SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0163 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, JUNE 20, 2003 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 20, 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/Hurriyet/Milli Gazete/Evrensel: As a result of ensuing clashes between the security forces and PKK/KADEK militants in Isa village of Karliova (Bingol),two militants were killed. The killed militants have been identified as Engin Cinkir(AKA "Zagros"),andCein akr (KA "Xmdi") Bigo'sgovrnr, Husyi vni , sid six militantswere involved in the clashes, and hy lunched an opera on to arrest the remaining four. Based on the information obtained from an operation against Hizbullah in Diyarbakir, Mehmet Sah Akalp, an employee at Ballica Cigarette Factory in Bafra of Samsun, was arrested. It is alleged that Akalp was in charge of organizations in mosques and recruiting militants for Hizbullah. The court imprisoned Akalp. Duzgun Mentes, 31, a TIKKO (Turkish Workers' and Peasants'Communist Army) member wanted by the State Security Court of Malatya was arrested by jandarma in Bursa. ¶3. Evrensel: A group of fifty people, including an informant named Mesut Mehmetoglu, attacked DEHAP's district office in Hazro (Diyarbakir) with clubs and stones yesterday morning. DEHAP's district accountant, Tahsin Kacar, was wounded during the attack. ¶4. Hurriyet: Twelve administrators at municipality of Kozluk (Batman) were jailed for corruption. The AK Party mayor Ayhan Isik and four municipal employees, who disappeared just before the operation, are wanted by police. The Acting Mayor, Mehmet Erkul, also from AK Party, is among the jailed persons. ¶5. Evrensel: The police apprehended approximately sixty DEHAP affiliated women in Diyarbakir, Batman, and Sirnak for demanding a general amnesty and trying to make a press release in front of AK Party's offices. The police beat and slapped the women while detaining them. Similar actions were taken by DEHAP's female members in Istanbul, Adana, Gaziantep, Bursa, and Ankara. ¶6. Cumhuriyet: The road to Yesilgoz village of Beytussebap (Sirnak)is still closed. The villagers who are unable to return to their village have been trapped in Beytussebap for over a month. They are living in tents provided by Beytussebap's Red Crescent office. Non- governmental Organizations offered to contribute to the costs for opening Yesilgoz' forty kilometer-long village road. A Human Rights Association (HRA) delegation visited one hundred forty families living in tents, and prepared an observation report. At a press announcement in HRA's Diyarbakir chapter yesterday, the HRA's General Secretary, Feray Salman, said three hundred of seven hundred seventy five persons living in the tents were under twelve, and eighty percent of the campers were unable to buy basic needs, even bread. Feray said the number of people living in the tents would soon reach one thousand five hundred people as the schools would be closed for summer vacation. ¶7. Radikal/Hurriyet/Milli Gazete: Habur Border Gate, which was unilaterally closed down for two days by IKDP's forces in Northern Iraq, was reopened. While the US and UN's humanitarian relief trucks were permitted to cross the border, commercial trucks, which were not allowed to pass, formed a ten kilometer-long queue. Truckers carrying perishables got furious, and questioned who would be held responsible for the foodstuffs that went bad. Hurriyet reported six hundred trucks daily were carrying diesel from Northern Iraq to Turkey. ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS ¶8. Bolge: According to the information released by Gaziantep-based Southeast Anatolian Exporters' Union, the exports to the neighboring countries from the provinces in the GAP region amounted to 26.319 million USD, with a forty three percent increase in the past five months. HOLTZ