SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

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