SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 17, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000013 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 17, 2007 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 17, ¶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 BOLGE: The U.S. military said hostile action was not believed to be the cause of last week's crash of a cargo plane north of Baghdad that killed 34 Turkish workers. The exact cause of the crash is yet to be determined and the wreckage of the plane has been secured on the Balad air base to help in further investigations that were being led by the Iraqi government, said the military. GUNDEM: European Court of Human Rights convicted Turkey for subjecting Veli Tosun to torture after being detained (on an unspecified date) on charges of being a PKK member. Turkey is to pay 30,000 euros for compensation and 2000 euros for the costs of the court. GUNDEM: Supreme Court of Appeals will hold an appellate court on January 18, 2007 to review the 39-year prison sentence verdict of the Van Third Heavy Penalty Court issued against two non-commissioned officers for their involvement in the November 2005 bomb incident at a bookstore in Hakkari's Semdinli district. HURRIYET / EVRENSEL: DTP announced its decision taken on a January 12 party assembly meeting to hold an extraordinary congress next month. The latest political developments and the situation in the southeastern region and Iraq were evaluated in the party assembly meeting last Friday (01/12). The outcome of the discussions was that the party should undergo a process of self-criticism and regeneration so that it could renew its administration blamed for its performance failure in the face of expectations of the people. GUNDEM: DTP is making preparations to hold a public meeting on January 21 in Mersin. DTP provincial party organization in Adana expressed commitment to work hard to get organized in sections of the province for the success of the meeting. Chairperson of DTP in Adana pointed out the importance of the meeting with regard to the cease-fire declared on October 1, 2006 (by the PKK) and made a call to people to embrace peace objectives. SECURITY HURRIYET: As a result of a conflict with PKK members during an operation going on in rural sections of Diyarbakir's Lice district, a non-commissioned officer died and three PKK members were killed. HUMAN RIGHTS HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Twenty-three people on a boat off the shore close to Mersin were caught by teams of Shore Security Command. Five of the people were Georgians, one of them was an Iranian, and 17 of them were Syrians. EKSPRES / BOLGE: Nine Somalians were caught in the luggage section of a passenger bus in Adana as it was traveling from Hatay to Istanbul. GUNDEM: Mirkeram Ercan, a student in the Economics Department of Gaziantep University, filed a complaint with the Human Rights Association against the police who had allegedly threatened and disturbed him since the day Ercan attended an event that extended support to the "Walk for Peace" convoy of DTP members who briefly stopped at Gaziantep after setting off from Diyarbakir in mid-December en route to Ankara. ECONOMY HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Temperatures fell below zero at night and frost hit the fields of growers in Mersin. Tons of lettuce, lemon and banana were destroyed. CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT: GUNDEM: DTP party organization in Mardin intermediated to resolve the feud that was going on between two families in Mardin's Kiziltepe district for two months. ADANA 00000013 002 OF 002 SABAH (GUNEY): Kahramanmaras police seized 152 kilograms of hashish in a narcotics operation conducted in the province and detained seven people in connection with the crime. CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT GUNDEM: Diyarbakir, which has been undergoing the severest winter conditions of the last 77 years for about twenty days, has finally seen the temperatures rise above zero degrees Centigrade. Water systems of the houses, schools, and businesses had frozen up and more than thirty factories had to halt their operations in the meantime. Separately, the snowfall that began in Van yesterday adversely affected the flow of transportation in the province. The daily also reported that the students of the vocational school of the Firat University in Mus are to walk five kilometers to school every day under winter conditions, because they are unable to find transportation facilities en route. GUNDEM: In two separate incidents, two children, aged 12 and 14, committed suicide in Agri's Tutak and Diyadin districts. SABAH (GUNEY): Meteorologists in Adana gave the news to farmers who desperately long for rainy weather that they were expecting rainfall over the weekend. SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES / EVRENSEL / HURRIYET: The police announced the cause of the death of a police officer on Sunday (01/14) during a ceremony DYP held in Adana to mark the joining of a former ANAP deputy to DYP ranks as an accidental shooting by another officer. EKSPRES / BOLGE: People piled up and formed long lines in front of a bank in Adana to receive the 18 YTL aid (approx. 13 USD) given bimonthly by Social Cooperation and Solidarity Foundation to poor people for educational and health purposes. GREEN