Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ADANA34
2006-02-15 06:18:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Adana
Cable title:
SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 10, 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 000034
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 10, 2006
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 10,
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 / SABAH (GUNEY) / ZAMAN: Tekel Cigarette
Factory in Adana will resume its operations early next week;
this has turned out to be a reported victory following a 41-day
strike of the workers at the factory. 700 workers joyfully
celebrated government's decision to re-start production.
SABAH (GUNEY) / ZAMAN: Prime Minister Erdogan will come to
Mersin today to attend a series of openings and meetings in the
province. Erdogan will arrive at the Sakirpasa Airport and stay
briefly in Adana. Erdogan will stay 1.5 days in Mersin and then
will go to Kahramanmaras.
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM: 327 members of intelligentsia,
including well-known Turkish authors Yasar Kemal and Orhan
Pamuk, issued a joint declaration in Istanbul and demanded an
answer from the Ministry of Justice and judicial authorities on
why they have not yet taken action and started the investigation
into the murder of Musa Anter, a Kurdish writer, who was killed
in 1992 in Diyarbakir. Abdulkadir Aygan, a PKK defector who is
currently residing in Sweden, has already made public
confessions and explained details of Anter's murder, which was
allegedly planned by Aygan and perpetrated by JITEM members back
in 1992.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Kurds in several southeastern provinces of
Turkey have started protest actions as the February 15
anniversary marking Turkish authorities' bringing of Abdullah
Ocalan to Turkey after catching him in Kenya in 1999, drew near.
Youth in Batman blocked a railroad and stopped a passenger
train that set off from Diyarbakir for 45 minutes. Free
People's Initiative in Batman and a group of youth in Siirt held
separate demonstrations to protest arrival of Ocalan to Turkey.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people staged separate protest marches in
Mardin's Kiziltepe and Nusaybin districts. Police intervened in
Nusaybin with armored vehicles and people responded with Molotov
cocktails and stones.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Government and main opposition party has
remained indifferent to calls issued by PKK leader Abdullah
Ocalan (see press summary 02/07),said the daily. Ocalan
reportedly said early in the week that he would order PKK
militants to lay down arms should the government concede the
cultural rights of the Kurds while at the same time protecting
these rights in the constitution, and issue a general amnesty
for the militants.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Italian attorneys of Abdulah Ocalan made a
call to the EU and the Italian government to take action
reportedly because the health condition of their client could be
grave. The attorneys demanded that an independent delegation of
doctors go to Imrali Prison and check the health condition of
Ocalan.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Abdulaziz Yilmaz was allegedly kidnapped with
his friend Omer Kisak by JITEM (Jandarma Intelligence Center)
members (see press summary 01/30) in the Usak province as they
were traveling from Adana to Izmir two weeks ago. Kisak was
reportedly able to flee from the kidnappers. The daily reported
that the alleged dead body of Yilmaz was found nearby a farm
where two people were reportedly brought when they were
kidnapped. Since the dead person's head, arms and legs were
dissected from the body and were not found, DNA samples will
reportedly prove the identity of the remaining torso of the
body.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Heavy rain, which started pouring yesterday
and has continued to fall intermittently till today, caused
flooding in Diyarbakir and 172 houses and businesses have been
swamped. Roofs of three houses have collapsed and great
material damage was done. Municipality workers are striving to
provide relief efforts, said the Acting Mayor Ilhan Diken, and
cautioned people that the downpour may continue for about two
more days.
OZGUR GUNDEM: A 21 year-old male in Batman jumped from one
of the hills of Hasankeyf district and committed suicide.
RADIKAL / CUMHUTIYET / ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM: Police conducted
a raid on a house in Sirnak's Cizre district and reportedly
found buried remains of people whom terrorist organization
Hezbullah allegedly kidnapped and executed between 1993 and
1996. In the same house, Hezbullah's ammunition storage was
discovered in 2000, and, Abdullah Gul, owner of the estate and
the person responsible from the military wing of the Hezbullah
was arrested and jailed then. Gul was released two years ago
when he applied for benefits from the Repentance Law which took
effect during the AKP's rule.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Reyhanli Jandarma Command members caught a
person red-handed as he was trying to cross the border illegally
at the Yenisehir border area in Hatay's Reyhanli district. He
was attempting to smuggle 700 boxes of cigarettes.
ZAMAN: Efforts of the government to make up for the grave
shortage of doctors, and the Health Ministry's 8,000 YTL salary
offer to attract doctors to the southeastern region of Turkey
have reportedly been proving futile.
ZAMAN: Turkish parliamentary commission for probing the
Semdinli case has not been able to finish its report concerning
the incident despite the passage of three months since the
incident. CHP members of the commission have already decided to
provide annotations on the controversial report on grounds that
the report is denigrating the state.
RADIKAL: A percussion time bomb planted on a street near a
bank in Mardin's Kiziltepe district exploded at 10 p.m.
yesterday. Bomb squad teams started investigating the scene
following the explosion. No casualties were reported following
the event.
RADIKAL: First hearing of the court action brought against 34
people on charges of attending the funeral of a PKK terrorist
who was killed in the rural sections of Batman's Besiri district
was held yesterday. Former DEHAP administrators and
municipality council members are among the defendants in the
case who are facing 2 years of prison sentences should they be
convicted of the charges of "organizing the funeral march,
chanting slogans, praising the criminal actions as well as the
criminals."
