Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for October 17, 2006

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SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 17, 2006

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 17,
2005. 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

RADIKAL / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN / HURRIYET: The
Prosecutor's Office at the Supreme Court of Appeals objected to
the verdict that issued a 39-year-and-5-month prison sentence on
June 2006 for Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildeniz, two non-commissioned
officers, who were convicted for their alleged crimes in the
Semdinli bombing on November 9, 2005 in Hakkari's Semdinli
district. The grounds for objection cited by the Prosecutor's
Office's were procedural inefficiencies, incompetent
investigation process, and establishment of wrongful grounds
when placing accusation against defendants during the trial.
The Prosecutor's Office claims that the verdict was
superficially based on thoughts about an alleged and unproven
criminal network.

OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL / BOLGE: Ozgur Gundem daily blames the
government for not taking tangible steps regarding the Kurdish
issue and for holding back by only extending support to the
moderate announcements of the DYP National Leader Mehmet Agar.
The daily, while reporting that the government was not
considering a general amnesty in any way, blames the government
for falling behind Mehmet Agar and asks: "Is AKP or DYP in
power?" Evrensel daily quotes Tunceli Mayor Songul Erol Abdil
as finding both the government's and DYP leader's announcements
as positive and further proposes that the PKK can lay down arms
gradually. Bolge daily reported that Recai Kutan, the leader of
Happiness Party who is currently visiting Adana, criticized Agar
for making proposals which are in line with the proposals of the
PKK terrorist organization. Kutan also criticized PM Erdogan
during his speech at the Cukurova Journalists Association and
blamed Erdogan for being the co-chairperson of Great Middle East
Project of the U.S.

OZGUR GUNDEM: The political wing of the PKK announced that the
calls made for laying down arms instead of a cease-fire, would
do no good for the peace process. Meanwhile, the daily reports
calls of some members of the intelligentsia to end the military
operations in the southeastern region.

CUMHURIYET: Senior leaders of the PKK are making calls for
girls in the southeastern region to go up the mountains to join
the ranks of the PKK instead of yielding to the backward social
pressures they are exposed to,causing them to commit suicide.

BOLGE: The 261-member Turkish Military Unit, which will join
the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), has
arrived at Mersin. The military materiel that would be sent to
Lebanon has also arrived at the port of the Mersin.

ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM: Culture and Tourism Ministry, Prime
Minister's Office, Chief of General Staff, Ministry of Interior,
MIT Intelligence Center and Turkish Mountaineering Federation
signed a protocol on October 15 which included Mount Ararat, the
highest peak in Turkey, as part of an access-restricted security
zones of Turkey. The protocol regulates access of the foreign
mountaineers and imposes some bureaucratic steps to be taken
before climbing the mountain. The daily points out that the
protocol came after the French bill on the Armenian issue was
passed in the French parliament.

SECURITY

OZGUR GUNDEM: Jandarma members allegedly opened fire on a
private car, whose driver allegedly did not obey the halt
warning at a checkpoint in Van's Baskale district on September
14. The car had an accident and the driver was killed. No
bullet wounds were found in the body of the driver. DTP
Provincial Chairperson in Van and DTP members attended the
funeral of the driver today.

RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET: The funeral of an infantry
private, who was killed after being fired on by shooters riding
in a personal vehicle, which did not obey the security
personnel's warning to halt. The incident occurred on an
unspecified date in Hakkari's Cukurca district in Yozgat
province.

CUMHURIYET / ZAMAN / RADIKAL / HURRIYET: An F-16 plane, which

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took off from the 8th Main Jet Base in Diyarbakir, crashed
around the Bitlis River a while after take off, for unknown
reasons. The pilot died.

CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT

SABAH (GUNEY): As a result of an anti-drug operation conducted
in Gaziantep, police seized 61 kilograms of heroin which was
brought from Van in hidden sections of a truck and which is
worth 600,000 Euros. Two people in the truck were detained.

HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Gaziantep police found 12 kilograms of
hashish in an add-on component of a motorcycle used for carrying
things.

ZAMAN: Seven people, including the captain from the District
Jandarma Command at Mardin's Derik district, were detained on
allegations that those people got involved in the illegal
business of theft of fuel oil from BOTAS's (Pipeline
Corporation) pipeline in Derik.

HUMAN RIGHTS

OZGUR GUNDEM: Following the start of complaints from the people
about a disruption in broadcasts of Roj-TV in Hakkari, Mus,
Erzurum, Kars, Sanliurfa, Batman, and Sirnak, most of the people
in Van's city center are no longer able to watch Roj-TV. The
daily suspects that military authorities are jamming the Roj-TV
broadcasts since Roj-TV is no longer available at locations
close to military compounds.

EVRENSEL: DTP's party organization in Kars will hold a public
meeting called "Unemployment, Corruption and Democracy" on
November 6.

ECONOMY

HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Four hundred
thirty nine workers of the Mardin Municipality went on a strike
indefinitely. The Municipality is reportedly indebted to its
workers for a large sum of salaries.

CULTURE / SOCIETY

EVRENSEL: Kurdish author Mehmet Uzun, who had a stomach cancer,
has been recently released from hospital. His medical
treatment will reportedly continue. Uzun congratulated author
Orhan Pamuk for winning the Nobel Literature Prize.

BOLGE / EKSPRES: Adana Municipality launched a campaign to
deliver 30,000 Turkish flags to people ahead of the celebrations
for the 83rd anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish
Rebuplic on November 29.

BOLGE / EKSPRES: Some student groups at Cukurova University
exhibited photos of students who protested increased meal prices
in the cafeteria being detained by anti-riot teams at the
university last week.

BOLGE / ZAMAN: Cukurova University and Association for Garden
Plants in Adana is currently holding the First International
Pomegranate and Minor Fruits Symposium at the university. The
four-day event will end on October 19.

CUMHURIYET: Governors of six provinces, including the Ankara
Governor, convened this time in Adana for a meeting entitled
"Services of Governors' Offices".
GREEN

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