VZCZCXRO9176
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0073/01 3201415
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 161415Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4804
INFO RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1111
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1346
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1413
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 000073
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/EUR, DS/IP/ITA, INR AND EUR
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC PTER PINR CASC TU
SUBJECT: SE TURKEY SECURITY INCIDENTS: NOVEMBER 9-15, 2009
1. The following security incidents for the period of November
9-15, 2009, were compiled by the security assistant at Consulate
Adana from RSO sources, to include Turkish security contacts,
government officials and media. The RSO uses the information to
determine the security situation and trends of violence and
crime throughout Turkey. The RSO shares the information with the
country team and visas viper coordinator.
2. Military operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) as reported by the Turkish General Staff:
A. Weapons, ammunition, and equipment seized:
Sirnak - 11.14.09: 200 grams of hashish, 1360 kilograms of food.
Sirnak - 11.13.09: 1,494 rounds of Kalashnikov ammunition.
Van - 11.12.09: 9 rounds of RPG-7 ammunition.
Sirnak - 11.12.09: 3 backpacks, 10 kilograms of food and
logistical equipment.
Mus - 11.11.09: A booby-trapped hand grenade found and
destroyed.
Sirnak - 11.11.09: 450 kilograms of food.
01.01.09 through 11.13.09: Security forces confiscated or safely
detonated 179 kilograms of TNT; 98 kilograms of plastic
explosive material; 2,375 kilograms of ammonium/potassium
nitrate; 53 kilograms of unknown explosive material; 42 units of
landmines; and 87 units of other types of explosives. During the
same period PKK carried out 68 attacks using explosive material.
B. PKK members captured or surrendered:
Erzurum - 11.13.09: Security forces caught 1 PKK member.
Sirnak - 11.12.09: Security forces caught 3 PKK members.
Sirnak - 11.11.09: 8 PKK members surrendered.
Sirnak - 11.11.09: Security forces caught 1 PKK member.
Sirnak - 11.10.09: 1 PKK member surrendered.
11.09.09 through 11.15.09: A total of 15 PKK members were
captured: 6 alive and 9 surrendered.
C. PKK attacks:
Sirnak - 11.13.09: A clash was reported; no casualties.
Hakkari - 11.11.09: Military patrol team attacked by PKK
members; no casualties reported.
3. Media reports related to PKK and pro-Kurdish organizations:
A. Anti-PKK operations:
Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) anti-PKK operations in SE Turkey
continue. Many armored vehicles, military personnel and
ammunition were sent to the operation areas in Sirnak, Hakkari,
Van, Mus and Siirt.
Sirnak - 11.14.09: TAF artillery teams bombed the mountainous
terrains of Semdinli District; no casualties reported.
N. Iraq - 11.13.09: TAF artillery teams bombed the Zagros
District; no casualties reported.
Sirnak - 11.13.09: TAF ended anti-PKK operations on the Mount
Cudi; no casualties reported.
B. Arrests:
Tunceli - 11.14.09: Security forces stormed the home of the
chairman of the Education Union on the suspicion of terrorism.
Hakkari - 11.14.09: Security forces detained 4 people on the
suspicion of terrorism.
Sanliurfa - 11.13.09: Security forces detained 3 people on the
suspicion of terrorism.
Hakkari - 11.12.09: Security forces detained 2 people on the
suspicion of terrorism.
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Diyarbakir - 11.12.09: Security forces detained 1 person on the
suspicion of terrorism.
Batman - 11.12.09: 7 minors (ages 13-17) are on trial on the
charge of "carrying out illegal action on behalf of the PKK."
Adana - 11.12.09: 8 people, including 6 children (ages 14-17)
were sentenced to a cumulative total of 39 years in prison on
the charge of "carrying out illegal action on behalf of the
PKK."
C. Other media stories about PKK:
A total of 285 PKK members were neutralized in 2009: 58 dead, 96
alive and 131 surrendered. It was reported that most of them
were captured in Sirnak, close to the border with Iraq.
Mardin - 11.15.09: 2 PKK members who surrendered on October 19
at Silopi's Habur Border Gate have had several public speaking
engagements.
11.15.09 - Turkey wide: Turkey paid 1. 2 billion Turkish Liras
as terror compensation to Kurdish people in East and SE Turkey.
Adana - 11.15.09: Governor's Office of Adana has banned the
carrying of knives following the recent death of a police
officer who was stabbed by a protester during a demonstration.