REID
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 10, 2006
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 10,
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 / SABAH (GUNEY) / ZAMAN: Tekel Cigarette
Factory in Adana will resume its operations early next week;
this has turned out to be a reported victory following a 41-day
strike of the workers at the factory. 700 workers joyfully
celebrated government's decision to re-start production.
SABAH (GUNEY) / ZAMAN: Prime Minister Erdogan will come to
Mersin today to attend a series of openings and meetings in the
province. Erdogan will arrive at the Sakirpasa Airport and stay
briefly in Adana. Erdogan will stay 1.5 days in Mersin and then
will go to Kahramanmaras.
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM: 327 members of intelligentsia,
including well-known Turkish authors Yasar Kemal and Orhan
Pamuk, issued a joint declaration in Istanbul and demanded an
answer from the Ministry of Justice and judicial authorities on
why they have not yet taken action and started the investigation
into the murder of Musa Anter, a Kurdish writer, who was killed
in 1992 in Diyarbakir. Abdulkadir Aygan, a PKK defector who is
currently residing in Sweden, has already made public
confessions and explained details of Anter's murder, which was
allegedly planned by Aygan and perpetrated by JITEM members back
in 1992.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Kurds in several southeastern provinces of
Turkey have started protest actions as the February 15
anniversary marking Turkish authorities' bringing of Abdullah
Ocalan to Turkey after catching him in Kenya in 1999, drew near.
Youth in Batman blocked a railroad and stopped a passenger
train that set off from Diyarbakir for 45 minutes. Free
People's Initiative in Batman and a group of youth in Siirt held
separate demonstrations to protest arrival of Ocalan to Turkey.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people staged separate protest marches in
Mardin's Kiziltepe and Nusaybin districts. Police intervened in
Nusaybin with armored vehicles and people responded with Molotov
cocktails and stones.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Government and main opposition party has
remained indifferent to calls issued by PKK leader Abdullah
Ocalan (see press summary 02/07),said the daily. Ocalan
reportedly said early in the week that he would order PKK
militants to lay down arms should the government concede the
cultural rights of the Kurds while at the same time protecting
these rights in the constitution, and issue a general amnesty
for the militants.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Italian attorneys of Abdulah Ocalan made a
call to the EU and the Italian government to take action
reportedly because the health condition of their client could be
grave. The attorneys demanded that an independent delegation of
doctors go to Imrali Prison and check the health condition of
Ocalan.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Abdulaziz Yilmaz was allegedly kidnapped with
his friend Omer Kisak by JITEM (Jandarma Intelligence Center)
members (see press summary 01/30) in the Usak province as they
were traveling from Adana to Izmir two weeks ago. Kisak was
reportedly able to flee from the kidnappers. The daily reported
that the alleged dead body of Yilmaz was found nearby a farm
where two people were reportedly brought when they were
kidnapped. Since the dead person's head, arms and legs were
dissected from the body and were not found, DNA samples will
reportedly prove the identity of the remaining torso of the
body.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Heavy rain, which started pouring yesterday
and has continued to fall intermittently till today, caused
flooding in Diyarbakir and 172 houses and businesses have been
swamped. Roofs of three houses have collapsed and great
material damage was done. Municipality workers are striving to
provide relief efforts, said the Acting Mayor Ilhan Diken, and
cautioned people that the downpour may continue for about two
more days.
OZGUR GUNDEM: A 21 year-old male in Batman jumped from one
of the hills of Hasankeyf district and committed suicide.
RADIKAL / CUMHUTIYET / ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM: Police conducted
a raid on a house in Sirnak's Cizre district and reportedly
found buried remains of people whom terrorist organization
Hezbullah allegedly kidnapped and executed between 1993 and
1996. In the same house, Hezbullah's ammunition storage was
discovered in 2000, and, Abdullah Gul, owner of the estate and
the person responsible from the military wing of the Hezbullah
was arrested and jailed then. Gul was released two years ago
when he applied for benefits from the Repentance Law which took
effect during the AKP's rule.
OZGUR GUNDEM: Reyhanli Jandarma Command members caught a
person red-handed as he was trying to cross the border illegally
at the Yenisehir border area in Hatay's Reyhanli district. He
was attempting to smuggle 700 boxes of cigarettes.
ZAMAN: Efforts of the government to make up for the grave
shortage of doctors, and the Health Ministry's 8,000 YTL salary
offer to attract doctors to the southeastern region of Turkey
have reportedly been proving futile.
ZAMAN: Turkish parliamentary commission for probing the
Semdinli case has not been able to finish its report concerning
the incident despite the passage of three months since the
incident. CHP members of the commission have already decided to
provide annotations on the controversial report on grounds that
the report is denigrating the state.
RADIKAL: A percussion time bomb planted on a street near a
bank in Mardin's Kiziltepe district exploded at 10 p.m.
yesterday. Bomb squad teams started investigating the scene
following the explosion. No casualties were reported following
the event.
RADIKAL: First hearing of the court action brought against 34
people on charges of attending the funeral of a PKK terrorist
who was killed in the rural sections of Batman's Besiri district
was held yesterday. Former DEHAP administrators and
municipality council members are among the defendants in the
case who are facing 2 years of prison sentences should they be
convicted of the charges of "organizing the funeral march,
chanting slogans, praising the criminal actions as well as the
criminals."
REID