SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0121 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY APRIL 28, 2003 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for April 28, 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. Sabah/Cumhuriyet/Radikal/Evrensel: Based on a tip that a vehicle carrying illegal fuel and drugs from Baskale township to Van, the teams affiliated to Van Jandarma Command positioned themselves in Kuruca pass. It is claimed as the driver disobeyed the "halt" warning, the jandarma opened fire on the car that came to the checkpoint after midnight. The driver, Cetin Kahraman, was killed at the scene as a result of jandarma's gunfire. Based on the investigation of the case, a master sergeant and a private were detained. Claiming neither illegal fuel nor drugs were found in his vehicle but that he was deliberately killed, Kahraman's relatives, as they were taking the dead body from the hospital and bringing it to the front of the governorate building, booed the soldiers and shouted slogans. The police opened fire in the air to disperse the crowd protesting the incident. 6 policemen and two relatives of Kahraman were wounded in the ensuing disorder, and about ten police cars were damaged. According to the papers, the police arrested between 7 to 15 persons involved in the incidents. ¶3. Sabah/Cumhuriyet/Milliyet/Hurriyet/ Evrensel/Radikal Turkiye/Milli Gazete: As a result of clashes that bursted out between a group PKK/KADEK militants and the security forces on patrol in Yeniyazi village of Genc (Bingol),2 soldiers were killed while two others were wounded. The operation launched in the region is still continuing. ¶4. Radikal: The dead body of Siddik Kaya, 45, who left his home in Mus in November 2002 on the grounds that he was called by NCO Cemal San, was found last Thursday at the bank of Murat river, a tributary of Euphrates. Siddik Kaya's father, Tekdemir Kaya, said a village-guard relative of theirs was killed by PKK militants last year, and thereafter the village guards perceived his family as an enemy, and claimed the NCO with whom his son had met surrendered his son to the village guards for money. Five months after Siddik Kaya's mysterious disappearance, villagers near Bulanik town at the bank of Murat River found his dead body. Kaya's eyes and mouth were taped, his hands were folded in the back, and he had marks of strokes in the neck and bruises on the legs, and sandbags were tied to his back. The dead body was taken for autopsy to Istanbul's Forensic Medicine which said Kaya was killed as a result of brain hemorrhage caused by gunfire that had fragmented the skull and damaged the brain. Filing a petition with the Human Rights Committee of the National Assembly, the HRA again demanded for the necessary investigation and solving of the case. ¶5. Cumhuriyet: As the Dutch soldiers deployed in Batman for operating the Patriot missile systems expedite their departure from Turkey, they donated to Batman State Hospital the medical equipment and 200 beds they had brought for the field hospital they had set up for themselves. The Patriot missile experts announced the Batman State Hospital as a sister hospital of a military hospital in Holland, and promised to send more medical devices. Also, the US soldiers leaving the area distributed 7 tons of foodstuffs to the needy people in town. ¶6. Milli Gazete: It is reported by Anatolian News Agency that Kizilay's -Turkish Red Crescent- relief to Iraq, consisting of 5 trucks of material, 4 ambulances, and 2 communication devices arrived Silopi of Sirnak, will leave for Mosul and Kirkuk tomorrow. ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS Bolge: The farmers' organizations in Adana welcomed the government's draft resolution that will provide 35 percent subsidy in diesel consumption by farmers. The President of Chamber of Agriculture, Cumali Dogru, announced that the draft resolution left open the farmers' hope for cheap diesel while the President of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers warned that the records of the direct support program would create problems in the payment of the diesel subsidy. HOLTZ