SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 19, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000023 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 19, 2006 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 19, 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. BOLGE / SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / SABAH / RADIKAL / ZAMAN: Abdulkadir Aksu, Ministry of Interior, attended groundbreaking ceremonies of two facilities: a private hospital and a cultural center in Adana. Aksu congratulated Seyhan Mayor Azim Ozturk for undertaking such projects. Aksu also attended the opening ceremony of Kizilay's Mediterranean Center for Disaster Logistics and Relief in Adana. Aksu further attended TOKI's (Mass Housing Administration) lottery drawn to determine the owners of 558 houses built in Adana's Yuregir district. Aksu also paid a visit to BTC (Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan) facilities in Ceyhan. Sulayman Onatca, Chairperson of Adana Businessmen and Industrialists Association, met with the minister at Ceyhan told him that BTC should provide employment opportunities. (This summary is from February 19 editions.) ¶3. EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN: Tension erupted between police and a group of people who attempted to hold a march in Mardin's Kiziltepe district against capturing of Abdullah Ocalan eight years ago on February 15. Police did not allow the group to march in the main street of the district or wave banners in support for Ocalan. DTP Mardin Provincial Chairperson and provincial administrators extended support for the protest. Meanwhile, hundreds of people reportedly continued to protest Ocalan's capture in Sirnak's Silopi district. Silopi Mayor, DTP Sirnak provincial chairperson, DTP Silopi provincial chairperson, and municipality members from DTP extended support to the protest. Twelve of the people who were detained during February 15 protests in Mersin and Hakkari's Yuksekova district, have been arraigned and arrested for holding activities in the name of the terrorist organization, reports Ozgur Gundem daily. Zaman daily reported that five of the six people arrested in Yuksekova were arrested for damaging public property, preventing freedom of working to provide support for terrorism, and inflicting fear and panic among people. ¶4. HURRIYET: Ibrahim Polat, a PKK member and driver of Osman Ocalan, who surrendered to Turkish authorities three months ago at the Habur Border Gate in Sirnak, reportedly confessed that the senior U.S. military officials were paying regular monthly visits to Murat Karayilan, the PKK leader, at the Mountain Qandil in the northern Iraq. Polat further told authorities that Kurdish groups in the northern Iraq were providing arms and explosives to the members of the PKK. ¶5. SABAH / GUNDEM: Two people, who were being prosecuted for shouting slogans that praised Abdullah Ocalan during an October 2006 press announcement held in front of the DTP party premises in Agri, were recently sentenced to 10 months in prison for making such statements. Prosecutor's Office heeded the video records of the police shot during the aforementioned event in 2006. ¶6. HURRIYET: The daily reports that Abdullah Ocalan's attorneys helped Ocalan to take his prison writings abroad and publish them in the U.K. under "Prison Writings: The Roots of Civilization". The book was reportedly promoted by Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, on January 20. The daily further reports that a total 50 indictments have been prepared to date by prosecutor's offices in Istanbul's Beyoglu and Eyup districts and in Adana against 20 attorneys of Abdullah Ocalan in the last three years. Nine attorneys were dismissed from their positions. 21 lawsuits were opened against Ocalan's attorneys for leaking the information about their visits to their client and their client's political views to the press. ¶7. HURRIYET: DTP Chairperson Ahmet Turk criticized Turkish authorities' recent remarks about Talabani and Barzani, and further said that the hostile approach of Turkish authorities towards the administration in northern Iraq would do harm to Turkey's societal texture. ¶8. RADIKAL: A heavy penalty court in Adana is specially authorized to carry out the prosecution process of 37 Al-Qaeda defendants who were caught as a result of simultaneous operations carried out in seven provinces of Turkey on January ¶29. The files of defendants have recently been sent to Adana. The police are still examining the CDs and computers seized during the operations. ¶9. GUNDEM: The daily reported that no progress has been achieved in the investigation process into the killing of a ADANA 00000023 002 OF 002 15-year-old boy in Adana on August 2006. The daily alleges that police officers killed the boy as they opened fire at close range (for unspecified reasons) at the boy as the boy was walking in the street while returning to his home. The daily criticizes authorities for initiating a lawsuit with the Adana Seventh Heavy Penalty Court against the secretary of Adana Chapter of the Human Rights Association for claiming after the incident that the killing of the boy was an 'extrajudicial execution.' ECONOMY ¶10. BOLGE: Fethi Coskuntuncel, Chairperson of Adana's Commodity Exchange said that transactions amounting to 2,134,482,439 YTL were carried out at the Commodity Exchange last year in Adana. Coskuntuncel said that all of Adana's agricultural outputs were registered at the Commodity Exchange, and that the Commodity Exchange had become a very vital tool in Turkey in registering the economic activities carried out in the country. CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT ¶11. GUNDEM: Provincial party organizations of DTP and DYP held a dinner in Diyarbakir for members of two families to amicably settle the 40-year-old blood feud that was going on between the families. ¶12. GUNDEM: Civil society organizations in Tunceli's Ovacik district held a fundraising night to meet the medical needs of the Ovacik State Hospital. Over 1000 people, including the Mayor of Ovacik and Mayor of Istanbul's Sisli district, attended the event. CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT ¶13. BOLGE / EKSPRES / ZAMAN: Members of a clan called 'Cono' in Adana attacked the owner of a shop and his son with sticks, knives and stones after the shop owner had beaten three clan-member boys whom he accused of stealing items from his shop. The police had difficulty in quelling the unrest that broke out between the clan members and the dwellers of the quarter where the shop was located. GREEN