SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARAY 10, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000006 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARAY 10, 2007 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 10, ¶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 HURRIYET / BOLGE / EKSPRES / ZAMAN / RADIKAL / SABAH / CUMHURIYET / YENI SAFAK: The names of the 34 Turkish construction workers who died in a cargo plane crash at 7 a.m. north of Baghdad were announced to the anxious crowd of people waiting outside the Adana premises of the Kulak Construction Company. The Moldovan-flagged Antonov-26 plane had taken off from the airport of Adana and was carrying construction workers of the Kulak construction company, the governor of Adana said. The company's owner was among the dead. A team comprised of Moldovan and Turkish experts flew to Iraq yesterday night to explore the causes of the accident. Adana Governor Cahit Kirac told he was informed that the cause of the accident was foggy conditions during plane's landing, not an armed or missile attack. HURRIYET / SABAH: CHP Leader Deniz Baykal harshly criticized the large ads of the AKP hung on billboards to extend sacrifice holiday greetings to the people. According to Baykal, the ads with a big Turkish flag seen in the background were allegedly not hung in the provinces of southeastern Turkey. Deniz Baykal is quoted as asking to PM, "Will you be the president of the places where you had your ads hung, or will you be the president of the places where you did not have your ads hung?" HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / CUMHURIYET: Municipality assembly members from DTP and SHP objected to the tender opened by Siirt Municipality which is administered by AKP officials, and filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office last month, claiming that the municipality put a land to tender below the current price that should actually be charged for the land. The municipality cancelled the tender because of the precautionary measures imposed by the prosecutor's office. Cumhuriyet daily claims that AKP officials in Siirt engaged in a row among themselves because of the intra-party strife. ECONOMY HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / YENI SAFAK: The area of fields where olives are grown currently reached to nearly 300,000 acres and the number of total olive trees is now 6 million, according the Gaziantep Provincial Agricultural Directorate, which reportedly shows a growing interest in olive tree cultivation. SABAH (GUNEY): Tarsus Chamber of Agriculture and Tarsus Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Mersin will be holding Citrus Fruit Festivities between January 15 and 20. Tarsus Subgovernor's Office is providing support for that event. SABAH (GUNEY): Fahrettin Akyil, Chairperson of Diyarbakir's Commodity Exchange, pointed out that the government should provide a wider range of resources and opportunities for Diyarbakir province because of the pressing problems of the province due to unresolved critical issues such as terrorism and unemployment. Akyil added that SMEs in Diyarbakir were suffering from serious problems and they desperately needed government subsidies in terms of marketing issues. Akyil noted that First Middle Eastern Agricultural Fair that will be held in May in Diyarbakir will bring dynamism to the region. CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT: EVRENSEL: Inspectors from the Ministry of Education, who were assigned to investigate the sexual harassment case at one of the boarding schools of Tunceli's Mazgirt district, resumed office after a one week lapse due to the New Year and Sacrifice Holiday (see press summary for December 25). Three male students, who were all 13 years old, were arrested on sexual harassment charges that affected four younger male kids. RADIKAL: One of the deputy governors of Adana faces allegations that he was also among the perpetrators involved in a fraudulent business of imaginary exports transactions amounting to 1 billion USD in Mersin's Organized Industrial Zone. An operation began against the reported illegal business back in 2004. CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT ADANA 00000006 002 OF 002 BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Seyhan District Municipality in Adana started a series of conferences at schools on "Substance Abuse and Its Prevention." SABAH (GUNEY): Canadians, who were very appreciative of the help Adana people and authorities extended during the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon in mid-July last year because of the Israeli attack on the country, called the Adana Governor's Office and offered to provide 20,000 USD donation for a project that would be beneficial to Adana. Governor's Office awarded the money to CESKA's (Association for Education for Sustainable Development) "Karayusuflu Public Education and Recreation Project." EVRENSEL: Freezing temperatures caused the water supply pipes at houses and water tanks to freeze up in Diyarbakir. People and institutions are experiencing serious difficulty because of lack of running water at their water systems. The daily reports that the heating system got frozen at a primary school and the younger students are reportedly being schooled under inconvenient cold circumstances. RADIKAL / HURRIYET / ZAMAN / SABAH / YENI SAFAK: A 12-year-old child committed suicide in a village of Mus province after watching Saddam Hussein's execution. HURRIYET / ZAMAN / SABAH / CUMHURIYET / YENI SAFAK: It is reported that during one of the flights of Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Erzurum the pilots allegedly could not access anybody from whom they could request landing permission for 20 minutes. The plane allegedly had to fly over the airport for a while. The flight was one of the additional flights the Turkish Airlines offered to meet the high demand during the holiday season. The airport authorities at Erzurum claimed that Turkish Airlines did not inform them about the additional flight. ZAMAN: The daily reported that 1,064,000 YTL was allocated by the GAP (Southeastern Anatolian Project) Regional Development Authority in 2006 to save and conserve the archeological heritage of Hasankeyf district which will be flooded under waters of a dam envisaged to be built in the area. Batman Provincial Cultural and Tourism Director however pointed out that only half of the money was used in 2006, and 524,873 YTL was returned. WILSON