SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 06, 2006

UNCLAS ADANA 000134 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 06, 2006 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 06, 2006. 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 HURRIYET: The security forces, who continued military operations following the PKK members' killing of one soldier and wounding 8 more on Bingol-Elazig road (see press summary 06/05), killed three PKK members. HURRIYET / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / CUMHURIYET: An armored vehicle had an accident in Tunceli and one police officer has been killed. EVRENSEL: DTP (Democratic Society Party) decided that it will annul the co-chairmanship model. RADIKAL / HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / CUMHURIYET / YENI SAFAK: The Hurriyet and Yeni Safak dailies carried in their front page coverage the outrage that was sparked among people in Van's Muradiye district when a Swiss national female biker who was touring the world with a friend on a bicycle was attacked and raped by five men in the district six days ago. Five hundred people, infuriated by that incident, gathered at the district and, in vigilante-style, targeted the assailants as they were being brought out of the prosecutor's office in the district. Security forces were not able to calm down the crowd, and 40 anti-riot team members had to be sent to the district. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): One person was killed in fighting that broke out between two families in Mardin's Kiziltepe district. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): As a result of the joint operations of the Diyarbakir, Mersin and Van police, seventy kilograms of hashish was seized in the diesel-fuel tank of a truck which set off from Van. Two people have been detained. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / ZAMAN: Upon receiving a tip-off, Adana Jandarma Command teams found in a truck 17 tons of crude oil stolen from pipelines in Ceyhan. ZAMAN: Recent deployment of military units at the border areas with Iran reportedly decreased the level of fuel-oil smuggling from Iran to Turkey. EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN: Evrensel and Ozgur Gundem dailies report that Selahattin Aksu, who was shot dead with his daughter with 92 shots fired from two firearms in Mardin's Kiziltepe district (see press summary 06/05),was detained one week ago at a jandarma station in the district on charges that Cannabis plant was found in his field. Aksu was allegedly threatened by a senior officer there then. OZGUR GUNDEM: Britain's The Guardian newspaper reported that Kurdish youth have been going to the mountains to join the ranks of the PKK because of the oppression the state has been exerting in the southeastern region. Reportedly, last month, 100 young persons, who can no longer put up with such oppression, have joined the PKK. EVRENSEL: Women in Adana held a march to demand from authorities to withdraw the draft penal code, to stop the military operations and to draw attention to the democratic rights of the Kurdish people. CUMHURIYET / RADIKAL / ZAMAN / BOLGE / EKSPRES / OZGUR GUNDEM: Municipality workers using the wrong pesticide against mosquitoes at Ceyhan district of Adana have poisoned 39 people, all of whom have been hospitalized. ZAMAN: The daily reported an article on allegations of Greenpeace General Director Gerd Leypold on alleged nuclear weapons kept at the Incirlik Airbase in Adana. REID