SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 04-08

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ADANA 000103 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 04-08 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 04-08, 2007. 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: ¶2. HURRIYET: A remote-controlled PKK mine went off 13 kilometers before Yuksekova district of Hakkari as a convoy of 50 military vehicles was transporting soldiers from Hakkari to Yuksekova. No casualties have been reported because part of the convoy had already passed and the other part had not arrived at the scene of explosion when the mine went off. 3 children, who were running away from the scene, have been arrested as witnesses to the incident. ¶3. HURRIYET/GUNDEM/CUMHURIYET/YENI SAFAK/RADIKAL/EVRENSEL/BOLGE/SABAH/ZAMAN: 40 PKK militants have been cornered in the Kinzir Woods in Hozat district of Tunceli. The militants have been trying to break the security cordon around them and to escape to Alibogazi. 5,000 troops have been participating in the operations. Helicopters are constantly bombing the wooded hideouts of the militants, and special airborne jandarma teams have been deployed to the region. Fierce clashes have been taking place between militants and GOT forces in the Munzur Mountains, Mercan, Cambulak and Ahpanos valleys. It is reported that three soldiers were killed and 8 others were wounded and that 8 militants, including one female, have been killed in the ensuing clashes. Two soldiers, Ziya Berkir and Semih Hatay, were wounded in a mine explosion and clashes in the rural Hozat, Ovacik and Cemisgezek districts of Tunceli. Two M-16 rifles were seized on a killed PKK militant, AKA "Medeni," who is alleged to have commanded the militants in Tunceli, Sivas, Erzincan, and the Black Sea regions. Gundem newspaper reported that 4 soldiers had been killed in the clashes in Mardin and Agri provinces. ¶4. GUNDEM: An Italian delegation of ten persons, who are members of various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Italy, visited the PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan's (APO) family in his native village of Amara (Omerli) in Halfeti district of Sanliurfa. After the jandarma checked their IDs they were allowed into the village where they got information about Ocalan's health and living conditions in the prison at Imrali Island. APO's brother, Mehmet Ocalan, told the delegation that ;his brother was isolated in the prison and that he had been deprived of the rights other prisoners enjoyed, and added that APO had been punished to 20 days of solitary confinement for his pro-peace and democracy statements. The delegation left with APO's family a white flag on which "Pace" (peace) was written. Police in disguise kept the Italian delegation under close surveillance during their tour in Sanliurfa. ¶5. EVRENSEL/CUMHURIYET/BOLGE/SABAH/HURRIYET: The press organ of the Kurdish Patriotic Union, PUK-media, [Iraqi President Celal Talabani's party] claimed that Turkish troops had bombed, shelled, and launched rockets to the mountainous Haftanin and Sidekan regions in Diyana district of Hewler (Erbil) and positioned a jandarma unit of 350 commandos in the Sere Seve region yesterday. Neither the Turkish General Staff nor the Foreign Ministry denied the allegations. ¶6. CUMHURIYET/YENI SAFAK/GUNDEM/HURRIYET: The Iraqi Government Speaker, Ali Debbag, who delivered a message to Ankara one day prior the Iraqi Primer Nuri El Maliki's visit to Turkey, stated that Iraq considered the PKK to be a terrorist organization and has been trying to take various measures against it, and added that Iraq opposed any cross-border operations by Turkey. Debbag stressed that a unilateral incursion by Turkey would cast a shadow on the bilateral relations. Turkey is expecting concrete steps from Nuri El Maliki's visit in combating terrorism. Turkey delivered a demarche to the Iraqi Government in April accusing it of not taking sufficient measures against PKK militants infiltrating into Turkey from Northern Iraq. Observers allege that this will be Turkey's final warning to Iraq on taking action against PKK militants; if this does not meet with satisfactory GoI action, Turkey may launch an operation into Iraq. ¶7. CUMHURIYET: The soldiers who were killed by PKK mines and in clashes with PKK militants in the rural Dicle district of Diyarbakir were buried in Adana and Kayseri. The citizens attending the funeral ceremonies shouted "Damn the PKK. Our soldiers are being killed, but the separatists are in the ADANA 00000103 002 OF 004 Assembly [TBMM]." ¶8. CUKUROVA HURRIYET/YENI SAFAK: A Patriot Missile victim, Murat Genc, from the Incirlik Air Base, Adana province, sent a letter to the US Consulate in Adana saying "Respectable George Bush, I express my condolences for the recent bridge disaster and wish God's mercy for those who died. I am a 24 year old Turkish young man. A Patriot Missile launched from your country's air base in Incirlik by mistake destroyed itself in the air in the 1991 Gulf War. At that time, I was 7 years old and playing "hide and seek" with my friends in the Serinevler neighborhood. One of the fragments of the missile hit me in the head. I was operated in various parts of my body ten times and had brain surgery