SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 25, 2005

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000042 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 25, 2005 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 25, ¶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 OZGUR GUNDEM: SHP (Social Democratic People's Party) mayors in Batman province, municipal assembly members and village headmen made a joint press announcement at the Batman Fortress to remind PM Erdogan of his pledge to save Hasankeyf, the site of an ancient settlement, from being submerged by the pending Ilisu Dam Project. The group pointed out that if the Ilisu Dam Project is undertaken in its current form, short-term interests of the energy sector will be met, but Hasankeyf -- which had been a cradle for the world civilizations for ages -- will be lost forever. RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET: Guldal Okuducu, Chairperson of the CHP (Republican People's Party) Women's Branch, announced the party's Hakkari earthquake report findings today and urged the (Turkish) government to declare Hakkari a "disaster site." The report drew attention to the miserable condition of Hakkari after the earthquake, suggested ways to solve the current problems and called on the government to take urgent action. ZAMAN / SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES: Oktay Ekinci, National Chairperson of the Chamber of Architects, announced in Adana today that Adana and Antakya will host a congress on architecture entitled "Multi-Cultural Cities and Architecture." Ekinci said that the event will precede a larger International Congress of Architecture, which will be held in June in Istanbul. Ekinci requested that the Turkish government wait to pass any bill regarding city planning, since decisions to be taken at the Istanbul Congress will surely contribute significantly to urban-planning policies. RADIKAL: According to environmental specialists, life in Van Lake will come to an end in 25 years time, unless measures against pollution are taken. The Van Municipality brought out 3,000 tons of garbage from the Lake in nine months and cleaned 7,000 tons of garbage that the rivers carried into the lake?. A 20-person team works to clean the lake on a daily basis, and a one trillion-lira budget is needed annually to carry out cleaning tasks, according to Van Mayor Burhan Yenigun. (Note: The article did not specify whether or not the TL 1 trillion was referring to new or "old" Turkish Lira. End note.) ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS ¶1. SABAH (GUNEY): Chambers of Commerce, Chambers of Industry and Commodity Exchanges will hold Assembly elections around Turkey between March 1 and 3. Locally, the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Industry election will be March 3, and the Gaziantep Commodity Exchange election March 1. A total of 147 people will be elected for the three assemblies in Gaziantep. ¶2. TURKIYE: James Brexton from the UK's Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, Baris Topal from Adana Chamber of Commerce and Fulya Melissa Aybars from Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced the formation of the Mersin Foreign Trade Club in a meeting yesterday in Mersin. Kadri Saman, Chairperson of the Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that SMEs' level of development has been hindered to date because of the late establishment of the Organized Industrial Zone and a delayed recognition of the value of the foreign relations. ¶3. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): AKIB (Mediterranean Exporters' Union) participated in the Fruit Logistica 2005 International Fruit and Vegetables Marketing Fair in Berlin and exhibited Turkish produce with 27 booths. In this important trade event, the participating Turkish companies exceeded their expectations and were able to consolidate ties with existing contacts. ¶4. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Citrus fruit producers in Adana started to cut down young fruit trees to replace them with better, profit-yielding produce. Erol Kolbasi, one of the producers in Solakli district lamentably cut down 700 trees, which were 7 years old. ¶5. BOLGE: The due date for submitting bids in response to the BOTAS (Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation) tender, which will transfer natural gas imports to the private sector, was extended from February 25 to April 25. ¶6. OZGUR GUNDEM / VAKIT: A bill was passed to support the animal husbandry/livestock-breeding sector by providing incentives during the period 2005-2010. The bill went into effect in January 2005 and has been published in the Official Gazette. It is anticipated that the (Turkish) government will allocate 622 million new Turkish liras ($480 million) for the incentives. ¶7. OZGUR / CUMHURIYET / EVRENSEL: Protestors angry at the privatization process of TEKEL (Cigarette Industry Enterprise) were reportedly treated roughly by police when they obstructed the road that PM Erdogan was to travel over in Adana province by laying down in the street. Eighty-two people were (allegedly) wounded during the incident. Today, workers of TEKEL in Adana announced that they will continue their protests, and Southeastern Region Branch Chairperson of the Tek-Gida Is (Turkish Union Of Tobacco, Alcoholic Beverage, Food And Related Industry Workers) called for a general strike. REID