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SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR NOVEMBER 26, 2006
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for November 26,
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
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Hatay Governor Ahmet Kayhan paid a
courtesy visit to the Governor of Lazkiye province in Syria.
One of the topics the governors discussed was about two border
gates between the two countries.
BOLGE: President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
came to Gaziantep to attend a series of openings and to take
part in a November 25 dated conference in the Gaziantep
University.
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Gaziantep Mayor Asim Guzelbey announced
that last stage of construction has begun on the monument that
described the story of what had happened during the French
occupation in Gaziantep in the early decades of the 20th
century.
ZAMAN: Despite the fact that the EU listed the PKK among
terrorist organizations, France, which discontinued Turkish
language broadcasts on its International French Radio, has
remained acquiescent to the pro-PKK broadcasts on a radio
station France allocated to several associations in France. A
radio program held yesterday invited Kurdish people in France to
join the events that would be held to celebrate the 28th
anniversary of the PKK.
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI: Youth Assembly of the DTP in Mardin's
Nusaybin district held an event to mark both International Day
for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25) and
the 28th anniversary of the foundation of the PKK (November 27).
Meanwhile, the DTP district party organization in Mardin's
Mazidagi district held a public meeting to discuss the
cease-fire PKK announced.
ZAMAN: Despite remarks of Iraqi President Massoud Barzani
that they would not allow the PKK to take shelter in the Iraqi
territory, a senior PKK official recently announced that the
fifty villages in northern Iraq were under the control of the
PKK.
HUMAN RIGHTS
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI / CUMHURIYET / RADIKAL: Diyarbakir
Women's Platform and International Amnesty Organization members
held a joint press announcement in Diyarbakir to mark
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Meanwhile, police in Mazidagi district banned the brochures DTP
Women's Assembly prepared to mark the Day, on grounds that the
brochures included illegal propaganda materiel. Cumhuriyet and
Radikal dailies further noted women's activities held by several
political parties and civil society organizations in Hatay,
Sanliurfa, Adana, Antalya and Ankara provinces.
SECURITY
ZAMAN / CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / RADIKAL: The funeral of an
infantry commando sergeant, who died in a clash in the Kupeli
Mountains in Sirnak the previous day, was held in Izmir. Agean
Army Commander, several senior officers, the governor of Izmir
and many people attended the funeral.
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI: Three PKK members, who were killed
during the military operations of the Turkish Armed Forces
started in rural sections of Tunceli, Elazig and Bingol ten days
ago, have been buried with three funerals held in the hometowns
of the PKK members, namely Tunceli, Adiyaman and Mus provinces.
Relatives of one of the PKK members are reportedly suspecting
that chemical weapons caused the burns on the dead body of the
PKK member. Meanwhile, one of the eight PKK members killed on
November 16 during the military operations in Tunceli and
Bingol, was recently identified and announced by the PKK
headquarters.
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI: When people of a township in
Diyarbakir's Hani district objected to the burial of a village
guard, who was killed by unidentified person(s) some days ago in
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the township, the family of the village guard had to bury their
dead in another district.
CUMHURIYET / ZAMAN / RADIKAL: Van police announced that a total
of 1,217 kilograms of heroin, 8,982,000 Indian hemps, and 854
kilograms of hashish was seized in the province to date in 2006
in Van.
ZAMAN: Jandarma teams in Adana's Ceyhan district searched a
passenger bus and found 12 kilograms of hashish on two
passengers.
ECONOMY
ZAMAN / TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI / HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET / RADIKAL:
The biggest live animal market of Turkey has been opened in
Diyarbakir. Music by Kamkars, Iran's Kurdish Family Ensemble,
and Pink Floyd were played during the opening ceremony, and
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir and DTP Chairperson Ahmet Turk
delivered speeches. Banners included Turkish, Kurdish and
English versions of the word "Welcome." Turk said during his
speech that Turkey cannot enter the EU as long as it continued
to deny the presence of the Kurds. The market was built on 30.6
acres of land and 10 million YTL has been spent to build it.
CUMHURIYET / BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / ZAMAN: Two
hundred citrus fruit farmers held a protest on the day when
Mersin Governor's Office and Erdemli district's citrus fruit
union jointly held an event called "Lemon Harvest Day."
Farmers, who reportedly had complaints about authorities
neglecting problems of citrus fruit farmers, chanted slogans.
Jandarma, as they forcibly quelled the commotion, detained the
district chairperson of the Erdemli district (from CHP) and two
farmers. Farmers angered by the detentions, briefly blockaded
the flow of traffic on the road between Mersin and Antalya.
BOLGE: Chairperson of the Adana Chapter of Agricultural
Engineers complained that middlemen, who were paying 0.13 cents
per kilogram to farmers to buy citrus fruit, were selling the
produce at a five times more expensive price in the market.
HURRIYET / RADIKAL: State Minister Kursat Tuzmen announced
signing of a protocol with Iraqis at a joint economic commission
to hold the International Baghdad Festival for the second time
again in Gaziantep in 2007.
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI: Mehdi Eker, Minister of Agriculture and
Village Works, announced in a speech he delivered at
Diyarbakir's Commodity Exchange that the first of the Middle
Eastern Agricultural Fair will be held in Diyarbakir between May
23 and 27.
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT
BOLGE: People in Hatay extended their thanks to the Pope
Benedict XVI for the 10,000-Euro aid the pope sent to the
victims of the flooding that took place in Hatay at the onset of
November. Bishop Luigi Padovese, Representative of Papacy in
Anatolia and Chairperson of Catholic Bishops Council, conveyed a
part of the aid to the Iskenderun District Subgovernor in
Iskenderun district of Hatay.
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): A project called "Raising Awareness
about Cleaning", which was created by Yerel Gundem 21 (Local
Agenda 21 Project) in Diyarbakir with the support of Jarfella
Municipality of Sweden, has been promoted in the province.
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir delivered a speech during the
event and said that one of the distinctive qualities of a
society was the attention paid to cleanliness.
HURRIYET: An unidentified person participating in a wedding
opened fire in the air and accidentally killed a 60-year-old
woman watching the wedding from the balcony of her house.
(Note: Opening fire in the air is a practice observed in
weddings in some parts of Turkey. End Note.)
GREEN