SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 02, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000025

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 02, 2006


This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 02,

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 draft report prepared by the Turkish
Parliamentary Commission for Honor Killings sparked a debate at
the Turkish Parliament. CHP (Republican People Party) members
claimed that the recommendations section of the report did not
sufficiently address the issue of feudal family structures and
honor killings.

HURRIYET: The court reached a verdict about twenty-four
defendants including former DEHAP (Democratic People's Party)
mayors of Diyarbakir, Siirt, Batman and Bingol provinces, who
have been on trial for six years on charges of establishing
contact with Murat Karayilan, a senior leader of PKK/Kongra-Gel,
in Holland and granting some of the state resources allocated to
the municipalities to the PKK. Former Batman Mayor Abdullah
Akin, former Siirt Mayor Selim Ozalp, former Bingol mayors
Feyzullah Karaaslan and Selahattin Ertas, have been acquitted in
the case. Files of former Diyarbakir Mayor Feridun Celik and
the other 13 defendants have been closed due to the statute of
limitations. A PKK defector has been sentenced to 2 years and
one month in prison. Four other defendants have been sentenced
to 7.5 years in prison.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Turkish Parliament's Commission Probing the
Semdinli Case has reportedly focused its attention to the
alleged links of non-Commissioned Officer Ali Kaya with the 1996
Susurluk case when a car accident in Susurluk revealed the
scandalous links of a politician, a police chief and a mafia
leader in Turkey. The commission will reportedly hear
statements from Kutlu Savas, former Inspection Board Chairperson
of the Prime Minister's Office, who created a report on the
Susurluk case then.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Frequently occurring power outages in Van's
Bostanici quarter have been causing serious inconveniences for
the dwellers of the area.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Alevis, as required by their ritual
obligations, have started a 12-day fasting term in the month of
Muharram. In Tunceli, a province densely populated by Alevis,
some of the food selling stores and diners will stay closed
during the interval which commemorates the assassination of
Caliph Hussein in the Karbala desert. The fasting period is
called Twelve Imam Fasting.

OZGUR GUNDEM: The daily claims that reported evidence has
been disclosed on alleged negligence on the part of the health
authorities in Van for covering up the cause of the deaths of
two children, who were transferred from Agri province's
Dogubeyazit when bird-flu broke out in the district. According
to the daily, Van Centennial University's Research Hospital said
that there was no bird flu in the children; however, the
hospital procedures ordering burial of the children stated the
cause of the death as bird flu.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Twelve people in Iraq have been hospitalized
and their cases are suspected as bird flu. Separately, unusual
chicken deaths observed a week ago in Elazig's Keban district
and tests confirming bird flu in the birds have caused the
authorities to impose quarantines in the district and start
culling birds. Moreover, four small children suspected as
having contracted bird flu in Agri's Buyukagadeve village have
been transferred to the hospital in Erzurum.

OZGUR GUNDEM: PKK Chief Headquarters reportedly issued a
public statement to pay condolences to the family of the
Nakshibendi Sheikh from Batman, Suleyman Bagdu (55),who was
killed in an ambush on the Batman-Siirt road yesterday (January
31,200) at 3.30 p.m. The assailants using automatic guns left 26
bullet marks on the jeep and wounded five others. In addition to
the sheikh, Abdullatif Engin, who was in the jeep and heavily
wounded, also lost his life. The sheikh's relatives and
followers rushed to the hospital after the assassination. The
Batman Security Director, Arif Oksuz, announced that the
incident was not of political nature, and that the incident was
being investigated.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Artist Ferhat Tunc, who was invited by the
Danish Parliament to deliver a speech in the parliament (see
press summary 01/30),gave a small concert in the parliament
following his speech and was given a standing ovation by the
parliamentarians. Ferhat Tunc has been on trial in Turkey under
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for writing an article for
Ozgur Gundem which reportedly used a two-word term in Turkish
which is equivalent of "deeper unlawful structures rooted in the
(Turkish) judiciary".

