SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0226 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, AUGUST 27, 2003 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 27, 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. Milliyet / General Oktar Ataman, who started his position in Elazig recently, stated that the "integration" law has not been very successful. During his visit to the Elazig Governor, Ataman announced that there were 279 applications for amnesty, but only two of them are from the rural areas (Editor's Note: Most of the other applicants are currently in prison). ¶3. Milliyet, Bolge / In Adana, in the last few days, police warned a group shouting slogans praising PKK/KADEK and Ocalan. The group threw stones at the police and the police opened fire. As a result, five children were injured. Kerem Ugur, Adana Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) leader, stated that it was a circumcision ceremony and they were dancing when the police came and opened fire on the people without warning. A man with the initials R.A, who witnessed the incident, stated that there wasn't a circumcision party or a wedding as stated in the papers. According to R.A, DEHAP organized the party to announce the September 1 Peace Day meeting. ¶4. Evrensel / In Adana, during a circumcision ceremony, a car opened fire on people. About 10 people, including four children, were injured. People claimed that it was a police car in disguise. A group of people gathered in a park the day after the incident and shouted slogans praising DEHAP. The Adana DEHAP leader criticized the police and the government for their anti-democratic policies. ¶5. Milli Gazete / In Adana police fired warning shots in the air after warning a group of 300 people who were allegedly praising terrorist groups. The people threw stones at the police before the warning shots. Four people were injured during the incident. The group had gathered to announce the DEHAP meeting on August 31 (Editor's Note: Items 4, 5, and 6 are believed to be different reports of the same incident. We reported initially on this in August 26, 2003 Southeast Turkey Press Summary. These are the additional reports of today's newspapers). ¶6. Hurriyet, Turkiye / Adana health authorities announced that they are going to immunize about 321 thousand children against measles between September 29 and October 17. ¶7. Evrensel / An Urfa province police officer, who was allegedly in disguise, beat a minibus driver who was listening to Kurdish music in his minibus. ¶8. Evrensel / In Igdir province, Murat Akkus applied for the approval of the start of a television station broadcasting in Kurdish, Turkish and Azeri. ¶9. Zaman / The National Independence Army Association in Adana announced that it supports a decision to send Turkish troops to Iraq (Editor's Note: The Association is composed of war veterans). ECONOMIC ¶10. Turkiye / Mersin Free Zone reported a trade of 1,376,000,000 USD in trade in the first seven months of 2003. ¶11. Expres / In front of the Adana governor's office, the State Employees' Union Confederation (KESK) held a meeting to protest the degree of increase in their salaries. A woman with seven children looking for a job criticized the state workers for not being satisfied with what they have. CULTURE and TOURISM ¶12. Cumhuriyet / Osman Aydin, Governor of Elazig, announced that he had made initial contacts to plan the 11th International Hazar Poetry Reading Evenings, which would be held for the first time in Azerbaijan. The festival has been organized in Elazig for the past 10 years. REID