Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ADANA26
2006-02-08 07:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Adana
Cable title:
SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 07, 2006
how-toThis record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000026
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 07, 2006
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 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
BOLGE / EKSPRES: Turkish American Association in Adana
implemented new security measures and installed four
surveillance cameras on its premise following a bomb attack
carried out on the association's building on January 30 (see
press summaries 01/31 and 02/03).
RADIKAL: Officers from the Diyarbakir's Security Directorate
issued a warning for bishops and priests in the province to be
more cautious following the incident in which a Catholic priest
in Trabzon was killed. Diyarbakir police members paid a visit to
the Syriac Orthodox Church in Alipasa quarter to urge the church
members to be more cautious and to ask whether they needed
anything in terms of security concerns.
BOLGE: Party grassroots in Adana's AK Party Yuregir
headquarters, who are reportedly disturbed about re-election of
Bilal Nadir Gok as Yuregir District AKP Chairperson, conveyed
their frustration about this development to the AKP national
headquarters. Bilal Nadir Gok is reportedly showed nepotism and
favoritism toward members of a religious sect during the
selection of the administrative board members.
HURRIYET: A 26-year-old female member of the terrorist
organization PKK, who had to join PKK as a result of her
kidnapping by PKK members in 1993 from a village in Igdir when
she was 13 years old, escaped from the organization when she was
convinced by Igdir Jandarma Intelligence team members as they
chatted with her through the internet.
HURRIYET: Security officers, barely noticing a bomb which was
planted on a road between Tunceli and its Hozat district,
immediately took security precautions and safely rendered the
bomb ineffective.
CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM: Van Centennial
University Rector Yucel Askin, who paid visits to some party
leaders and representatives in Ankara, when asked by journalists
whether he would enter political life, said he had a 15-month
tenure ahead of him that he would complete as the rector of the
university, and he would consider then whether he would engage
himself in politics or not.
SABAH / OZGUR GUNDEM: Ozgur Gundem and Sabah dailies reported
that two non-commissioned officers who were arrested on November
29, 2005 as they were held as defendants in the November 9
Semdinli case, were indeed rewarded with a certificates of merit
by the Hakkari Provincial Jandarma Command on November 22, 2005.
Ozgur Gundem further reported that, Ahmet Ersin, CHP member of
the Turkish Parliamentary Commission Probing Semdinli Case
(TPCPS),said the reward might have been made to influence the
judiciary. Esat Canan, CHP member of TPCPS, said that the act
to grant certificates to the officers aimed to provide patronage
to the officers. Separately, following Abdullah Ocalan's
weekend remarks made to his attorneys, who said that Ocalan
would order all the PKK militants to lay down arms should the
government 1- remove all obstacles that have been preventing
Kurdish people from enjoying their cultural rights, 2- protect
these rights in the constitution, 3-issue a general amnesty for
all the militants, Esat Canan said he was supporting the
suggestion to issue a general amnesty.
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Due to snowed-in closed roads in
Bitlis's Hizan district, a 70 person team carried a pregnant
woman for eight hours along the 30 kilometer road to be able to
bring her to the hospital in Tatvan's state hospital in Bitlis.
The women gave birth to a boy; however, the health condition of
the women is reportedly still under risk.
OZGUR GUNDEM: A WHO (World Health Organization) delegation
has been in Iraq for one week to conduct studies on the bird flu
outbreak in Baghdat and Suleymaniye. One person's death was
confirmed as from bird flu in Iraq. The delegation said that
seven patients were suspected as having bird flu and samples
taken from them have been sent to a laboratory in Cairo Egypt.
CUMHURIYET / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Following a January
24-dated letter from the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme
Court to DTP (Democratic Society Party) to drop the membership
of 74 founding members of DTP (see press summary 01/31),DTP
Central Executive Board announced that it had to drop these
memberships. DTP further announced that the decision of the
Prosecutor's Office was an undemocratic one and DTP would
continue to struggle in the legal arena for annulment of this
decision.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Adana Security Directorate members, who
conducted an unannounced raid on the provincial party building
of DTP in Adana, detained 9 persons and seized more than 70
photographs in the building.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Turkish Armed Forces started a military
operation in the Uludere district of Sirnak. The operation has
reportedly been assisted by the military personnel from Senoba
Jandarma Command, village guards and military aircrafts.