OZGUR GUNDEM: Mothers for Peace Initiative members in Van
and Diyarbakir ended the strike they started on January 20 to
extend support to Abdullah Ocalan. Meanwhile, fifteen members
of the Democratic People's Initiative launched a rolling strike
in Mardin's Derik district to protest the procedures applied in
Imrali Prison that reportedly paved the way for to the
"isolation" of Abdullah Ocalan in the prison on the island.
Moreover, 18 people in Adana started a hunger strike on the same
grounds in Adana's Human Rights Association. Separately, Mus
Democratic People's Initiative members staged a march in the
province and police intervened without warning the crowd in
advance.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Greens Party in Sweden condemned Turkey's
efforts to black out pro-PKK Roj TV. Meanwhile, Kurdish
Writers' Association condemned the investigation started against
56 mayor of the southeastern region from DTP (Democratic Society
Party) who sent a letter to the Danish Prime Minister not to
block the broadcasting of Roj TV.

OZGUR GUNDEM: Following the meeting held in Yuregir district
of Adana, Ziya Aydemir has been assigned as the Adana DTP
provincial chairperson once again.

OZGUR GUNDEM: A long queue of trucks piled up at the Habur
border again. Truck drivers are reportedly suffering from the
slowness of the border operations, a situation which is
reportedly caused by the insufficient number of personnel at the
gate.

OZGUR GUNDEM: The court, which brought action against
attorney Hasip Kaplan decided to discontinue the lawsuit against
Kaplan when forensic medicine authorities found out that the man
in a photograph posing with Murat Karayilan, a senior leader of
PKK/Kongra-Gel, was not Hasip Kaplan. The photograph, which was
reportedly taken in the Qandil Mountains, was found on a
captured PKK member.

EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Workers in Batman's Tekel
Cigarette Factory staged a protest against the privatization
policies adopted by the government and laid a black wreath in
front of the provincial AKP (Justice and Development Party)
premise. Meanwhile, workers in Diyarbakir Tekel Cigarette
Factory extended support to the workers in Batman by paying a
visit to the Batman workers with a 50-person delegation.

EVRENSEL: Turkish Parliamentary Commission Probing Semdinli
Case heard statements from Tacettin Aslan, Semdinli Security
Director. Aslan reportedly said that they did not have any
intelligence information about Seferi Yilmaz, owner of the
bombed Umut Bookstore in Semdinli; but, they had received a
tip-off that a package would be received (by unspecified persons
at an unspecified place.) According to Aslan, when they heard
the explosion, they were in the midst of a meeting. Aslan
further said that he went to the site of the incident and saw
that people were throwing stones at a car and a man (PKK
defector Veysel Ates) was sitting in the car. Aslan claimed that
no armored vehicle opened fire at the people who held
demonstrations following the incident. Aslan confirmed firing
into air by officers standing on the vehicle.

SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / BOLGE: To
revive the poultry sector in Adana, Adana Municipality and
owners of poultry integrated plants will hold a picnic on
February 4 on one of the old bridges over the Seyhan river, and
chicken will be the main dish of this activity.

YENI SAFAK: Mustafa Eraslan, attorney of Abdullah Ocalan, said
that retrial process of Abdullah Ocalan has started following
his clients application to the Ankara 11th Heavy Penalty Court.
However, article 311 of the Turkish Penal Code was still posing
an impediment concerning the retrial process of Ocalan.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / BOLGE:
Fifteen CHP (Republican People's Party) deputies, who
established a commission to study the problems of citrus fruit
farmers, have been holding a series of meetings with citrus
fruit producers in various regions of Turkey. The last meeting
was held in Adana. The CHP deputies, while they distributed the
citrus fruit, which farmers were not able to sell, to people in
the street for free, protested the government for neglecting the
problems of the citrus fruit farmers.


2. SABAH (GUNEY): CHP deputies extended support to the
businessmen Bulent Ozulku who announced that he could buy the
TEKEL Cigarette Factory if the government decides to privatize
the premise.
REID