SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 0075 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, MARCH 13, 2003 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for March 13, 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. ¶1. Milliyet/Dunya: It is reported that the UN is also going to establish a humanitarian assistance center in Mardin, and relief items to be sent by the will be distributed from Mardin. Officials announced they had initially considered Gaziantep, but because of the distances involved preferred Mardin. ¶2. Radikal/Sabah/Dunya/Cumhuriyet/Hurriyet: Around 100 Turkish Communist Party members shouting slogans tried to enter the Iskenderun port. Soldiers and policemen intervened. When the protesters resisted, the soldiers fired warning shots in the air, and the port was put on alarm. As the demonstrators persisted, the military commander drew his soldiers back. Police reinforcements tried to disperse the group with their clubs. American soldiers who came to the gate were kept back from the gate by Turkish military officers. All the demonstrators were taken to the police station in Iskenderun, and eventually those detained were released by the court. According to Sabah, after the events, CHP Hatay Deputy Aziz Yazar visited the Iskenderun port's facilities. When he wanted to visit the ones hired by the US, he was told that TGS permission was required. MP Yazar said "Our ports are occupied, and we condemn this situation," and claimed that no modernization activities were indeed being conducted at the port. ¶3. Radikal/Sabah/Evren: Regarding Abdullah Ocalan's trial at the State Security Court (SSC), the European Human Rights Court (EHRC) rendered its verdict, saying Turkey had violated the 1st and 3rd Paragraphs of Article 6 of the European Human Rights Convention. Turkey has been found guilty for exceeding the alloed detention period, not providing a fair trial, and mistreatment (specifically for giving the death penalty to Ocalan). The EHRC did not find replacing of the military judge with a civilian one sufficient for fair trail, and remarked that the defense lawyers were not given time and means required for defense. The lawyers' claim that Abdullah Ocalan was arrested in, and brought from Kenya, to Turkey in an illegal way and thus subjected to discrimination was refused by the court. The court also announced that there had been no violations in Ocalan's imprisonment conditions. Despite the violations, EHRC did not demand Turkey pay any indemnities other than the sum of 100,000 euros for court's expenses. Regarding the court's decision, Ocalan's lawyer, Hasip Kaplan, said the infringements of their defense rights were obvious, and that he would appeal the decision concerning illegal arrest, as well as other articles. Turkey, meanwhile, also opposed to the court's decision, saying it lacked solid grounds. ¶4. Evrensel/Hurriyet: Cukurova University students protested US-led war on Iraq by throwing eggs at posters of President Bush yesterday. The students, who demonstrated in front of the Education Faculty, shouted anti-US slogans, danced folk dances, and read poems of peace versus war. ¶5. Evrensel: Ten students from Gaziantep University were detained on charges of pro-KADEK activities. Emine Celebi, a member of the Womens' Flank of DEHAP in Kars, who was arrested for saying "No to Isolation (in Prison)" during March 8 International Women's Day demonstrations, was released by the court. ¶6. Bolge: Adana DEHAP's weekly "sit-in at Inonu Park to protest aainst war and against isolation in prisons has turned into a tradition. The security forces took away "No to War and Isolation" banners carried by DEHAP supporters. DEHAP's Provincial Chairman, Mehmet Can Celik, declared that the seizure of the banners by the police was an anti-democratic act, that protestos would continue sitting in the park. ¶7. Hurriyet: It has been determined that foreign media representatives following developments in Mersin and Iskenderun ports have given small cameras and offered money to truckers to take pictures inside the ports. Security officials also determined that the foreign reporters have offered money to truckers operating between Turkey and northern Iraq. Evaluating this information, the Foreign Ministry and Turkish General Staff (TGS) decided that any reporters detected doing so would be deported from Turkey immediately and truckers receiving money would be severely punished. Some Spanish reporters who were given a five-day permission by TGS to observe the meeting of the Iraqi Opposition in Selahaddin in Northern Iraq but subsequently did not return to Turkey will definitely not be allowed to reenter Turkey. The Spanish Embassy wrote an apology to the Turkey Foreign Ministry, but the TGS's response was that Turkey was a serious country, and the rules were given to the reporters earlier, and they would make no exception. ¶8. Radikal: Ambassador Pearson denied allegations that the US had gone beyond the permission given within the framework of the modernization project for Turkish bases. Ambassador Pearson said: "All of our ongoing activities are within the framework of the permission given for the modernization of the bases on February 6. We are behaving honestly and carefully." ¶9. Sabah: After Mesut Barzani, now Celal Talabani has also started sending messages to Ankara through the western press. In an exclusive interview with the Italian La Repubblica paper, Talabani said Turkish soldiers should return to Turkey after Saddam's regime was ended, and the Americans should leave at most one hour after their job in Iraq was concluded. In response to what would happen if Turkish troops entered Northern Iraq alone, Talabani said Turkey could enter only in limited numbers to a certain place along with the Americans. Talabani said the Turkish FM Undersecretary, Ugur Ziyal, guaranteed that Turkey would not disarm the peshmergas and that the Turkish operation would be for humanitarian assistance. When asked if he believed Turkey's intervention would be limited, the Kurdish leader said they were very anxious about it but with the US they felt more comfortable. ¶10. Milliyet: The Iraqi Turkomen Front's representative for Turkey, Mustafa Ziya, claimed that the Turkomen were under great threat, and that they asked for protection from the UN, the US, and Turkey. Mr. Ziya claimed Kurdish groups in the region, including the KDP and PUK, had secret plans, and would put them into effect the SIPDIS moment the war started. He said that the Kurdish groups had agreed among themselves to enter Kirkuk. Ziya said the US and Turkey had pledged that they would not allow such a thing to happen. ¶11. Radikal/Dunya: The US and Turkey are preparing to receive 600,000 thousand refugees who could come to the Turkish border in a war on Iraq. The relief that will be provided by the United Nations (UN) will be extended to refugees on the Iraqi side of the Turkish-Iraqi border. The Turkish Red Crescent is already deployed at the border. HOLTZ