SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY AUGUST 19, 2004

UNCLAS ADANA 000108 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM IZ TU ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY AUGUST 19, 2004 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 19, ¶2004. 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 ZAMAN, CUMHURIYET, RADIKAL, EVRENSEL, HURRIYET, SABAH, TERCUMAN, ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: Many DEHAP supporters from neighboring provinces went to Pazarcik and Narli townships, Kahramanmaras province, to attend the opening ceremony of a monument-like tomb for high-ranking PKK militant Engin Sincer, who had been killed last year in the Kandil Mountains, Northern Iraq, as a result of an internal dispute. The Jandarma did not allow DEHAP supporters to go to Seyrantepe village, where the monument has been erected, on the grounds that all kinds of meetings in Kahramanmaras, Turkoglu, and Pazarcik, between August 17-18, had been banned. DEHAP supporters, who formed a ten kilometer long queue of vehicles, closed the Gaziantep-Narli highway to traffic for some time. GOT forces detained two persons. Sincer's family announced that they were going to have a burial commemoration according to the traditions of the Alevi sect, and that they did not have any political objectives. MILLIYET: The inspectors from the Interior Ministry did not find the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, who visited the family of a PKK/Kongra Gel militant to express his condolences, guilty. Inspectors determined that Mayor Baydemir's visit to the family in an official vehicle was not contrary to the law. CUMHURIYET: In Van province, the Anti-smuggling and Organized Crimes Teams from Baskale Security Directorate seized 51.344 kilos of heroin in the secret compartments found in a vehicle traveling from Hakkari to Van. The court imprisoned two persons having connections with drugs. EVRENSEL, ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: In Bismil township, Diyarbakir province, a six-person committee delivered a petition signed by 11,541 persons demanding recognition of Kurdish rights, reintegration of guerillas in the political life, and advocating Abdullah Ocalan's release. Around 300 people gathered in front of the Bismil's DEHAP office before the petition was delivered. Police frisked the demonstrators and filmed their I.D. cards. In Diyarbakir, 14 of the 17 persons who had been detained after delivering petitions signed by 30,600 to the Governor's Office, were released. EVRENSEL: The Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor pressed charges against the Diyarbakir "Kurdish Pen" for having visited the European Commission's Office in Ankara. The Diyarbakir Kurdish Pen is accused of "receiving a foreign delegation without permission." REID