Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for September 23-24-25, 2006

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER 23-24-25, 2006

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for September
23-24-25, 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

HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM: A bomb, which Hurriyet daily
reports as placed by PKK in a truck that was parked outside a
police residence in Igdir province, was detonated with a remote
controlled device on Saturday (09/23) at around 6.30 p.m.
Seventeen people, five of whom were policemen, were wounded by
the blast. Health conditions of three among the wounded are
serious. Separately, a bomb, which was detonated on a railroad
between Bitlis's Tatvan district and the Elazig province at 1
a.m. on Sunday (09/24), derailed seven cars and damaged eight
cars of the train. No casualties were reported. (This summary
is from September 24 editions.)

3. RADIKAL: 09/25 edition of the daily reports that the
bomb in Igdir was detonated when people, who gathered for a
regular 6 p.m. cinema event at the garden of the police
residence, were watching a movie there. The daily reports that
the damage the bomb caused became apparent when the day cast its
lights on the scene. Windows of hundreds of businesses were
broken.

4. OZGUR GUNDEM: An explosion took place in Siirt's Eruh
district for unknown reasons. One person was killed in the
blast.

5. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / SABAH (GUNEY): The local
supplements covered today the killing of 35 year-old Yusuf
Erenkara, the mayor of Adana's Karatas district, and his brother
on September 22 at around 24.00 by unidentified person(s) with a
gun attack. Cukurova supplement reminds that a district mayor
in Mersin's Silifke district was killed in May 2005 with a bomb
attack, and, a former deputy from Gaziantep and former Kilis
mayor was killed with a gun attack (on an unspecified date.) The
police is suspecting that a 40 year-old person, who was not
awarded a contract by the municipality, might have killed the
mayor.

6. SABAH / RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM: A 22-year-old girl,
who was reportedly being forced into marrying a person thirty
years older than her, committed suicide in Batman. Friends of
the girl, eight high school girls, protested the authorities in
Batman for remaining indifferent to the women's issues.
Reportedly, fifteen women committed suicide in Batman in the
last nine months. Meanwhile, women activists in Hakkari pointed
out the fact that three women in Hakkari committed suicide in
the last six months in the province.

7. SABAH / HURRIYET / RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Five
hundred soldiers and military personnel at Hakkari's Commando
Brigade held an activity and collected garbage in the province
to protest the Hakkari Municipality which allegedly pursued
goals "to divide the country" instead of doing its essential
duties. Hakkari Mayor Metin Tekce branded the development as a
"provocation."

8. OZGUR GUNDEM: Greek Orthodox Church in Hatay hung a
banner on the gate of the church which extended greetings for
Muslims who started observing Ramadan.

9. OZGUR GUNDEM: Andrew Wilson, U.S. Consul in Adana, and
Jeffrey S. Collins, after holding some contacts in Van, paid a
visit to the Yuksekova Mayor in Hakkari. Wilson asked the Mayor
questions about migration issues and issues about returning to
villages. (This summary is from September 23 edition.)

10. OZGUR GUNDEM: Military operations of the Turkish Armed
Forces have been continuing in the southeastern region. Turkish
Army reportedly launched operations in a section of Bingol's
Sancak district and Diyarbakir's Lice district the previous day.
Allegedly, soldiers who started operations on September 20 in
Bingol's Kigi district, set some wooded areas on fire. Turkish
Army also launched operations in rural sections of Van's Baskale
district. (This summary is from September 23 edition.)

11. OZGUR GUNDEM: The daily claimed on its 09/25 edition
that clashes took place in Diyarbakir's Dicle district and
Bingol's Yedisu district, and, allegedly seven Turkish soldiers
died in the clashes.

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12. OZGUR GUNDEM: National Leader of ODP (Freedom and
Solidarity Party) paid a visit to the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman
Baydemir to extend condolences for the September 12 bombing in
Diyarbakir. (This summary is from September 23 edition.)

13. RADIKAL: The policemen in Van chased a suspected truck
and found it later deserted with 63 people who were being
smuggled. The people, who reportedly entered the country
illegally from Iran, will be deported soon. (This summary is
from September 23 edition.)

14. HURRIYET: Diyarbakir Security Directorate filed
complaints about DTP Chairperson Ahmet Turk and Diyarbakir Mayor
Osman Baydemir for allegedly breaching the law on holding public
demonstrations and meetings, during the demonstration held in
days following the September 12 bomb attack in Diyarbakir.
People allegedly chanted illegal slogans and showed resisted to
the policemen despite the police issued warnings about the
results of the people's actions during that demonstration. The
prosecutor's office shall decide whether a lawsuit will be
brought against Turk and Baydemir or not. Meanwhile, two of the
seven people, who were detained for hurling stones at policemen
during that demonstration, were arraigned and arrested. (This
summary is from September 24 edition.)

15. HURRIYET: Bulent Arinc, spokesperson of the Turkish
Parliament, sent a letter about the PKK to the spokesperson of
the Iraqi National Assembly. Arinc reportedly stated Turkish
Government's appreciation of the measures that the Iraqi
Government started to take agianst the activities of the PKK in
Iraq. Arinc also expressed a strong desire for those measures
to get implemented unequivocally country-wide. (This summary
is from September 24 edition.)

16. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): The rector of Hatay's Mustafa
Kemal University announced that State Planning Authority will
allocate 11.5 million YTL funding for construction of
Engineering and Architecture Faculty which will be located at
the university's other campus in the Iskenderun district.

17. HURRIYET / SABAH: One of the two brothers, a 10-year-old
boy, who found as he was playing with his brother an explosive
device on a road in Siirt, died when the device exploded.

18. BOLGE / EKSPRES: A delegation from the Chamber of
Commerce and Industry in Germany's Essen province will visit
Adana on September 27, said Umit Ozgumus, Chairperson of Adana's
Chamber of Industry.

19. BOLGE / EKSPRES: Chairperson of Federation of Eastern
Mediterranean Industrialists' and Businessmen's Associations
(DASIFED) said that they were following closely the developments
taking place at the BTC (Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan) project in
Adana's Ceyhan district. A 35-member delegation paid a visit
to the General Manager of BOTAS (Petroleum Pipeline Corporation)
at BTC.

20. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): School of fish found dead on the
surface of the Seyhan River in Adana alarmed authorities. Some
fish hunters by the lake alleged that there were people who were
pouring agricultural pesticides in water to paralyze fish in
order to catch them easily. (This summary is from September 23
edition.)
GREEN

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