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