Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for July 19, 2006

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SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 19, 2006

JACQUELINE H. IYIELMA
Secretary/AdminThis is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for

SIPDIS
July 19, 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

RADIKAL/EVRENSEL/ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: 24 pro-peace women aged
between 40 and 75 have been sentenced to 10 months of
imprisonment for undertaking actions for improving prison
conditions and demanding a general amnesty. The group has been
charged with making "separatist propaganda." These women had
blocked a road in Diyarbakir and had displayed a banner reading
"Mr. Ocalan is our political will power" on February 22, 2006.

ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: Sirin Bagli, an administrator at DTP
provincial office of Batman, was put in custody while traveling
from Batman to Diyarbakir during a road check on the ground that
there was an arrest warrant against him. Bagli has been taken to
the Anti-terror office of the Batman Security Directorate and
his house has also been searched by police.

EVRENSEL: The newly adopted Anti-terror Bill has been put into
force after being published in the official gazette. The
government gave "political instructions" to the army for a
cross-border operation in northern Iraq. Annual leaves for the
army has been annulled and more troops and military equipment
have been amassed along the border. Special Operations Team
members have been deployed in city centers. Opposition parties
have been supporting a cross border operation. Non-governmental
Organizations expressed their reaction and urged the government
to solve the problems through democratic means. Mazlumder's
National President Ozkaya said that a cross-border operation
would cause faults within the country while KESK -Public
Employees' Union- President Tombul said an operation at Kandil
Mountain in northern Iraq would not be the solution to the
problem.

HURRIYET: Omer Fetah, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan
Region Administration in northern Iraq, announced that he signed
an agreement with one of the biggest Saudi Arms and Defense
Products companies, Azib-Integraph, for purchasing 16 "333
Schweizer" U.S. make helicopters for the Kurdish Government for
35,455,788.- U.S. Dollars. Experts mentioned that the
helicopters would be used for VIP visitors and transporting a
limited number of personnel.

CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN: The Sirnak Governorate announced that jandarma
units searching the countryside in Idil township found over 46
kilos of A4 explosives, 70 assault type hand grenades and fuses,
and over 5000 bullets for Kalashnikof weapons. An investigation
is underway, the officials said.

SABAH-GUNEY: Because of Israel's bombing of Lebanon, a total of
14 persons -4 French, 3 Belgians, 1 Chilean, 3 Dutch, , 1
German, and 2 Danes- fleeing from Lebanon arrived at Mersin port.

YENI SAFAK/ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/CUMHURIYET: It has been
discovered that the recent explosion which killed 5 soldiers had
occurred because of a remote control bomb not because the
military vehicle had passed over a mine. Finger prints of a
village guard have been detected on the remote control of the
device used in the incident. The village guards who have been
detained are being interrogated by jandarma.

REID

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