Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ADANA114
2003-04-21 16:50:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Adana
Cable title:  

SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

Tags:  PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0114 

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,
APRIL 21, 2003

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0114

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,
APRIL 21, 2003


1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary
for April 21, 2003. 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



2. Bolge: A visible decrease is seen in the
number of US military vehicles and equipment
deployed at Iskenderun port as more of them are
being sent back to other destinations. A
freighter named "Cape Ducato" docked at the port
yesterday for onward shipment of US military
vehicles and equipment. The part of the port
known as the "chrome area" has been totally
cleared of military equipment. A group of US
military officials and Turkish port authorities
are working on an inventory to assess the
maintenance, repair, and renovation works made at
the port.



3. Bolge: Following the ending of Operation
Northern Watch (ONW),some of the US troops
deployed at Incirlik AFB have already left the
country, and the ones who have remained are
conducting war-games exercises for security
purposes. The ONW mission deployed at Incirlik
AFB was jointly fulfilled by US and British
troops with a December 25, 1996 decision by the
Turkish National Assembly, and ended on March 19,

2003. During the scheduled exercises, gas-masked
and armed US soldiers defended hangers
successfully against possible attacks. Turkiye
reported that Washington was going to minimize
its military presence in Turkey and Jordan, and
planned to establish four permanent military
bases in Iraq while evacuating Incirlik AFB.
Thus, the US aimed to control the Middle East,
Southeastern Asia, and the Indian Ocean from the
Mediterranean against potential threats.
Accoringtothi pan,th USwll set up its
new air bases in Baghdad, Tali in outher
Nairiye,the Bahur reio innothrn ra, ad
aoter nein thedesertregionto conrol oil
pipes close to Jordan.



4. Evrensel: Zehra Barin, a women with three
children who was seriously wounded as a result of
an explosion of a land mine while picking wild
cardoons (an edible root plant) in a village of
Sirnak, died at the university hospital in
Diyarbakir. Mrs. Barin said she was picking

cardoons during the early morning in a fenced
area where some villagers were grazing their
cows. She said her three-year-old nephew
accompanied her and she thought soldiers would
warn them if that area had been a military zone.
Her husband, Nurettin Barin, said that although
they were made to wait at two jandarma stations,
one in the village and another one at Kasrik
Pass, for a total of about two hours, her health
worsened after she was given anesthesia at the
hospital. The President of HRA's Diyarbakir
Chapter, Selahattin Demirtas, held the military
responsible for the land mines, and said they
would conduct the necessary investigations and
would apply to the European Human Rights Court
after all the domestic legal avenues had been
exhausted. He added that the problem of land
mines would not diminish unless the Kurdish issue
was resolved.



5. Milliyet/Evrensel/Bolge/Cumhuriyet/Sabah/Hur
riyet: The Governor of Hatay, Ismet Gurbuz
Civelek, passed away due to a heart attack he had
in Izmir yesterday. His body was sent to Ankara
for burial.



6. Turkiye/Cumhuriyet: A mysterious e-mail
dated March 11, 2003 from Germany, which read
"Only 70 days are left for the happening of the
most important event in 2003," put the Turkish
National Police (TNP) and other intelligence
units on alert. The security officials believe
that the message hinted a likely terrorist
attack. Taking the e-mail message into account,
an Anti-Terror Directorate circular ordered the
related security agencies to revise their
protections for primarily the airports and other
sensitive buildings and facilities, and be
extremely vigilant during and after May 19, the
National Sports and Youth Day. It is speculated
that the Islamist radical group in Germany known
as "Kaplancilar" may have sent the message.



7. Evrensel: According to the studies made by
Woman's Status and Problems (WSP),and Woman's
Social Status Research and Examination
Association, the difficulty of being a women in
Turkey varied from region to region. The result
of research conducted in 19 provinces revealed
that 45.8 percent of women have not enjoyed any
education at all, 4.3 percent have left school
without completing their elementary school
education, while only 33.5 percent had completed
the five-year compulsory elementary schooling.
Of the educated women in Turkey, 81 percent are
graduates of junior high schools, 5.8 percent of
senior high schools and only 2.6 percent are of
universities. Thirty-nine point six (39.6)
percent of educated women between the ages of 15
and 24 are unemployed nationwide. The ratio of
unemployed women in urban centers is reported to
be around 37.4 percent while it is 45.3 percent
in rural areas. The Secretary for Teachers Union
Women's Organization, Senay Ozmen, said the main
problem the women faced in the region was that
the girls were not sent to schools for education,
and remarked that the economic and social
dimensions of the issue were parallel. Because
the girls were married at a very young age, they
were deprived of their rights, and the girls
constituted 2/3rds of the uneducated children in
Turkey. Ms. Ozmen said the girls were used in
the fields and gardens in the rural areas, and
because of that they were unable to express
themselves in any subject and unable even to help
their children when they got married. As a
sample, she said, 51 percent of Diyarbakir's
population was made up of males, and the
education ratio among them was 30 percent while
this ratio was 19 percent among the female
inhabitants. Finally, she said that development
could not take place unless regional differences
were eradicated.
HOLTZ