SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY

UNCLAS ADANA 0013 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY JANUARY 15, 2004 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 15, 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 RADIKAL/OZGUR GUNDEM/TURKIYE/CUMHURIYET/MILLIYET/HURRIYET/S ABAH : The US Administration put Kongra-Gel (People's Congress),which succeeded KADEK and PKK, on its list of terrorist organizations. RADIKAL/TURKIYE/cumhuriyet: A report on Regional Boarding Schools (RBS) in Bingol province revealed that seven of the children who escaped from the schools in the past decade due to lack of adjustment were frozen to death. It is claimed that younger students were sexually harassed by the elder ones. The report claimed that most of the students at RBS were introverts and from poor families. The Ministry of National Education will conduct an investigation. OZGUR GUNDEM: Cahit Goktas, the former DEHAP chairman for Guroymak, Bitlis province, was given six months of imprisonment and an approximately USD 150 fine for making political propaganda in a Kurdish language during the November 03, 2003 General Election. An investigation has been conducted on the Bitlis DEHAP Former Chairman and six administrators for the concert given by a Kurdish singer during DEHAP's general convention on May 11, 2003. OZGUR GUNDEM: Demonstrations protesting detention of prisoners in isolation (Editor's note: Isolation imposed on Abdullah Ocalan) were staged in Diyarbakir, Yuksekova, Silvan, and Adana. In Diyarbakir, the police video-taped the identifications of the persons who attended the anti-isolation demonstrations. The demonstrators claimed that the conditions in D and F type prisons were aggravated, and approximately two- hundred demonstrators shouted "You can not blacken our sun." OZGUR GUNDEM: DEHAP (Democracy Party of People), EMEP (Labor Party),ODP (Freedom and Democracy Party),Free Party, and SHP (Socialist People's Party) formed a "Local Democratic Platform" in Malatya for cooperating in the Local Elections. BOLGE/EKSPRES: The current mayor of Adana, Aytac Durak, said he was waiting for the conclusion of the polls undertaken by other parties to announce his candidacy. TURKIYE: It is reported that two KADEK/PKK members surrendered to Turkish forces in Yuksekova and Cukurca, Hakkari province. REID