twice since then. The Consul took care of my operation at the beginning. I am in 45 percent disabled position. My face has been deformed and I have difficulty in walking. I did not lose my resolute and finished the Cukurova Industrial Vocation School and enrolled in a higher education school but I did not complete my education because of my sufferance. My sufferance is becoming bigger as I am growing. My sufferance from your father's tenure is still continuing. Dear Sir, I also would like to establish a business, just like my teenagers, and get married and have a family. I am expecting support from our noble-hearted alley, the United States. I express my best regards to the Bush family and all Americans." ¶9. HURRIYET/SABAH/GUNDEM/YENI SAFAK/RADIKAL/ZAMAN: The Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri El Maliki and Foreign Minister Hosyar Zebari, who arrived at Ankara yesterday, agreed during negotiations with their Turkish counterparts that the PKK is a terrorist organization and that its militants would be extradited to Turkey when they were arrested. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Turkey and Iraq on "Anti-terror Cooperation Agreement" and "Cooperation between Interior Ministries in Combating Terrorism-related and Organized Crimes." ¶10. GUNDEM: It is claimed that the Turkish Military has been using cluster bombs in the buffer zone between Turkey and Iraq and has been shelling targets in Northern Iraq from the Cukurca district of Hakkari. 20 houses in Cukurca have been damaged by shelling, and many residents have applied to the sub-governor's office for compensation. The nomadic Batuyan Tribe members, consisting of 43 families, were not allowed to take provisions and medicine to high pastures in Pervari district of Siirt on the grounds that they were being delivered to the PKK militants. SECURITY ¶11. GUNDEM: Charges had been pressed against 18 persons in Semdinli district of Hakkari for "damaging state property" during the incidents that broke out after the November 9, 2005 bombing of Umut Bookstore in town. The 4th Felony Court of Van adjourned the hearing to December 01 because some documents were not complete. ¶12. GUNDEM: The Criminal Court of First Instance in Cizre, Sirnak province, imprisoned seven of the eight persons who had been detained on charges of "shouting illegal slogans" during the funeral ceremonies of the late Kurdish politician, Orhan Dogan, on June 30. One inmate was released due to his young age. ¶13. SABAH/SABAH/BOLGE/ZAMAN: PKK terrorists, who raided the Gecitvermez hamlet at the Turkish Iranian border of Kizilca village in Baskale district of Van, kidnapped 8 persons, including 3 children. It is reported that the villagers had refused to provide food and other provisions to the militants, who had also tried to extort money from them. Two terrorists, who had allegedly been trained as bomb makers and were preparing to bomb specific targets, were arrested in Diyarbakir. The terrorists were imprisoned following their arraignment. ¶14. CUMHURIYET: Abdullah Ocalan has been sent to solitary confinement for the fifth time for "giving instructions to an armed organization" through his lawyers. Most recently, Ocalan met with his lawyers four days ago. ¶15. YENI SAFAK/ZAMAN/SABAH/HURRIYET/GUNDEM/CUMHURIYET: 3 soldiers were killed and another was wounded by a remote-controlled PKK mine near Balaban village of Dicle district in Diyarbakir yesterday. Additional troops have been dispatched to the region. ¶16. GUNDEM: Semdin Kaya, whose house in the Bagarasi village ADANA 00000103 003 OF 004 of Derik district in Mardin province was burnt by soldiers in 1993 and who moved to Osmaniye thereafter, applied to the Mardin Governor's office for compensation in 2005. The Damage Committee decided to give 406 Turkish Liras, approximately 312 US dollars, to Kaya. Kaya said that he would apply to the Human Rights Court in Europe after exhausting all the legal venues in Turkey. ¶17. EVRENSEL: As a result of clashes between the PKK militants and GOT forces in the rural Caldiran district of Van province yesterday, one soldier was wounded. A large-scale operation has been continuing in the region. ¶18. ZAMAN/HURRIYET: The Van Governorate announced that a group of PKK militants killed Ikram Oner (55) in Cepkenli village of Gurpinar district of Van the previous day. Oner had refused to give them food and other materials. It is claimed that Oner had been killed because of his influence in persuading voters in the surrounding villages to support the AKP instead of DTP-affiliated candidates in the July 22 general election. ¶19. HURRIYET: As a result of clashes that broke out between GOT forces and a group of PKK militants, who did not yield to "halt" warnings in the rural Sirnak province, one militant was killed. ¶20. YENI SAFAK: Orhan Kaya, the jandarma private who had been wounded by a PKK mine in the rural Uludere district of Sirnak on August 01 and hospitalized at the GATA Military Hospital in Ankara, died and will be buried in Dogansehir district of Malatya. ¶21. YENI SAFAK/ZAMAN: A Jandarma Corporal, Semih Aydin, and a private, Ziya Onder, were wounded by a PKK mine in the rural Hozat district of Tunceli. The wounded soldiers were taken to the Elazig Military Hospital by a helicopter. ¶22. YENI