding recognition of Kurdish rights,
reintegration of guerillas in the political life, and advocating
Abdullah Ocalan's release. Around 300 people gathered in front
of the Bismil's DEHAP office before the petition was delivered.
Police frisked the demonstrators and filmed their I.D. cards. In
Diyarbakir, 14 of the 17 persons who had been detained after
delivering petitions signed by 30,600 to the Governor's Office,
were released.
EVRENSEL: The Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor pressed charges
against the Diyarbakir "Kurdish Pen" for having visited the
European Commission's Office in Ankara. The Diyarbakir Kurdish
Pen is accused of "receiving a foreign delegation without
permission."
REID