SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 13, 2005

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000140

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 13, 2005


1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 13,

2005. 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


1. BOLGE/EKSPRES: Abdullah Caliskan, Adana deputy from
AKP, said that the AKP government, which had become the single
party in power in Turkey, has not had its own economic program
to date. "As the governing party, we have been continuing to
implement what former finance minister Kemal Dervis put into
effect," said Caliskan. According to Caliskan, AKP's only merit
was to bring political stability to the country.


2. BOLGE/EKSPRES: The seasonal agricultural workers who
arrived in the Cukurova plain to work in the fields are living
in poor conditions, such as staying in makeshift tents and
lacking material goods.


3. SABAH/CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN/OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL/RADIKAL: A
large-scale military operation was launched to save Private
Coskun Kirandi, who was kidnapped on the Tunceli-Pulumur road on
Monday by alleged PKK terrorists (see press summary 07/12).
Meanwhile, Ozgur Gundem reports that the PKK members only
conducted identity checks in the 60 cars they stopped, made
propaganda about the outlawed organization, and "brought a
soldier along with them."


4. ZAMAN: Abdullah Keskin, Adana Provincial Agriculture
Director, said that cultivating dwarf fruit trees might be more
cost effective, produce better quality products and provide
better yield in the Cukurova plain.


5. RADIKAL/ZAMAN/OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: Doctors
diagnosed anthrax in eights persons suspected of having
contracted anthrax in a village of the Dogansehir district of
Malatya. The suspects were hospitalized for observation
purposes. A state of quarantine has been imposed in the village,
sheep and goats were vaccinated, and a team of health officials
in the district examined people.


6. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA/OZGUR GUNDEM: An explosion occurred
in the ammonia filling line of a company in Mersin, causing a
crack in the line from which gas leaked to the nearby Mersin
Free Trade zone, where 40 workers in an atelier, including three
police officers were poisoned. (Note: Ozgur Gundem reports that
60 people were poisoned. End Note). The police suspect that the
attack was sabotage.


7. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Nearly 500 workers protested
Privatization Authority for including Mersin Port in its
privatization program.


8. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): AKP Adana deputy Vahit Kirisci
dismissed the claims that Adana deputies showed a lack of
concern for the issues and problems coming up in Adana and have
not tried to address them in the Turkish Parliament.


9. CUMHURIYET/SABAH: Nihat Ali Ozcan, an expert on terrorism

issues, said that the PKK has shifted to more cost effective
terrorist activity, such as laying mines and organizing suicide
bomb attacks, rather than engaging in armed conflicts.


10. SABAH/CUMHURIYET/EVRENSEL: The Diyarbakir court which
is trying Kurd-Der (Kurdish Association) reportedly has decided
that the activities of the association be suspended until the
court gives its final verdict on the charges that the
association's charter included concerns about "one's right to
education in one's native language". Meanwhile, the executives
of the Association demanded that translators be assigned in the
court to translate their statements from Kurdish into Turkish.


11. OZGUR GUNDEM: The Court initially gave a 6 month of
prison sentence to HADEP's (People's Democracy Party) former
District Chairperson and its executive members, who reportedly
allowed people to play Kurdish songs and chant Kurdish slogans
at a congress of the party held on June 2002 in Diyarbakir's
Certik district. The Court cut the sentence to five months
because of credit for good behavior during the court sessions
and converted the sentence to fines for each person.


12. OZGUR GUNDEM: The Bingol Human Rights Association
(HRA) Chairperson Ridvan Kizgin pointed out that, despite the
fact that terrorists can be caught alive or wounded, they are
always being killed instead. The fact that human rights
violations in the first half of 2005 have increased compared to
the previous years justified our earlier expressed worries, said
Kizgin.


13. OZGUR GUNDEM: Five thousand children are living in the
streets in Adana, according to the Governor Cahit Kirac. To
alleviate the problem of street children in Adana, Kirac said
that his office would establish a first aid center and two
mobile rehabilitation centers.


14. OZGUR GUNDEM: TRT, the state-run television company,
is preparing to launch the "unprecedented" step of allowing
national private broadcasting companies to use TRT's stations to
enhance their broadcasting capabilities. This practice
allegedly aims to counteract the widening impact of the Kurdish
channels, like Roj TV, in the southeastern Turkey, according to
the daily.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS


1. EKSPRES: Exports from GAP provinces to the free trade
zones increased six percent in the first half of 2005.


2. SABAH (GUNEY)/CUMHURIYET: Mersin business chambers
composed a joint effort to bid on the Privatization Authority's
tender set for August 4, which aims to transfer the "right to
operate Mersin port" for a period of 36 years to private
companies.