Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ADANA155
2003-06-11 08:31:00
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 0155 

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,
JUNE 10, 2003


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0155

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,
JUNE 10, 2003



1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary
for June 10, 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/Milli Gazete/Turkiye: Ali Keles,
the headman of Dosekkaya village in Bingol, was
kidnapped from his home by a group of eight
PKK/KADEK militants and killed in the countryside
last night. The security forces established
contact with a group of PKK/KADEK members near
Bingol yesterday, but militants, taking the
advantage of the forest and darkness, vanished in
the region.



3. Turkiye: The security forces found weapons
and ammunition in the terrorist organization's
shelters in Hakkari. The governor's office
disclosed that two Kalashnikov weapons, five
drums for those weapons, one Maouser weapon, two
backpacks, and one pair of binoculars that
belonged to PKK/KADEK militants were seized. A
large- scale operation is continuing in the
region.



4. Milliyet: In Adilcevaz, a coastal township
near Lake Van, jandarma arrested forty-one
Pakistanis and twelve Afghans who illegally
entered Turkey from Baskale township of Van.
During their interrogations, the Pakistanis said
they paid three thousand USD for smugglers to
Greece via Istanbul. They said they sailed Lake
Van and later, were dropped at Adilcevaz and told
they had arrived in Greece. The Afghans said they
paid seven hundred USD per person to be smuggled
into Greece. The fugitives were expelled from the
border.



5. Evrensel: An interview with people from
different walks of life in Sanliurfa revealed
that people are expecting a general amnesty
rather than a repent law from the government to
solve the Kurdish issue. The interviewers
expressed that the repent law would deepen the
Kurdish question, and the reconciliation could be
realized only by declaring a non-discriminatory
general amnesty. They also added that the views
of all the Turkish governments about the Kurds
was the same, and emphasized that the governments
should change their mentality toward the Kurds.



6. Bolge/Turkiye: Based on a tip, jandarma at
Incirlik found two grams of powdered hemp in the
glove compartment of the car of a US citizen,
Ursula Fara Tyson, who works as a teacher at the
base. Mrs. Tyson had notified the prosecutor's
office on May 27 that her husband, Orcan
Fikridanis, who does not want to divorce her, was
going place drugs in her car, and he should be
held responsible for anything that would happen
to her. During her interrogation at jandarma,
Mrs. Tyson said she had filed a petition with the
court to divorce her husband. She said her
husband constantly threatened her by stating he
would place drugs in her car and house so that
she would not divorce him. Mrs. Tyson was taken
to the court after the interrogation. The court
released Mrs. Tyson but started an investigation
on Fikridanis.


ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS



7. Milliyet/Tercuman: The Micro-credit Project
initiated by Grameen Bank in Bengal will be
applied in Elibol village of Diyarbakir on June

11. The project is known as the "poor peoples'
bank." The bank will give unlimited loans to
villagers establishing their own businesses
without requiring a letter of credit or
guarantor. The reimbursement of the loan will be
made weekly. Regarding the issue, Aziz Akgul, a
member of parliament (MP) from Diyarbakir, said
they would take the credit to the villagers and
would also take into account the people on the
Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation's
Incentive Fund's list for determining who would
qualify for the loan. Akgul said there was a
great demand from Istanbul for the loans, and
thirty-two sub-governors from Istanbul attended
the bank's meeting there yesterday. MP Akgul said
they have already raised forty thousand USD for
the project in Diyarbakir, and that a foundation
wanted to contribute three hundred thousand USD
to the fund. Akgul said they would start the
project in Siirt, Trabzon, Agri, and Istanbul
after Diyarbakir.
HOLTZ