SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 0269 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, OCTOBER 15, 2003 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 15, 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. HURRIYET/MILLIYET/ZAMAN/EKSPRES/TURKIYE: During his visit to the Cukurova Journalists Association, Adana's governor Kemal Onal told reporters that their main challenges were in education, health and housing for the poor people. Governor Onal said they needed six thousand classrooms, that is 300 schools with 20 classrooms in each, to solve the education problem in Adana. He added that they were building fourteen schools this year. Governor Onal attributed Adana's population growth to its being the attraction center of the region, and added that this position would continue until the disparity between the regions was solved. He emphasized that the First Cukurova Industry and Trade Fair held in Adana last week would contribute greatly to the volume of industry and trade in the region. ¶3. HURRIYET: Justice and Development Party's (AKP) provincial chairman for Adana, Abdullah Dogru, denied press rumors that Adana's present mayor Aytac Durak would be nominated from his party for the upcoming municipal elections. Dogru stated at a press conference that the method for determining candidates and the calendar for the applicants would be determined this month. ¶4. YENI SAFAK: "Freedom for Developing Local Languages" bill which the government passed with the Sixth Harmonization Laws for integration with EU is not being applied. No classes have been opened anywhere in Turkey for developing Kurdish or other languages. Private school owners in Diyarbakir, Van, Sanliurfa, Mardin, and Kiziltepe who applied to the provincial governors to open Kurdish classes were denied on the grounds that the buildings in which Kurdish would be taught lacked fire escape stairs and technical equipment for heating. Kurdish names containing "q, x, and w" are still not registered on the grounds that those letters do not exist in the Turkish alphabet. ¶5. EKSPRES: The police seized 900 Ecstasy pills and arrested three persons in connection with the drugs in Adana. It is reported that one Ecstasy pill is sold for 10.00 USD. ¶6. SABAH: Prime Minister Erdogan will open the 480 student capacity boarding school built by the Sabah newspaper for the earthquake victims in Bingol today. ¶7. OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: The Van chapter of the Educators' Union displayed cards celebrating their colleagues' "World Teachers' Day" in Kurdish in some schools on October 7. The cards read "We Celebrate October 5 Teachers' Day of All Educators." The police raided the schools the same day, took the photographs of the cards and surrendered them to the National Education Directorate which initiated an investigation of more than ten teachers accused of "committing a disciplinary crime by hanging Kurdish celebration messages on the notice boards." ¶8. OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: In Kovali village of Derik, Mardin province, a 17 year old boy identified with initials M.D. returned to his village after grazing his flock of sheep two days ago at midnight. Soldiers fired on his family members and wounded five villagers by gun fire after they opened gun fire on the houses in the village at random. The prosecutor came to the village to conduct inspections, but it is claimed that he did not speak to any villagers. The relatives of the victims claimed that the soldiers fired at them while taking the wounded people were being taken to the hospital and that they were held and beaten with clubs by jandarmas from Ucyol Jandarma Station. ¶9. OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: Villagers from Karbasti village of Hizan, Bitlis province, filed a petition with the office of Hizan's Public Prosecutor claiming that their eighty sheep had been confiscated by village guards affiliated to Cevizli Jandarma Station in Sirvan township of Siirt on October 10. ¶10. OZGUR GUNDEM: In retaliation to the killing of four militants by Turkish forces in Ovacik, Tunceli province, on October 10, HPG (Heze Parastina Gel - People's Protection Forces) claimed they killed ten soldiers and wounded many others in an ambush in rural Semdinli, Hakkari province, on October 13. ¶11. OZGUR GUNDEM: Hundreds of people getting together in Barbaros quarter of Adana marched with torches to protest isolation of Abdullah Ocalan. During the operations in Kucukdikili and Seyhan districts of Adana, the police arrested four persons. In some quarters of Nusaybin, Mardin province, demonstrators displayed banners for lifting the isolation on Abdullah Ocalan and improving his health condition. The shopkeepers in Nusaybin and Kiziltepe hung white scarves in front of their shops. In Urfa, some shops and businesses on the road to Akcakale township hanged posters reading "Your health is our health." ¶12. OZGUR GUNDEM: The Adana Anti-war Platform protested deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq and Abdullah Ocalan's isolation at a press announcement. ¶13. OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: Charges have been brought against the President of Diyarbakir's Bar Association, Attorney Sezgin Tanrikulu and his three colleagues for abusing their "profession as lawyers" by writing petitions for the villagers whose villages had been evacuated and burnt in Kulp in 1993 and 1994. Tanrikulu and his three colleagues will be arraigned at the First Felony Court in Diyarbakir on October 17. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS ¶14. TURKIYE: Adana based Ceytas Mining and Textile Company will exploit coal mines in Silopi, Sirnak province. ¶15. HURRIYET (Cukurova Supplement): 38 gas stations selling smuggled fuel in Gaziantep were closed down indefinitely. ¶16. HURRIYET (Cukurova Supplement): The Financial Police Teams from Adana's Security Directorate seized 300 thousand boxes of smuggled cigarettes during the ten months in ¶2003. The street vendors are selling the smuggled cigarettes for half the price determined by the Turkish Monopoly Department. The annual turnover of the smuggled cigarettes is estimated to be around 1.5 trillion Turkish Liras, approximately 1 million USD. 25 persons having involved in smuggling were brought before the court. REID