Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ADANA159
2005-09-06 12:11:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Adana
Cable title:  

SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 29, 2005

Tags:  PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000159

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 29, 2005


This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 29

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

EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Preparations are under way in
Diyarbakir to celebrate the September 1 World Peace Day.
Diyarbakir's NGOs and political organizations are reportedly
getting ready to voice their demands about resolving the Kurdish
issue on Peace Day. (This article is from 08/27 edition.) 08/29
edition of Ozgur Gundem calls for the people of the region to
hit the streets on September 1 and protest the ongoing military
operations.

EVRENSEL: The Hak-Par (Rights and Liberties Party) will emerge
with a new political entity to establish an alternative to the
DTH (Democratic Society Movement),which has been scheduled to
become a political party in mid-September. (This article is from
08/27 edition.)

EVRENSEL / BOLGE: Mass organizations and political parties in
Adana protested the opening of the airbases and the airports to
the U.S and NATO. (This article is from 08/27 edition.)

BOLGE / ZAMAN / RADIKAL / HURRIYET: A long sought after Turkish
high-tech criminal, who hacked the systems of banks and finance
institutions in 110 different countries and infected these
institutions' systems with viruses, was caught in Adana through
the joint efforts of the Turkish police and the FBI. The person
reportedly has hacked the interactive banking accounts of people
and embezzled money, as well. (This article is from 08/27
edition.)

ZAMAN / HURRIYET: One of three terrorists, a Syrian national,
who escaped following a clash with the security officials in
Trabzon's Macka district last Sunday (see press summary 08/23
and 08/24),was caught in a rural section of Macka. (This
article is from 08/27 edition.)

ZAMAN: Three alleged PKK terrorists have been killed in a
clash, which has been continuing in Batman's Besiri district.
One terrorist was reportedly caught alive. Additional military
units and heavy artillery has been sent to the area. Jandarma,
which blockaded the site of the clash, is reportedly aiming to
catch the rest of the 19-person terrorist group, which initially

aimed to travel from Siirt to Diyarbakir, alive. (These
articles are from 08/27 editions.)

OZGUR GUNDEM: Reportedly, two thousand people set off for
Batman, to protest the 10-day-long military operation ongoing
there. Security officers stopped the people's march at Besiri's
entrance. The 08/29 edition of the daily claims that Turkish
Armed Forces committed "brutal" violence during their military
operation in Batman's Besiri district. The paper reported
PKK/Kongra-Gel's death toll as six. The paper further says that
soldiers recently killed one woman terrorist, whom they wounded;
killed another, who was hiding in the bushes, by setting the
bush on fire; and killed a third one following his
interrogation. The daily draws attention to the point that,
"despite this violence", the people of the region have been
demanding peace.

RADIKAL: The Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate (RAD)
reportedly did not welcome the proposal of Matt Bryza, deputy
assistant to the Secretary of State, as to have help from RAD in
training imams who can assist the Muslim religious communities
in the U.S. (This article is from 08/27 edition.)

RADIKAL: High fever and diarrhea sickening 9 people in Van's
Kevenli village alarmed the health officials in the city.
Health officials took samples of water from the village to probe
the cause of the disease, and delivered chlorine tablets to
people as a measure to fend off disease. (This article is from
08/27 edition.)

OZGUR GUNDEM: Following the death of two people because of a
reported diarrhea epidemic, whose cause is attributed to the
unsanitary community water supplies' in Agri's Dogubeyazit
district, the examination of the health officials in Erzurum the
water coming from revealed no impurity in the water samples from
the Dogubeyazit district.

RADIKAL: Songul Erol Abdil, Tunceli Mayor, whose office
reportedly had been protesting the government because the
Ministry of Tourism underallocated Tunceli districts in
comparison to AKP-held municipalities, reportedly has ceased
protesting the GoT following PM Erdogan's recognition of the
Kurdish problem. (This article is from 08/27 edition.)

RADIKAL: ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party) leader Hayri
Kozanoglu reminded PM Erdogan that the Prime Minister, by naming
the Kurdish problem, had assumed responsibility for finding a
solution through greater democracy. Kozanoglu called on the PM
to take action soon to fulfill the pledges he had uttered.

RADIKAL: Sait Ali Albayrak, a chieftain of a clan in the
southeastern region who has been honored as a 'peace envoy' by
the U.N. for resovling a 150-year-old feud between his clan and
another one, suggested that he could be a mediator in the PKK
issue. (This article is from 08/27 edition.)

HURRIYET / RADIKAL: The EU Secretariat has sent a letter to
the RTUK (Supreme Board of Radio and Television) urging the
board to issue broadcasting licenses for local and regional
television companies before October 3, which marks the opening
of the accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU.
Meanwhile, RTUK officially confirmed today the board as
soliciting information from the MIT, as reported in Friday's
papers. However, the authority to decide on issuing licenses
rested with RTUK, it said. (This article is from 08/27 edition.)

OZGUR GUNDEM: The paper reports that two Kurds were
allegedly killed in Iran as a result of torture. Reportedly,
the number of Kurds killed in Iran reached 30 in the last two
months.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Reportedly, the police conducted a search with
a warrant on a house in Mersin's Akdeniz township, detaining
three people and bringing them to Mersin's Security Directorate
Anti-Terror Branch.

ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM: Zaman claims that DEHAP members and the
father of the terrorist brought the dead body of a Syrian
national terrorist, who was killed in Trabzon's Macka district
(see press summary 08/23 and 08/24),to Mardin's Nusaybin
district. Ozgur Gundem reported that 10,000 people in Nusaybin,
as they carried the photographs of Abdullah Ocalan and the
terrorist killed in Macka, "welcomed" and then "bid farewell" to
the terrorist's body, which was later brought to Syria.

CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / SABAH / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN: The Ankara
prosecutor initiated a lawsuit with the 11th Heavy Penalty Duty
Court against eight DEHAP party executive members, including
party chairperson Tuncer Bakirhan. Reportedly, the lawsuit
resulted from an investigation of a DEHAP statement, in which
DEHAP used a (Turkish) courtesy title before the name of the
terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan. (This article is from 08/25
editions.) Bakirhan and eight DEHAP party members, barred by
the court from going abroad, will not be able to attend a
conference titled "Turkey-EU Relationships and the Kurds".



REID