SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 17, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000226 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 17, 2006 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 17, ¶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 RADIKAL / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN / HURRIYET: The Prosecutor's Office at the Supreme Court of Appeals objected to the verdict that issued a 39-year-and-5-month prison sentence on June 2006 for Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildeniz, two non-commissioned officers, who were convicted for their alleged crimes in the Semdinli bombing on November 9, 2005 in Hakkari's Semdinli district. The grounds for objection cited by the Prosecutor's Office's were procedural inefficiencies, incompetent investigation process, and establishment of wrongful grounds when placing accusation against defendants during the trial. The Prosecutor's Office claims that the verdict was superficially based on thoughts about an alleged and unproven criminal network. OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL / BOLGE: Ozgur Gundem daily blames the government for not taking tangible steps regarding the Kurdish issue and for holding back by only extending support to the moderate announcements of the DYP National Leader Mehmet Agar. The daily, while reporting that the government was not considering a general amnesty in any way, blames the government for falling behind Mehmet Agar and asks: "Is AKP or DYP in power?" Evrensel daily quotes Tunceli Mayor Songul Erol Abdil as finding both the government's and DYP leader's announcements as positive and further proposes that the PKK can lay down arms gradually. Bolge daily reported that Recai Kutan, the leader of Happiness Party who is currently visiting Adana, criticized Agar for making proposals which are in line with the proposals of the PKK terrorist organization. Kutan also criticized PM Erdogan during his speech at the Cukurova Journalists Association and blamed Erdogan for being the co-chairperson of Great Middle East Project of the U.S. OZGUR GUNDEM: The political wing of the PKK announced that the calls made for laying down arms instead of a cease-fire, would do no good for the peace process. Meanwhile, the daily reports calls of some members of the intelligentsia to end the military operations in the southeastern region. CUMHURIYET: Senior leaders of the PKK are making calls for girls in the southeastern region to go up the mountains to join the ranks of the PKK instead of yielding to the backward social pressures they are exposed to,causing them to commit suicide. BOLGE: The 261-member Turkish Military Unit, which will join the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon),has arrived at Mersin. The military materiel that would be sent to Lebanon has also arrived at the port of the Mersin. ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM: Culture and Tourism Ministry, Prime Minister's Office, Chief of General Staff, Ministry of Interior, MIT Intelligence Center and Turkish Mountaineering Federation signed a protocol on October 15 which included Mount Ararat, the highest peak in Turkey, as part of an access-restricted security zones of Turkey. The protocol regulates access of the foreign mountaineers and imposes some bureaucratic steps to be taken before climbing the mountain. The daily points out that the protocol came after the French bill on the Armenian issue was passed in the French parliament. SECURITY OZGUR GUNDEM: Jandarma members allegedly opened fire on a private car, whose driver allegedly did not obey the halt warning at a checkpoint in Van's Baskale district on September ¶14. The car had an accident and the driver was killed. No bullet wounds were found in the body of the driver. DTP Provincial Chairperson in Van and DTP members attended the funeral of the driver today. RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET: The funeral of an infantry private, who was killed after being fired on by shooters riding in a personal vehicle, which did not obey the security personnel's warning to halt. The incident occurred on an unspecified date in Hakkari's Cukurca district in Yozgat province. CUMHURIYET / ZAMAN / RADIKAL / HURRIYET: An F-16 plane, which ADANA 00000226 002 OF 002 took off from the 8th Main Jet Base in Diyarbakir, crashed around the Bitlis River a while after take off, for unknown reasons. The pilot died. CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT SABAH (GUNEY): As a result of an anti-drug operation conducted in Gaziantep, police seized 61 kilograms of heroin which was brought from Van in hidden sections of a truck and which is worth 600,000 Euros. Two people in the truck were detained. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Gaziantep police found 12 kilograms of hashish in an add-on component of a motorcycle used for carrying things. ZAMAN: Seven people, including the captain from the District Jandarma Command at Mardin's Derik district, were detained on allegations that those people got involved in the illegal business of theft of fuel oil from BOTAS's (Pipeline Corporation) pipeline in Derik. HUMAN RIGHTS OZGUR GUNDEM: Following the start of complaints from the people about a disruption in broadcasts of Roj-TV in Hakkari, Mus, Erzurum, Kars, Sanliurfa, Batman, and Sirnak, most of the people in Van's city center are no longer able to watch Roj-TV. The daily suspects that military authorities are jamming the Roj-TV broadcasts since Roj-TV is no longer available at locations close to military compounds. EVRENSEL: DTP's party organization in Kars will hold a public meeting called "Unemployment, Corruption and Democracy" on November 6. ECONOMY HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Four hundred thirty nine workers of the Mardin Municipality went on a strike indefinitely. The Municipality is reportedly indebted to its workers for a large sum of salaries. CULTURE / SOCIETY EVRENSEL: Kurdish author Mehmet Uzun, who had a stomach cancer, has been recently released from hospital. His medical treatment will reportedly continue. Uzun congratulated author Orhan Pamuk for winning the Nobel Literature Prize. BOLGE / EKSPRES: Adana Municipality launched a campaign to deliver 30,000 Turkish flags to people ahead of the celebrations for the 83rd anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Rebuplic on November 29. BOLGE / EKSPRES: Some student groups at Cukurova University exhibited photos of students who protested increased meal prices in the cafeteria being detained by anti-riot teams at the university last week. BOLGE / ZAMAN: Cukurova University and Association for Garden Plants in Adana is currently holding the First International Pomegranate and Minor Fruits Symposium at the university. The four-day event will end on October 19. CUMHURIYET: Governors of six provinces, including the Ankara Governor, convened this time in Adana for a meeting entitled "Services of Governors' Offices". GREEN