Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for November 29, 2006

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TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR NOVEMBER 29, 2006

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for November 29,
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

RADIKAL / EVRENSEL / ZAMAN / HURRIYET: Diyarbakir Chief
Prosecutor's Office initiated an investigation against Abdullah
Demirbas, Sur District Mayor in Diyarbakir, who launched efforts
to create software in Kurdish that would be used on the computer
systems of the municipality. The software was promoted by Mr.
Demirbas and Mr.Rainer Haider, its creator who is a U.S.
national, a while ago in the Sur district. The software was
named as 'Ubuntu' which meant "help, support" in one of the
local languages of South Africa.

EVRENSEL: Regarding the incident about two villagers fired
upon by security officers in Hakkari's Yuksekova district (see
press summary for November 27), the Hakkari Governor's Office
dismissed the allegations that the office initially announced
immediately after the incident that the two persons were PKK
terrorists. The Governor's office claimed that some media was
misinforming the public about it, and the office allegedly only
stated that "two persons did not obey security officers' halt
warning and entered into clash with the security personnel."

EVRENSEL: Author Orhan Miroglu, who is a member of party
assembly of DTP, said that the government should express more
reasonable grounds for not establishing dialogue with the DTP.
According to Miroglu, Turkey is in need of facing the reality of
the PKK.

EVRENSEL: According to some secret documents made public on a
television program called "Reports Mainz" broadcast on Germany's
ARD TV station, people detained unlawfully in Europe were being
transferred to Afghanistan and Guantanamo Prison via Incirlik
Air Base in Adana.

CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT

ZAMAN: Two people, who were feigning as a decent family
with a baby, were caught with nine kilograms of heroin as they
were traveling in their private car in Diyarbakir. The heroin
was reportedly purchased in Hakkari and traffickers were aiming
to trade it in the western provinces.

ECONOMY

BOLGE / EVRENSEL / ZAMAN: Because of the decrease in demand
in the internal market for citrus fruit, farmers were reportedly
experiencing difficulty in selling their produce at reasonable
prices. Turkish Army recently pledged to citrus fruit farmers
in Mersin that the army would start serving at least two times
in a week citrus fruit to the soldiers in their meals.

SABAH (GUNEY): During a seminar called "Cooperation between
Turkey and the U.K." held at the chamber, Mehmet Aslan,
Chairperson of Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce, requested from
Nick Braid, new ambassador of the U.K. to Ankara, that the U.K.
should eliminate the difficulties experienced in issuing visas
to Turkish industrialists.

ZAMAN: A group of businessman in Hatay's Dortyol district
made a cultural and business trip to Northern Iraq. The group
paid visits to cultural sites, to schools, and to a hospital
opened by Turkish doctors, at Arbil, Kirkuk and Suleymaniyah
provinces.

CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT

HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): The gala night of Turkey's likely Oscar
nominee in 2007, "Dondurmam Gaymak", which won two awards at the
4th Queens Film Festival in the United States, has been held in
Mersin.

HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / BOLGE / EKSPRES / ZAMAN: Two new rectors,
Professor Suha Aydin and Professor Serafettin Canda, have been
appointed to Mersin University in Mersin and Mustafa Kemal
University in Hatay respectively. The rector of the Sutcu Imam
University in Kahramanmaras has been reappointed to his former
rector's position at the same university.

BOLGE / EKSPRES / SABAH (GUNEY): The Press Office of the

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Adana Municipality released a statement saying that air
pollution observed in quarters located around the D-400 highway
and in the southern part of Adana is decreasing the quality of
life for people. However, the northern parts, which were
selected as new settlement areas of the province by Mayor Aytac
Durak in terms of good urban planning, were experiencing no
decrease in the quality of air, according to the office.
Experts are reportedly warning people not to go out especially
during evenings in those parts.

ZAMAN / EVRENSEL / HURRIYET: A 44-year-old prosecutor, who was
appointed to Kars's Ardahan district two months ago, reportedly
committed suicide yesterday morning with his gun. The
prosecutor reportedly conducted an operation against fuel-oil
smuggling in 2002 in Van's Saray district, and jandarma teams
detained four officials of the Ministry of Environment under
that operation then. One year before that operation,
unidentified person(s) opened fire on the prosecutor's car and
wounded two privates who were escorting the prosecutor.

BOLGE / EKSPRES / EVRENSEL: Unrest broke out between students
and police when police allegedly did not allow students to enter
an Adana high school. The students were not able to afford the
3 YTL requested by school administration in exchange for a
school identity card. When the tension subsided, the students
were allowed in the school.

BOLGE: Mersin Municipality announced its donation of fifty
wheel chairs to 50 handicapped persons.

ZAMAN / BOLGE: Turkish Red Crescent sent 4500 tons of flour
to the Palestinian authority via the port of Mersin as
humanitarian aid. A ceremony was held at the port as the vessel
set off for its destination.
GREEN

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