SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 4, 2005

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000008

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 4, 2005

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 4,

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: The first hearing for the charges concerning
Ugur and Ahmet Kaymaz's killing will be held on February 12. The
statement of charges against the four (Turkish National Police)
special operations team members reads, "special operations team
members transgressed the rules of necessary self-defence and
caused the two killings whose actual perpetrator cannot be
traced or discovered." DEHAP and Free Party members protested
the statement in Malatya and demanded that the perpetrators be
arrested. The court rejected the appeal of Kaymaz Family for the
accused special operations team members to remain under arrest
while on trial.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Four people, including the DEHAP District
Chairperson, Cafer Simsek, are (allegedly) taken into custody by
the Mersin Security Directorate as a result of raids that (TNP)
Anti-Terror Branch carried out at houses and shops in Mersin.


EVRENSEL: Sinan Yerlikaya, a CHP (Republican People's Party)
MP from Tunceli, claimed that Unal Erkan, Governor of the State
of Emergency Region in 1994, (allegedly) discouraged the Human
Rights Commission of the Turkish Parliament which wanted to
investigate the disappearance of 13 villagers (allegedly) in
security forces custody during the September 17, 1994 operations
carried out in Tunceli's Mirik, on the grounds that the
operations are continuing and the region is not safe. According
to Yerlikaya, although delegations from Germany, the democratic
mass organizations and he himself visited the scene then, the
Human Rights Commission did not pay a visit to Mirik district.

EVRENSEL: Political parties and mass organizations in Tunceli
demanded that a commission be set up to investigate people who
disappeared in Mirik, Tunceli. Huseyin Tunc, the Provincial
Chairperson of EMEP (The Labour Party),said that many
mysterious killings were committed and many people were exposed
to physical and psychological tortures during 1990s. Huseyin
Tunc says, "This situation has not changed much today. Very
recently, a member of the army threatened and insulted the
headmen of (several) villages and accused villagers of being
accomplices to the illegal activities committed in the region."
Tunc demanded that people not be oppressed and frightened, and
that these oppressive attitudes be abandoned.

CUMHURIYET: Because Syria does not open its borders to trucks
carrying goods to Americans in Iraq and since the tanker drivers
carrying fuel oil had been on a strike due to low transportation
prices for twenty days, twenty thousand trucks are waiting in 70
kilometer-long queues at Habur border gate. Despite the fact
that the strike has ended recently, the congestion created by
the number of trucks has not been diminished yet.

ZAMAN: Rauf Denktas, President of the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus is going to pay a visit to Adana tomorrow at
4.30 p.m. Rauf Denktas will be visiting the Governor of Adana,
the Army Corps Commander and the mayor of Adana. The next day,
Denktas will be visiting the Governor of Osmaniye at the
Osmaniye province.


ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS


1. MILLIYET / EKSPRES / BOLGE / TURKIYE: Umit Ozgumus,
President of the Adana Chamber of Industry, is going to meet
President Erdogan for the second time on January 5, and will
mainly discuss the new Incentive Law. Umit Ozgumus, who is
selected as the representative of the East Mediterranean region
that is comprised of Adana, Mersin, Hatay and Kahramanmaras and
Osmaniye provinces, will speak with the PM about the problems of
the region on behalf of the provinces at the "TOBB (Turkish
Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges) Regional and
Sector-Based Consultation" meeting.


2. BOLGE / TURKIYE: Aytac Durak, the Mayor of Adana,
criticized the way the government handles the distribution of
the incentives. Durak said that it is a mistake to allocate the
incentives by simply assessing dollar based per capita income of
the provinces since there are multiple factors that determine
the per capita income. It should be noted that the income is
distributed unevenly within Adana province because of the fact
that a significant amount of the population constantly arrives
in the city due to terror-related and/or economic difficulties.



3. EKSPRES / BOLGE / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / MILLIYET:
A group of angry Mersin farmers stopped the engines of their
trucks and chained the trucks' steering wheels to protest GoT
agricultural policies of the government in Mersin. Due to the
ineffective policies of the government, the farmers say that
they are not able to sell their products and are deeply
discouraged about further producing vegetables and fruits.


4. ZAMAN: The amount of citrus fruit harvested in Adana
has increased by a hundred percent as compared to the previous
year; however, the incentives for exporting the citrus fruit are
very low. Because of the current laws on the fruit-and-vegetable
market, the prices in domestic markets are not falling as well.
Producers are desperately seeking ways to sell their produce.


5. BOLGE: It is estimated that the total area of the
fields devoted to cotton planting will decrease next season
because of the frustration that cotton farmers are experiencing
with the low level of the incentive premiums and the low prices
in the world markets.



REID