SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FOR FEBRUARY 13, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000036 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FOR FEBRUARY 13, 2006 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 13, ¶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 RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET: Istanbul Medical Forensic Authority confirmed that bones found in a mass grave in 2004 in Diyarbakir's Kulp district belonged to the 11 villagers who reportedly disappeared during military operations conducted by the Bolu Commando Brigade in the region in 1994. SABAH / HURRIYET: Nearly 150,000 people participated in a public meeting held in Diyarbakir to protest caricatures of Prophet Mohammed published in Danish newspapers. Anti-U.S., anti-Israeli and anti-EU slogans were chanted and banners in four languages, including Turkish, Kurdish, Zaza and English waved during the event. People arrived at Diyarbakir from provinces such as Adana, Siirt, Batman and Mardin to participate in the protest activity. OZGUR GUNDEM: As February 15 drew close, protest activities against "the concerted efforts of the international community" in 1999 to arrest Abdullah Ocalan has reportedly becoming more widespread in the southeastern region. People have been reportedly hitting the streets in many parts of the country to mark the upcoming day. Representatives of the Kurdish community in Van have been making calls for the people to wer black outfits and not to go outside their houss on that day. Police intervened when a group o youth staged a demonstration in a quarter of Adna province and blocked traffic flow with Molotov cocktai . The scuffle ended when the police disprse the crowd Hundeds of Cizre People's Initative mmbers taged sit-in protest activity i Cize hen th polic prevented them from marchng. Meanwhile, 300 people announced in Gaziantep the start of their two-day rolling hunger strike. In Malatya's DSP (Democratic Society Party) provncial building, hunger strikes have reportedly ben continuing and groups have been taking turns n fasting, which will reportedly end on February 15. Meanwhile, attorneys of Abdullah Ocalan reiteraed their demand in Istanbul to assign an indepenent delegation of doctors to check the health codition of Ocalan. OZGUR GUNDEM: Esat Canan,Hakkari deputy from CHP (Republican People's Party),said arresting seven members of the community in Semdinli who reportedly caught and turned over the non-commissioned officers to the authorities during the Semdinli bombing was unacceptable and unlawful. These seven persons have been charged recently with "disrupting the unity and solidarity of the state" and "damaging public property." Canan further said that these arrests aimed at taking revenge on people who unearthed the alleged criminal ring in the state. Mesut Deger, Diyarbakir deputy from CHP, said that the judiciary should better look into what had originally incited these people to commit those actions (on Nevember 9, 2005). Deger drew attention in his remarks to officials initially denying ownership of the car found in the site of the incident, only a while later to acknowledge that car's ownership as the state's. Deger criticized the parliamentary commission probing the Semdinli case as only serving to mitigate (public) reactions against the incident. OZGUR GUNDEM: Osman Baydemir, who went to the U.S. to attend the UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) meetings made an interview with the Voice of America radio station. Baydemir reportedly expressed problems of Diyarbakir and the other provinces in the southeastern region and commented on how to resolve them during the interview. Meanwhile, Diyarbakir Municipality was included in the "Taskforce" group under UCLG Committee on City Diplomacy which was established to promote the influence of local governments in conflict prevention and resolution. RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM: PM Erdogan appeared offensive and disrespectful while he responded to a farmer protesting his agricultural policies in Mersin, and this was carried in front pages of some newspapers on Sunday. PM Erdogan, who went to Mersin province in southern Turkey to attend his party's provincial congress, was protested by an angry farmer. When PM decided to allow the protestor to approach him and express his opinions, the shouting pitch of the farmer's angry tone turned the conversation confrontational in nature, resulting in the PM exposing himself to cameras and journalists as he rebuked the farmer with remarks that appeared disrespectful. (This summary is from Sunday editions.) CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / RADIKAL: PM Erdogan delivered a public speech in one of the main squares of the Kahramanmaras province and said that the government was striving to increase the standards of living for the Turkish people. According to Erdogan, contracts entered into with foreign companies in previous governments regarding natural gas exports were hindering people of Turkey from efficiently benefiting from this energy resource. Erdogan left the province later to attend a coal-powered power plant's opening ceremony in Afsin-Elbistan. Radikal noted that women and men sat separately at a dinner held by local AKP party organization for their leader. RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET: Kani Yilmaz, who was formerly a central committee member and a European representative of the PKK, and, who had left the PKK two years ago to establish PWD (Patriotic and Democratic Party) with Abdullah Ocalan's brother Osman Ocalan, was killed by a bomb planted in his car in northern Iraq. Reportedly, there were also two members of PWD in the car along with Yilmaz, but one of them left when the car stopped at a gas station near Suleymaniyah province. The car had moved 100 metres away from the station when the blast occurred. The incident killed Yilmaz and the other PWD member and heavily wounded the driver. Yilmaz was gravely criticized by the PKK for not being able to seek shelter for Abdullah Ocalan in European countries in 1999 before Ocalan was caught in Kenya. Yilmaz was supporting the idea that PKK lay down arms and fight with democratic instruments to resolve the Kurdish issue. PWD announced that Yilmaz's murder was perpetrated by the PKK. (This summary is from Sunday editions.) ZAMAN: Zaman daily quoted Sehabettin Ozaslaner, former Van Mayor from HADEP (People's Democracy Party),as saying that PKK had (allegedly) attempted to assassinate him when he refused to pay an extortion fee amounting to 550,000 USD that the PKK demanded from him two years ago. Ozaslaner said that he barely escaped a PKK assassination attempt later. OZGUR GUNDEM: Investigation has been started against 15 people who participated in the January 25-dated press announcement in Sirnak that was held to demand action from officials against the alleged disappearance of two former HADEP Silopi administrators in local Jandarma Command in 2001. Meanwhile, two people in Osmaniye have been detained and arraigned on charges of conducting a referendum called "Abdullah Ocalan represents my political will." ZAMAN / SABAH / CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM: Gaziantep police, upon receiving a tip-off, followed a truck, which set off from northern Iraq, as it crossed the border and came to Gaziantep. Police conducted an operation against the vehicle and found 44 pistols hidden in the truck. 33 of the pistols were reportedly Glocks, the type of handgun used in the assault against catholic priest Andrea Santorio in Trabzon. CUMHURIYET: ESP (Socialist Platform for the Oppressed People), HOC (Rights and Liberties Front),Socialist Democracy Party and Socialist Youth Association members held a protest activity in Adana against the court releasing two non-commissioned officers held as the defendants in the Semdinli case. HURRIYET / ZAMAN: Thirty soldiers and privates in the Bolu Jandarma Command have been hospitalized and doctors are looking into whether the flu-like symptoms are indicators of bird flu. REID