Bingol - 11.15.09: 14 students were detained when nationalist
students attacked a pro-Kurdish group last week.
Sirnak - 11.15.09: Demonstrators, including pro-Kurdish unions
and DTP officials, held a press statement to protest a
hydroelectric plant which will be constructed in the city.
11.14.09 - PKK is re-organizing its drug smuggling operations
after UNODC and EUROPOL listed
PKK members on the most wanted lists of international drug
smugglers.
Hakkari - 11.13.09: A member of the pro-Kurdish YDG-M (Patriotic
Democratic Youth-Movement) has applied to the Human Rights Union
with the complaint of police harassment.
Adana - 11.12.09: DTP provincial administrators are under
investigation on the charge of "making propaganda for the PKK."
11.12.09: 8 PKK terrorists based in Iraq have surrendered,
becoming the second such group since the government's pledge in
July to end Turkey's decades-old Kurdish problem. The
surrendering terrorists told authorities that "a large number"
of other PKK members want to return to Turkey.
11.12.09: The European Human Rights Court has asked Turkey to
provide information about Lokman and Zana Ugurlu, brothers who
were kidnapped and killed by members of the JITEM in 1993 in
Diyarbakir.
Mardin - 11.09.09: Pro-PKK news agency ANF reported that Turkish
counter-guerillas are collecting money from the public under the
false pretense of financing the PKK. The news agency reported
that a group of 6 people may have ties to the local gendarme.
Hakkari - 11.09.09: DTP Yuksekova organization held a march on
the anniversary of the Semdinli book shop bombing to protest
racist assaults against Kurdish people.
4. Media reports on significant crime or security incidents:
Siirt - 11.14.09: Unidentified assailants attacked police
residences with a Molotov cocktail; no injuries reported.
Adana - 11.13.09: Security forces detained 9 people in an
anti-organized crime operation.
Adana - 11.12.09: A PTT (Turkish Post and Telephone Service)
district branch was robbed by an unidentified person.
Hakkari - 11.09.09: Stores in the Semdinli district of Hakkari
pulled down their shutters to commemorate the Semdinli bookstore
attack. Four years ago, one person died and five were wounded in
an attack on the Umut Bookstore by two noncommissioned officers
and a former PKK member working for the gendarme.
Van - 11.09.09: Four people were killed and five injured by
village guards in an armed dispute at a wedding. Murders by
village guards in similar cases have brought the village guard
system into the national spotlight. In May, a vicious massacre
took place at a wedding ceremony in Mardin's Bilge village,
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where 44 people were killed in an interfamily dispute over whom
the bride should marry.
Batman - 11.09.09: 6 people wounded in a fight over a pasture
disagreement. Security forces detained 5 people.
Bitlis - 11.09.09: Security forces confiscated 2 long range
infantry rifles, 1 unregistered pistol, 63 rounds of Kalashnikov
ammunition, 1 magazine and 8 rounds of pistol ammunition. 1
person was detained in the operation.
Hakkari - 11.09.09: Unidentified people stoned a police patrol
vehicle, wounding a police officer.
11.09.09: The "Revolutionary Headquarters" organization
infiltrated the staff of Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport with
the intent of conducting terror activities, but its three
members were caught by police.
The organization is trying to take up the cause of the DHKP-C
(Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front) and also the
fanatic leftist "DEV-SOL" organizations.
Gaziantep - 11.09.09: Security forces confiscated 5 unregistered
pistols, 5 magazines, 7 rounds of bullet, and 90 grams of
hashish. 2 people were arrested in the operations.
5. Illegal immigrant arrests:
None reported.
6. Counter-narcotic operations:
Diyarbakir-Istanbul: Security forces confiscated 230 kilograms
of hashish brought from Diyarbakir. 1 person was arrested.
Adana - 11.13.09: Security forces confiscated 8 kilograms of
hashish, 465 pills, and 1,800 cannabis seeds. 5 people were
arrested.
Van - 11.13.09: Security forces seized 77 kilograms of hashish
and arrested 1 person.
Elazig - 11.09.09: Security forces seized 12 kilograms of
hashish and detained 2 people.
Diyarbakir - 11.09.09: Security forces seized 2 tons of hashish
and 1 million cannabis seeds belonging to PKK. 19 people
detained.
Hatay - 11.09.09: Security forces seized 4,500 pills and
detained 1 person.
Bitlis - 11.09.09: Security forces seized 22 kilograms of
hashish and arrested 1 person.
DARNELL