Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for September 19, 2006

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TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER 19, 2006

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for September 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

CNNTURK ONLINE / HURRIYET: Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who
is currently meeting with official contacts in New York, stated
in a speech at the American-Turkish Association, that if civil
war were to break out in Iraq Turkey, which had to date been
maintaining stability in that extremely volatile region, would
protect the Kurds. Gul observed that this had been Turkey's
role throughout recent history.

CNNTURK ONLINE / HURRIYET: It is claimed on the website of
the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) that the Iraqi
Government gave concrete instructions to authorities to close
down all PKK offices and to halt all activities of the PKK in
Iraq. The announcement pointed out that the decision came when
some countries blacklisted the PKK among the terrorist
organizations; the Iraqi Constitution does not allow any
terrorist organization to find shelter in Iraq's territory.
This decision reportedly followed retired General Ralston's
recent visit to Iraq.

SABAH / HURRIYET: Allegations that terrorist leader Abdullah
Ocalan had died, which were posted on unspecified websites
yesterday, have been dismissed by the Prosecutor's Office in
Bursa. Bursa's Deputy Prosecutor told the press that regular
health checks of Ocalan have indicated that he does not suffer
from any health problems.

HURRIYET: During a search conducted in a small bus on a road
in Tunceli's Ovacik district by Government anti-terror units, an
improvised bomb device made out of a battery and a car alarm
system and designed to be remotely detonated, was discovered.
Security officers noted that this was the first time that PKK
members had been caught with a bomb designed to function using a
car alarm system.

CNNTURK ONLINE / OZGUR GUNDEM: The first hearing of the
lawsuit brought against Seferi Yilmaz, the owner of the
bookstore that was bombed on November 9, 2006 in Hakkari's
Semdinli district, was held yesterday at Van's 4th Heavy Penalty
(Felony) Court. Charges were brought against Yilmaz for
allegedly being a member of the PKK terrorist organization. The
court adjourned the hearing to November 15. Meanwhile, the 4th
Heavy Penalty (Felony) Court in Van held the first hearing for
Metin Tekce, mayor of Hakkari, against whom accusation was
placed for telling the Parliamentary Commission probing the
Semdinli Case that the PKK was not a terrorist organization.
The court linked Tekce's case to a former lawsuit brought
against him in 2003 for "being a member of a terrorist
organization."

OZGUR GUNDEM: Protests continued in Sirnak's Cizre district,
in Istanbul, and in Adana against last week's bombing in
Diyarbakir. The mayor of Cizre, Silopi's DTP Provincial
Chairperson, the DTP Provincial Chairperson for Cizre, the Union
of Municipality Workers, and members of KESK (Confederation of
Public Employees' Unions) in Sirnak, joined protesters in
attending the press announcement made (in Kurdish) in front of
Cizre's DTP party headquarters. A group of young people waved
PKK flags and demonstrated in the Sakirpasa quarter of Adana.
The group briefly blockaded a road, chanted pro-PKK slogans and
hurled Molotov cocktails at the police, but dispersed when
police intervened.

OZGUR GUNDEM: The army is reportedly escalating the fight
against the PKK and is launching a series of measures, to
include establishing new military units and special teams made
up of sergeants, non-commissioned officers and officers. The
army will also take over jurisdiction of some formerly
police-controlled special teams.

OZGUR GUNDEM: The family members of a PKK terrorist who was
killed with five others in a village in Van's Ercis district
(see press summary for September 17), have claimed his corpse
from the Ercis Hospital and brought it to Batman for his
funeral. Meanwhile, the authorities buried the unidentified
bodies of the other terrorists in a "hole" in an Ercis village.

HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / OZGUR GUNDEM: Fire broke out in a mined

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area located around the border with Syria in Sirnak's Cizre
district. Since firefighters were not able to take immediate
action because of the explosion risk, the fire spread to both
countries' watch towers located on either side of the border
where guards regularly stand duty. The fire lasted ten hours
and affected 24.7 acres of land on Turkish territory.

HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / OZGUR GUNDEM: The police detained a
seventy-eight year old woman on grounds that she was carrying a
bag with 6.5 kilograms of hashish in a passenger car in
Diyarbakir's Lice district. The woman told the police that the
bag was given to her by her grandsons and that she was not
familiar with its contents. Police conducting searches of a
passenger car destined for Mersin in Mardin also found 14
kilograms of heroin in a car.

BOLGE: Mersin Police conducted a countersmuggling operation
in the port of Mersin, and found 3000 cigarette packets in a
container shipped from China.

EVERNSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: The deputy governor of
Diyarbakir's Kulp district allegedly required that men of the
village of Uzunova enroll as village guards in response to
demands made by villagers to the subgovernor's office about
drilling wells to find potable water.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Specialists from the Education Foundation, and
from the Diyarbakir Municipality, offered a seminar covering
topics such as decision-making and providing social services.
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, who noted that economically
disadvantaged people expected their pressing social demands be
addressed soon, believed that volunteers attending those
seminars will contribute a great deal in efforts to meet those
demands.

HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Eight English instructors and one
administrator from the Center for Teaching Foreign Languages at
the Cukurova University returned from a trip to Dundee
University in Scotland. The group went to Scotland under the
auspices of the European Union's Leonardo Da Vinci Program for
Vocational Training.

EVRENSEL: During the opening ceremony for the new academic
year at Gaziantep University Erhan Ekinci, rector of the
university, complained about the shortage of administrative
staff at the university hospital.

HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM: The Diyarbakir Chamber of Commerce
and Industry will be holding the Fifth International Middle East
Industry Fair between September 20 and 24. The offices of the
Diyarbakir Governor and the Mayor, and the Rector's Office of
the Dicle University, are among the institutions sponsoring the
event. A 1000-person commercial delegation, including 100
protocol members from government officials, will reportedly come
to Diyarbakir from northern Iraq on September 19 to participate.

SABAH (GUNEY): Two men accused of kidnapping an Istanbul
businessmen a week ago and bringing the businessman to Adana,
have reportedly been identified as former members of the
intelligence offices of the Adana police.

SABAH (GUNEY): Azim Ozturk, mayor of Adana's Seyhan district,
will attend a 19-22 September mayors' workshop in Rotterdam,
Holland, together with the mayor of Gaziantep's Sehitkamil
district and the mayor of Ankara's Altindag district.

SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE: Azim Ozturk announced that the Seyhan
Municipality will support Adanaspor, one of Adana's soccer
clubs, by making a 40,000 YTL monthly contribution for a period
of ten months.

SABAH (GUNEY): Aytac Durak, mayor of Adana and the Honorary
Chairperson of Adana Demirspor, will host a luncheon for the
Adanaspor's players at Adana Demirspor. Durak and Ozturk showed
their support for Adanaspor by attending one of its games this
past Saturday.
GREEN

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