OZGUR GUNDEM: The hunger strike that was started in Mahmur
refugee camp in Iraq which lasted for four days has reportedly
been ended (see press summary 02/03). Meanwhile, 10 members of
the Democratic People's Initiative in Adana's Misis quarter,
launched a two-day rolling hunger strike to protest government's
policies that reportedly aimed to isolate Ocalan in his prison
cell.
RADIKAL / SABAH / EVRENSEL: Members of the Free Women's
Initiative in Batman marched to protest the increase in
incidents of women's suicide in Batman recently.
SABAH: Two Jandarma privates in separate Jandarma Commands
in Sirnak committed suicide.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS
BOLGE: GAP (Southeastern Anatolia Project) Administration
Regional Development Director announced that 15 billion dollars
are needed for the GAP project to be completed in 2010. 17
billion dollars have been spent to date for the 32-billion
dollar project and financial resources other than the public
budget are needed to complete the project on time.
2. CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / BOLGE / EKSPRES / RADIKAL:
State-owned Tekel Cigarette Company has completed a production
planning process to achieve standardization of the cigarettes it
produced. Tekel will now consider strategic proximity of its
factories to the markets in its rearrangement of production in
its factories. Tekel has already determined which factories
will be producing its highest-demand brands.
3. BOLGE / EKSPRES: John Hendrix, a Dutch agricultural
advisor, who has been providing consultancy services about fruit
and fruit sapling production for Turkish farmers since 1998, met
with people engaged in this business in Adana's Yumurtalik
district. Hendrix reportedly said that the cost of inputs in
fruit production surged greatly; therefore, farmers should
consider measures to prevent further rising costs.
4. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): State Minister Kusat Tuzmen said
that Gaziantep's export capabilities and Gaziantep's premises
have been giving hope to them (government). This was because
Gaziantep has reached a 40 percent exporting figure while the
average exports figure in Turkey was 17 per cent.
REID
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 07, 2006
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 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
BOLGE / EKSPRES: Turkish American Association in Adana
implemented new security measures and installed four
surveillance cameras on its premise following a bomb attack
carried out on the association's building on January 30 (see
press summaries 01/31 and 02/03).
RADIKAL: Officers from the Diyarbakir's Security Directorate
issued a warning for bishops and priests in the province to be
more cautious following the incident in which a Catholic priest
in Trabzon was killed. Diyarbakir police members paid a visit to
the Syriac Orthodox Church in Alipasa quarter to urge the church
members to be more cautious and to ask whether they needed
anything in terms of security concerns.
BOLGE: Party grassroots in Adana's AK Party Yuregir
headquarters, who are reportedly disturbed about re-election of
Bilal Nadir Gok as Yuregir District AKP Chairperson, conveyed
their frustration about this development to the AKP national
headquarters. Bilal Nadir Gok is reportedly showed nepotism and
favoritism toward members of a religious sect during the
selection of the administrative board members.
HURRIYET: A 26-year-old female member of the terrorist
organization PKK, who had to join PKK as a result of her
kidnapping by PKK members in 1993 from a village in Igdir when
she was 13 years old, escaped from the organization when she was
convinced by Igdir Jandarma Intelligence team members as they
chatted with her through the internet.
HURRIYET: Security officers, barely noticing a bomb which was
planted on a road between Tunceli and its Hozat district,
immediately took security precautions and safely rendered the
bomb ineffective.
CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM: Van Centennial
University Rector Yucel Askin, who paid visits to some party
leaders and representatives in Ankara, when asked by journalists
whether he would enter political life, said he had a 15-month
tenure ahead of him that he would complete as the rector of the
university, and he would consider then whether he would engage
himself in politics or not.
SABAH / OZGUR GUNDEM: Ozgur Gundem and Sabah dailies reported
that two non-commissioned officers who were arrested on November
29, 2005 as they were held as defendants in the November 9
Semdinli case, were indeed rewarded with a certificates of merit
by the Hakkari Provincial Jandarma Command on November 22, 2005.
