SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 17, 2005

UNCLAS ADANA 000033

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 17, 2005

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 17,

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

ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL / CUMHURIYET: The Labour
Platform, a coalition of trade unions and NGOs, held
demonstrations in Ankara, Istanbul, Adana, Diyarbakir and Mersin
to protest the (Turkish) government's policy to transfer SSK
(Social Security Authority) Hospitals to the Ministry of Health,
closing of the Village Services Department and introduction of
the public and social security reform package, all of which will
reportedly damage the social justice in Turkey.

RADIKAL / EVRENSEL / CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / EKSPRES:
Ozgur Gundem claims that despite the recent amendment on
(Turkish) regulations requiring demonstrators to obtain an
authorization before their rallies and demonstrations, the
police intervened when a group of people wanted to hold a
demonstration in Mersin against Turkey's capture of Ocalan six
years ago. (Note: Cumhuriyet paper reads that the demonstration
was an unauthorized one. End Note.) Nineteen-year-old Umit
Gonultas, was allegedly shot dead by the police during the
commotion, although the police could have allegedly hospitalized
Gonultas and saved his life, according to the witnesses. Turkish
National Police (TNP) claimed that no police opened fire during
the intervention. However, the family of Gonultas accused the
TNP of killing their son.

CUMHURIYET: As debate gets heated upon the warning of European
Commission's Report concerned with abolishing compulsory
religious education and removing "religion" field from ID cards,
the Yezidis, whose children are compelled to attend religious
classes in Viransehir district of Sanliurfa, have filed a
complaint with the Sanliurfa Human Rights Association. Although
religious classes were not mandatory before, when the AKP
(Justice and Development Party) began governing the country,
attending religious classes were rendered mandatory for 43
Yezidi students from 300 Yezidi families at various schools in
the Viransehir district. Should the families' efforts to solve
the issue turn out to be in vain, the families plan to apply to
the European Court of Human Rights.


ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS


1. OZGUR GUNDEM: Diyarbakir and Mardin Chambers of
Commerce announced that the cotton producer subsidies are
insufficient to cover the losses of the cotton producers. The
weather conditions permitted the harvest of only half of the
produce and the rest was sold at a loss later. Shortcomings of
weather-dependent agriculture could have been remedied by the
use of agricultural vehicles (facilitating well-timed
harvesting),which could have been obtained had the subsidies
been sufficient, reads the report of the Diyarbakir Chamber of
Agriculture.




REID