SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 07, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000135 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 07, 2006 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 07, 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 ZAMAN / RADIKAL / HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET: PKK militants opened fire and killed two soldiers patrolling the border area on foot at Hakkari's Semdinli district. Two soldiers have been wounded. Hurriyet daily notes that PKK members killed the soldiers by opening fire on a military vehicle. ZAMAN / EVRENSEL / SABAH: PKK militants stopped four cars on a road between Tunceli and Hozat, made propaganda of the PKK to the drivers and kidnapped the driver of an official truck with his vehicle. Terrorists then released the driver and left the truck at an unspecified spot where they reportedly placed TNT explosives around a gas canister. The security officials safely cleared the area from explosives. SABAH: PKK members reportedly carried out an attack with remote controlled mines on a military vehicle carrying the children of the security officers in Tunceli's Pulumur district. Two soldiers have been wounded. ZAMAN / RADIKAL / YENI SAFAK / CUMHURIYET / SABAH: The autopsy report of the Diyarbakir Forensic Authority about killing of Selahattin Aksu and his daughter in Mardin's Kiziltepe district on June 3 (see press summaries 06/05 and 06) said that the girl was 7 years old in contrast with reports of a pro-PKK newspaper yesterday, which claimed that the girl was 4 years old. There were 11 shots and 21 shot in the bodies of the daughter and father respectively, and the guns used were two Kalashnikovs. Zaman daily also cited allegations that the father was a PKK defector until 1998. The fact that Aksu was a defector turns the PKK among the suspects of the incident, reads Radikal daily. OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL: Ozgur Gundem daily today reported the age of the girl who was killed with her father in Kiziltepe as 7. The daily further claimed that Aksu, the father who was killed, was detained a week ago by Jandarma officials that found Cannabis plant in the field Aksu worked at. The daily cites the allegations of the owner of the field, Davut Bozan, that Jandarma could have placed the Cannabis sacks on the field then. The daily further reported that Aksu participated in a protest activity against PM Erdogan when Erdogan came to Mardin last weekend. RADIKAL / HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET / SABAH: Fuat Gecen, Hatay deputy from AKP, has been dismissed from the party after being sent to the disciplinary committee for voicing allegations about irregularities of AKP officials with public tenders in Hatay. HURRIYET: The daily reported that one of the suspects of a rape incident that took place in Van's Muradiye district (see press summary 06/06) stayed in prison for two months in the summer of 2004 for being a member of the terrorist organization PKK. OZGUR GUNDEM: Members from the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey paid a visit to the district mayor of Agri's Dogubeyazit district. The delegation's political secretary asked questions about the way the state approached the SIPDIS people, how much of the reforms required in the process of harmonization to the EU have been implemented, and about the economic issues of the region. OZGUR GUNDEM: Diyarbakir Chief Prosecutor's Office (DCPO) sent the indictment it prepared about seven DTP administrators arrested during an April 14 raid on the DTP's Nusaybin chapter to the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA). DCPO has already sent indictments it prepared on separate cases of DTP Siirt Provincial Chairman Murat Avci (see press summaries 03/30, 04/03, 04/04 and 04/07) and DTP Diyarbakir administrators (see press summary 04/07) to the Prosecutor's Office of the SCA. The daily said that this development indicates that authorities are paving the way for the closure of DTP. HURRIYET: According to a report of the National Resources Defense Council of the U.S. there were 90 nuclear bombs in the Incirlik Airbase of Adana. EVRENSEL: Security cameras will be installed chiefly around public institutions and in many other places in Sirnak's Cizre district. Authorities have already installed 12 of them. ADANA 00000135 002 OF 002 ZAMAN: BOTAS (Petroleum Pipeline Corporation) kicked off a new project to change the pipes on its pipelines that do not need welding in order to prevent petroleum theft from the pipeline. ZAMAN: Former Van Prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya sent a written defense to the Istanbul First Instance Court and claimed that the indictment he prepared for the Semdinli case was not against the law. SABAH (GUNEY): Ministers from Turkey, Iraq, Georgia and Syria will participate in the opening ceremony of the International Iraqi Fair that will start today in Gaziantep. BOLGE / EKSPRES: Farmers in the Cukurova region reacted strongly to the buying prices announced by the Agricultural Products Office claiming that the price announced was only covering the costs of production. REID