SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0132 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, MAY 7, 2003 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for May 7, 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. Cumhuriyet: Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's visit to Bingol with the Head of TGS, Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, caused a protocol crisis. Bingol's DEHAP Mayor, Feyzullah Karaaslan, went to the 49th Domestic Security Brigade Command to welcome the president on behalf of the people of Bingol, but was denied access to the military compound. Bingol's Governor, Huseyin Avni Cos, seeing that the mayor was denied entry to the military compound, did not intervene in the case. After Mayor Karaaslan returned to his tent in the park to continue his activities, he received a call from a captain saying there had been a misunderstanding and invited him back to the Brigade Command, but Mayor Karaaslan refused to go. Mayor Karaaslan said he would not go to the place he had been dismissed from. ¶3. Cumhuriyet/Evrensel/Milliyet: Bingol's DEHAP Mayor, Feyzullah Karaaslan, complained that all the humanitarian relief items sent to the municipality following the earthquake were seized by the governor's office. Mayor Karaaslan said the municipality tried to cooperate with all government agencies in town from the very beginning of the earthquake, but because of the governor's efforts to render the municipality ineffective, the municipality decided to withdraw from the "Crisis Table" headed by the governor. He stated that the needy people did not get the relief items, adding the "Crisis Table" seized all the relief assistance coming to the town and stored them in military facilities, a gymnasium, and in an orphanage. He also claimed the Crisis Table was prevented from receiving humanitarian assistance sent by other municipalities in the region. In addition, Karaaslan said that rather than supplying the needs of the people, the Crisis Organization Center and its officials drove their cars and APCs against the people, and responded with gunfire by Special Operation Teams. He further claimed yesterday police seized food and shelter materials sent by Kigi/Yayladare Assistance and Solidarity Association. The police, taking the relief materials to the Security Directorate, denied the request of association officials for the delivery of the material. ¶4. Cumhuriyet: 800 students boarding at Kozluk Regional Boarding School in Batman are being evacuated from the school because of the cracks formed in the building after the earthquake in Bingol. It has been determined that already part of the school slid. The school was built on a salt rock foundation four years ago. ¶5. Milliyet: Hamdiye Aslan, a woman arrested and allegedly tortured by police in Kiziltepe of Mardin on the charges of assisting and harboring the PKK, claimed she recognized the policewoman who had maltreated her, Hanife Sennur Pat, and sued. Police said Aslan rolled herself on the ground and traces were left on her body when they grabbed her by the arm to lift her from the ground. Aslan claimed she was tortured constantly while under detention, but could not see the faces of the male police officers because of black plastic bags put on her head. She said four to five policemen beat her all the time, and she tried to remove the plastic bag when she was out of breath. Aslan said it was at that time that she saw the policewoman who tortured her. The court adjourned the hearing to an unspecified date. ¶6. Bolge: The following four members of the DYP party resigned from their positions yesterday: 1) DYP's Adana Provincial Chairman, Yavuz Tekeli; 2) the chairman for Yuregir District; 3) the chairman of Seyhan District; 4) the chairman of Kozan District; and 5) the chair of the Youth and Women Organization of the party. Tekeli was elected to the office at DYP's Adana Provincial Convention on June 22, 2002. ¶7. Milli Gazete: Approximately eight thousand students left school before the completion of the academic year in Siverek township of Sanliurfa in order to work as seasonal- farm-workers for six months with their families during the harvesting period. HOLTZ