SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

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