SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, OCTOBER 13, 2004

UNCLAS ADANA 000140 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM IZ TU ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, OCTOBER 13, 2004 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 13, ¶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/MILLIYET/CUMHURIYET/RADIKAL/TERCUMAN/TU RKIYE/ EVRENSEL: One soldier was killed and two others were wounded when a mine exploded in Ovacik, Tunceli province. The mine had been placed on the main road where the Jandarma from the Ovacik Jandarma Command jog in the mornings. A military operation with air support has been launched in the region. ZAMAN/MILLIYET: The Adana Traffic Teams arrested 41 refugees, 22 Sudanese and 19 Somalis, who had come to Adana illegally. The refugees said that they came to Hatay by boat and that they only intended to stay in Istanbul for a week. The refugees will be deported after the court has taken a statement from them. YENI SAFAK: The Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir said that he had prepared projects for the establishment of a "regional metropolis." Mayor Baydemir said he wants Diyarbakir to become the center of the Southeast, and a metropolis in the Middle East. Baydemir claimed that his project would prevent migration to other big towns. Baydemir, who met with Prime Minister Erdogan at the "Local Administrations and EU" meeting in Ankara, invited the Prime Minister to Diyarbakir for the opening ceremonies of the city's Waste Water Treatment Plant. BOLGE/EKSPRES: Eleven Adana HRA members went to the US Consulate by bus, read an anti-American and anti-Israeli announcement, and left a black wreath at the Consulate. The group chanted, "Everywhere is Palestine; we are all Palestinians; US Out of the Middle East." The Adana HRA Secretary Ethem Acikalin, who read the announcement, said that Israel was massacring in Palestine and the US was massacring in Iraq, and that the right to life and freedoms of the people in those countries were being obstructed. TERCUMAN: In Malatya, acting on a tip, police from the Malatya Security Directorate seized five kilograms of hashish in Ramazan G.'s house in Yesilyur township. Ramazan G. has been detained, and the investigation has intensified. EVRENSEL: The Malatya Security Directorate circulated a letter to 17 radio stationsand five local TV channels (Gunes-TV, Er-TV, TV-M, Ufuk-TV, and CNM-TV) saying that legal action would be taken against stations broadcasting in Kurdish and other languages. The letter stated that the broadcasts from those institutions were observed round-the-clock, and claimed that some of them had aired in Kurdish. HRA and Mazlum-Der objected to the letter. REID