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RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 16, 2006
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 16, 2006.
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/SABAH: The Sirnak Governorate announced that a terrorist
who did not yield to "halt" warning of the GOT forces in the
Cudi Mountain was killed in the ensuing clashes. The
announcement said that operations to ensure security and public
order in the region would continue.
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: Hasan Salar, a PKK defector who
was arrested after surrendering to the security forces at Habur
border gate on April 17 2006, was brought before a judge at the
4th Felony Court of Diyarbakir for the first time. Hasan Salar
had claimed that Seferi Yilmaz, the owner of the Umut Bookstore
bombed in Semdinli in November 2005, had made a telephone call
with the mountain cadre of PKK. Salar had caused Yilmaz to be
detained on charges of membership to PKK. Hasan Salar was
acquitted after his first hearing.
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/HURRIYET: Dr. Erdal Bahoz, HPG -People
Protection Forces- Headquarters Commander signed an agreement
with the President of the Geneva Call Organization, Paascal
Bongard; and the Swedish Parliament Spokesperson, Elizabeth
Reusse-Decrey; that HPG will support all international
agreements banning and removing land mines. Reusse said that PKK
had signed the Geneva Convention Agreement 11 years ago and that
its decision and this agreement it has been signing now should
become a good model for the countries surrounding them.
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: In order to promote sensitivity for
protesting the construction of the Ilisu Dam on Tigris river,
which will submerge the historic Hasankeyf township, the Amnesty
International representatives from Diyarbakir, Batman, and
Malatya provinces convened in a cave in Hasankeyf.
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/BOLGE/EKSPRES: Members of the Prison
Commission of the Human Rights Chapter of Adana held a press
release in front of the Kurkculer Prison in Adana concerning
pressure applied to prisoners and defendants in prisons. Ethem
Acikalin, the spokesperson for the Prison Committee claimed that
inmates and prisoners using their democratic rights against the
pressure of the prison administration were given disciplinary
penalties.
SABAH: Three persons allegedly in preparation of undertaking
actions were arrested, and a rocket launcher, many weapons and
C-4 explosives were seized during the search in a house in
Baglar Quarter of Diyarbakir.
YENI SAFAK: An "Emergency Medicine Relief" campaign has been
initiated in Diyarbakir by the Diyarbakir Charity Assistance and
Solidarity Association. The President of the association, Cevdet
Kara, said that the imperialist states talking about democracy,
peace, freedom, and human rights closed an eye to Israel's
massacre of Palestinians. Kara said that they would apply an
embargo on products produced by countries supporting Israel.
Saadet Party (Felicity Party) is also going to organize a
meeting in Diyarbakir to support Palestine but condemn Israel.
The date for the meeting has not been announced. Meetings
protesting Israel were held in Adana and Izmir as well. People
shouting anti-American and anti-Israel slogans dispersed
peacefully.
YENI SAFAK/CUMHURIYET/HURRIYET: It is reported that Murat
Karayilan, a key executive in the PKK ranks, had been wounded
during the Iranian artillery fire at the Kandil Mountain in
Northern Iraq about 19 days ago. Karayilan and three other
militants who had been wounded had been taken to the private El
Necd Hospital in Baghdad following their initial treatment in a
township in Northern Iraq. It is reported that one of the
wounded militants died afterwards.
CUMHURIYET/BOLGE/EKSPRES: Patriots from all over the country
gathered in front of the Incirlik Air Base and initiated their
45-day long march dubbed "United States of America get out. This
country is ours." Addressing hundreds of patriots, Tuncay Celen,
a founding member of the 1968ers Association, said that patriots
condemn the United States and its collaborators once more and
would like to say "stop" to US planes taking off from the
Incirlik AB and bombing children in Iraq, Palestine, and Middle
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East. The press announcement by Baris Kinik, from the Patriotic
Union's Adana Initiative, read "War and blood has never stopped
in our region. Here is Israel, just on the pretext of one of
its soldier has been abducted, it has started a big assault. The
purpose is occupation. This will worsen the position of
imperialists and their collaborators. That is why patriots have
been setting off." The representative of the Retired Military
Initiative of the Patriotic Front, Retired Captain Murat Pabuc,
said "People have been asking us where we find this energy. We
get this energy from our hatred at the order and system of the
occupiers. The soldiers who have come here to ensure security of
this area are our brothers, I ordered and commanded for years. I
understood that there are collaborators who have been providing
bases to these occupiers and acting with them."
HURRIYET: A group of approximately 60 Turkish, Lebanese, and
French nationals fleeing from Lebanon entered Turkey from
Reyhanli and Yayladag border gates with Syria. The group said
that there were more than 10,000 people waiting at the Syrian
border to cross into Turkey.
EVRENSEL: It is claimed that women defendants at H-Type prison
in Erzurum, where high security measures are being applied, have
been threatened by wardens that they would rape them. 15 female
students, including 3 women had been arrested during the
security forces' home raids in Sivas on April 18, and had been
transferred from the Sivas prison to the one in Erzurum. The
female defendants' attorney Fahrettin Kaya said that his clients
had been forced to take off their clothes at the entrance of the
prison but because the inmates rejected the orders they were
insulted and cursed, and that even one of his clients had been
beaten by a female warden.
HURRIYET-CUKUROVA: 55 elected headmen from various quarters of
Gaziantep visited Aleppo to get acquainted with the local
administration in Syria. Aleppo has been designated as a sister
city of Gaziantep.
GREEN
REID