SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0148 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, MAY 30, 2003 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for May 30, 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/Hurriyet: As a result of ensuing clashes between the security forces and a group of PKK-KADEK militants who had set up an ambush near Bingol yesterday evening, one soldier was killed while seven others were wounded. As clashes continued, enforcement units were dispatched to the region. ¶3. Hurriyet: Charges were brought against a shepherd named Suleyman because he grazed his live stocks in Bingol at night. The court demanded two and a half months of imprisonment for the shepherd for acting in opposition to the orders given by authorities. The shepherd appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court acquitted Suleyman on the grounds that the state was responsible for promoting live stock raising and supporting the live stock raisers for increasing production, and that the ban was not in confirmation with the Constitution. ¶4. Hurriyet: After his speech at the War Academy on EU and assorted issues, the Vice Chief of TGS, General Buyukanit, clarified his views about his abstention on use of mother tongue in broadcasting. General Buyukanit was quoted as saying, "When there are thousands of terrorists in the country, we can not pretend as though they do not exist. It would not matter if broadcasting on the country's television was made in Chinese or Arabic if there had been no terrorist threat in our country." Drawing attention to the difficulty in controlling the TV channels, General Buyukanit said "RTUK's (Radio and Televison High Council) offices in Anatolia are being closed down. Who is going to inspect these private broadcasts? Once it was debated on a private TV channel in Diyarbakir whether the Independent Kurdish State should be Islamist or secular. Controlling is not as easy as it is thought. First of all, the idea would emerge, and then weapons would be given to people. At the moment, there are 900-armed PKK militants within the borders. Is this a threat? At a time, Kocero (a bandit) was only one person, and he was a threat. From this angle, we perceive broadcasting in the mother tongue as a threat." ¶5. Sabah: The Batman Women's Platform decided to arrange a poem and essay competition in Turkish and Kurdish on "War, Peace and Women." The platform applied to the governor's office to obtain permission. The authorities denied its request on the grounds that no such entity legally existed. The governor's decision is found odd because Turkey is trying to pass bills to make it permissible to broadcast in Kurdish on private TV channels. An inmate in Batman prison, Fahriye Ceylan, hoping the permission for the contest would be granted, sent a poem in Kurdish to the jury. The poem was illegible because it was entirely scratched out by the prison administration. The prison administration's note on the poem stated, "It has been scratched out because it was written in a not understandable language." ¶6. Milliyet: Adana's Mayor Aytac Durak, who faced up to one year of imprisonment on the charges of abuse of authority while in office, also benefited from the amnesty law. Durak was charged of violating several laws and rules between 1996 and 1998. His file has been suspended for five years. If Mayor Durak commits a crime within five years, he will be given a penalty for the previous charges as well. ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS ¶7. Bolge/Cumhuriyet: Although the harvesting of wheat has started in the Cukurova Plain, the government has not announced the basic rate for the product yet. The producers said they suffered approximately a 10 percent loss in yield due to extreme heat and northeast wind in May. The farmers said the government should take world market prices into account and announce a basic price not less than 0.26 or 0.28 USD per kilo. Merchants have been buying wheat at 0.21 or 0.22 US dollar per kilo. The President of Yuregir's Chamber of Agriculture, Sahin Tekin, said TMO (Soil Products Office) was not friendly to farmers anymore because it acted in a business- minded manner. Tekin said it was impossible to feed 70 million people with imported wheat, and therefore, he said the government should support the farmers to increase the wheat production. HOLTZ