Ozgur Gundem further reported that, Ahmet Ersin, CHP member of
the Turkish Parliamentary Commission Probing Semdinli Case
(TPCPS),said the reward might have been made to influence the
judiciary. Esat Canan, CHP member of TPCPS, said that the act
to grant certificates to the officers aimed to provide patronage
to the officers. Separately, following Abdullah Ocalan's
weekend remarks made to his attorneys, who said that Ocalan
would order all the PKK militants to lay down arms should the
government 1- remove all obstacles that have been preventing
Kurdish people from enjoying their cultural rights, 2- protect
these rights in the constitution, 3-issue a general amnesty for
all the militants, Esat Canan said he was supporting the
suggestion to issue a general amnesty.
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Due to snowed-in closed roads in
Bitlis's Hizan district, a 70 person team carried a pregnant
woman for eight hours along the 30 kilometer road to be able to
bring her to the hospital in Tatvan's state hospital in Bitlis.
The women gave birth to a boy; however, the health condition of
the women is reportedly still under risk.
OZGUR GUNDEM: A WHO (World Health Organization) delegation
has been in Iraq for one week to conduct studies on the bird flu
outbreak in Baghdat and Suleymaniye. One person's death was
confirmed as from bird flu in Iraq. The delegation said that
seven patients were suspected as having bird flu and samples
taken from them have been sent to a laboratory in Cairo Egypt.
CUMHURIYET / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Following a January
24-dated letter from the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme
Court to DTP (Democratic Society Party) to drop the membership
of 74 founding members of DTP (see press summary 01/31),DTP
Central Executive Board announced that it had to drop these
memberships. DTP further announced that the decision of the
Prosecutor's Office was an undemocratic one and DTP would
continue to struggle in the legal arena for annulment of this
decision.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Adana Security Directorate members, who
conducted an unannounced raid on the provincial party building
of DTP in Adana, detained 9 persons and seized more than 70
photographs in the building.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Turkish Armed Forces started a military
operation in the Uludere district of Sirnak. The operation has
reportedly been assisted by the military personnel from Senoba
Jandarma Command, village guards and military aircrafts.
OZGUR GUNDEM: The hunger strike that was started in Mahmur
refugee camp in Iraq which lasted for four days has reportedly
been ended (see press summary 02/03). Meanwhile, 10 members of
the Democratic People's Initiative in Adana's Misis quarter,
launched a two-day rolling hunger strike to protest government's
policies that reportedly aimed to isolate Ocalan in his prison
cell.
RADIKAL / SABAH / EVRENSEL: Members of the Free Women's
Initiative in Batman marched to protest the increase in
incidents of women's suicide in Batman recently.
SABAH: Two Jandarma privates in separate Jandarma Commands
in Sirnak committed suicide.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS
BOLGE: GAP (Southeastern Anatolia Project) Administration
Regional Development Director announced that 15 billion dollars
are needed for the GAP project to be completed in 2010. 17
billion dollars have been spent to date for the 32-billion
dollar project and financial resources other than the public
budget are needed to complete the project on time.
2. CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / BOLGE / EKSPRES / RADIKAL:
State-owned Tekel Cigarette Company has completed a production
planning process to achieve standardization of the cigarettes it
produced. Tekel will now consider strategic proximity of its
factories to the markets in its rearrangement of production in
its factories. Tekel has already determined which factories
will be producing its highest-demand brands.
3. BOLGE / EKSPRES: John Hendrix, a Dutch agricultural
advisor, who has been providing consultancy services about fruit
and fruit sapling production for Turkish farmers since 1998, met
with people engaged in this business in Adana's Yumurtalik
district. Hendrix reportedly said that the cost of inputs in
fruit production surged greatly; therefore, farmers should
consider measures to prevent further rising costs.
4. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): State Minister Kusat Tuzmen said
that Gaziantep's export capabilities and Gaziantep's premises
have been giving hope to them (government). This was because
Gaziantep has reached a 40 percent exporting figure while the
average exports figure in Turkey was 17 per cent.
REID