SAFAK/SABAH/ZAMAN: 9 persons, including 4 children, kidnapped by PKK militants in Baskale district of Van on July 31, have been released. Officials said they would understand the reason for the kidnapping after they took statements from the kidnapped individuals. ¶23. YENI SAFAK/GUNDEM/HURRIYET/ZAMAN: The dead body of a high ranking PKK militant, Nesih Ozcan, who was killed by GOT forces in clashes in the rural Ovacik district of Tunceli on August 1, was sent to his hometown of Guroymak in Bitlis province by the ambulance that belonged to the Tunceli Municipality. While 8 PKK militants have been killed in the past week's operations, 3 soldiers were martyred and 10 others were wounded. Ismail Gul, who was arrested in connection with the June 4 raid on the Kocatepe Jandarma Outpost in Pulumur district of Tunceli, has been imprisoned on charges of abetting and harboring PKK militants. 7 soldiers had been killed and 7 others had been wounded in the raid. ¶24. CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN: First Lieutenant Caglar Canbaz was killed and two village guards were wounded when a military vehicle on patrol hit a PKK mine in the Daglica region of Yuksekova district of Hakkari. The wounded village guards were dispatched to the Military Hospital in Hakkari and the dead body of the soldier was sent to Istanbul for burial. CRIME & LAW ENFORCEMENT ¶25. CUMHURIYET: Teams from the Diyarbakir Provincial Jandarma Command seized 2,227,000 roots of hemp in the fields of the Hazro district of Diyarbakir and detained 10 persons. ¶26. BOLGE: The teams from the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Branch of the Gaziantep Security Directorate seized 4,440 bottles of smuggled whiskey in a truck on the Silk Road in Sehitkamil district of Gaziantep. Officials stated that an investigation is underway. ¶27. ZAMAN/BOLGE/YENI SAFAK/HURRIYET: In Mersin, the Mersin Security Directorate announced that teams from the Anti-terror Department seized 6 big back-pack radios and accessories, 6 hand-held radios and accessories, 60 body warmers, and medical equipment materials in a truck that had come from Europe and was bound for PKK militants in the rural area. The trucker has been detained and his truck has been impounded. ¶28. ZAMAN: A jandarma patrol arrested 20 Palestinian and Somali nationals who had entered Turkey illegally via the ADANA 00000103 004 OF 004 Gorentas village of Yayladagi district in Hatay province. The detainees were sent to court following their interrogation. ¶29. ZAMAN: Security forces seized 3.35 kilos of heroin and 120 roots of hemp in the Tarsus township of Mersin. One person was imprisoned by the court for involvement with the drugs. ¶30. GUNDEM/BOLGE/SABAH/ZAMAN/SABAH GUNEY: In a synchronized jandarma operation in the Erdemli, Silifke and Tarsus districts of Mersin, 41 illegal organization members involved in extortion, drug production, and trafficking in person were arrested. While 5 of them have been released following their interrogation, 35 remain in detention. ¶31. SABAH/ZAMAN: Mustafa Onen, who had brought 8 children aged between 9 and 14 years from Mardin to Istanbul and had forced them to sell paper towels and stuffed mussels in Istanbul, was arrested at his home based on a complaint filed by one of the children. Onen had allegedly made a deal with the families of the children to bring them to Istanbul. Authorities found approximately 30,000 US dollars in Onen's bank account. Legal action will be taken against Onen for trafficking in persons and forced labor. ¶32. EVRENSEL: Many citizens from Southeastern Turkey who went to the Black Sea region to collect hazelnuts are not being allowed to go to the city center of Ordu. Workers are kept on the trailers of the trucks under jandarma blockade. The families allowed to set up their tents in river beds are living under miserable conditions. ECONOMY ¶33. EKSPRES/CUKUROVA HURRIYET/BOLGE: Around 2,000 residents of the Akdeniz neighborhood in Adana claimed that the waste-water treatment plant that belonged to the Greater Municipality of Adana spread a bad smell in their neighborhood and, in protest against the municipality, closed the Karatas-Adana highway to traffic for some time yesterday. Many policemen were dispatched to scene. ¶34. RADIKAL: 10 NGOs, foremost among them the Greater Municipality of Diyarbakir, formed an organization called "The Association for Development and the Struggle against Poverty," aimed at investigating and preparing a "poverty map" of the people who had migrated from villages to urban centers. According to research in Diyarbakir, 20,000 families have been living at below subsistence level and need food assistance. The general secretary of the association, Serif Camci, said that they interviewed 5,780 families [38,000 people] and formed a data bank and a "Food Bank," which aimed to give food to the needy people. Camci said that some families' average annual income was only 350 US dollars and that the percentage of children who were at the school age but did not attend a school was 58 percent. ¶35. CUKUROVA HURRIYET: The Istanbul-based Akdeniz Gemi Insa Sirketi (Ship Building Company) will build a 30 million US dollar shipyard by 2008 on a plot of 80,000 square meters in the Yumurtalik Free Trade Zone in Adana province. GREEN