SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 06, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000157 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 06, 2006 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 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 (CUKUROVA): Hakkari police conducted an operation and seized 67 kilograms of pure heroin upon receiving a tip-off that drugs will be trafficked in the area. A person has been detained in connection with the trafficking. (This summary is from 07/05 edition) RADIKAL / HURRIYET / EVRENSEL: Allegedly in connection with the expulsion of Van Prosecutor from office a while ago, the dailies pointed out that Ministry of Interior allegedly included in the decree which relocates positions of judges and prosecutors in Turkey, the name of Van's Chief Prosecutor Kemal Kacan, a move which is interpreted as a disciplinary action against Kacan for his roles in the cases of Van Centennial University's trial process and in the Semdinli case. (This summary is from 07/05 edition) 07/06 edition of Radikal cites Minister of Justice as dismissing such allegations and branding the development as a normal procedure. RADIKAL: PM Erdogan, who is reportedly not pleased that numerous candidates have been running for chairmanship in AKP's Agri chapter, have rolled up his sleeves to convince circles to name one person and one crew to run for chairmanship. OZGUR GUNDEM: The daily claims that two soldiers died and five soldiers have been wounded in a reported PKK attack on a jandarma station in Hakkari's Cukurca district on July 2. HURRIYET: A group of PKK terrorists attacked a police checkpoint which has been guarding the police residences in Tunceli's Cemiskezek district with hand grenades and long-barelled guns. Terrorists reportedly escaped after a 10-minute clash with the police officers. EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Nineteen out of 26 people, who were arrested during demonstrations in Mardin's Kiziltepe district (on an unspecified date) held to protest events that took place in late March in Diyarbakir following the funeral of four terrorists, have been released by Diyarbakir's 6th heavy Penalty Court. The rest of the people will continue to stay under arrest. EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Twenty DTP members in Sirnak had two trials brought against them: one for "making propaganda of terrorist organization and praising the criminals" during support extended by the DTP members to the human shields in May last year; the DTP members in Sirnak stood a second trial for remarks they made at a January 27 announcement of the DTP party organization. EVRENSEL: Chairperson of DTP's Kars chapter said that despite only being appointed for six months as a party chairperson, 7 investigations had been started against him. OZGUR GUNDEM: British attorneys from the London-based Kurdish Human Rights Project came to Van to see at a local level how committees set up to compensate for the losses incurred because of terrorism and measures taken to counter terrorism in the southeastern region have been operating. The delegation of attorneys and senior administrators of Van's Goc-Der (Solidarity Association for Displaced People) paid visits to two villages of Gurpinar district. EVRENSEL: A group of Italian journalists came to Mardin and talked with relatives of people who lost their lives in clashes or extra-judicial killings. The journalists also paid a visit to Mardin chapter of DTP. RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL: A 16-year-old girl in Gaziantep was reportedly killed yesterday morning by her brother in the name of honor. The girl was reportedly pregnant because of an extra-marital affair. HURRIYET: During searches made in a highland area of Diyarbakir, Jandarma teams and temporary village guards discovered 20 fields where hemp has been cultivated. The teams, who claimed that those fields were cultivated by PKK terrorists to produce drugs, uprooted a total of 9 million hemps and destroyed them. CUMHURIYET / BOLGE / EVRENSEL / EKSPRES: Nearly 30 cleaning services workers continued their demonstrations and held a march towards Seyhan Municipality in Adana to protest their dismissal ADANA 00000157 002 OF 002 from their jobs. BOLGE / EKSPRES: Adana Governor Cahit Kirac announced that recent rumors claiming that an organ mafia was behind disappearances, murders and drowning cases in Adana were mere hoaxes. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / RADIKAL: Members of the chambers convened in Adana's Ceyhan district to hold a consultation meeting ahead of the opening ceremony for Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline which will be held in Adana's Ceyhan district on July 13. Radikal daily separately notes that world leaders were not showing much interest in the 3-million-dollar BTC opening and only two of the presidents of 16 countries who have been invited have responded affirmatively to Turkey's BTC invitation. CUMHURIYET: The decision of Administrative Court of the Council of State, which suspended enforcement of the privatization of the port of Mersin, reportedly pleased Liman-Is (Union of Ports). CUMHURIYET: Cumhuriyet daily reports on the controversy between Turks and Kurds on where to open two new border gates on the border between Turkey and Iraq. Turkish side is reportedly not favoring a border gate opening to the Kurdish area in northern Iraq. REID