SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR APRIL 27, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000063 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR APRIL 27, 2007 This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for April 27, ¶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 / GUNDEM: Twenty-eight women, who were detained on March 8 (World Women's Day) on grounds that they held an unauthorized demonstration in Sirnak's Cizre district, stood trial yesterday in the first hearing of the lawsuit. The women, who are facing two years of prison sentence, were released after the hearing ended. Aysel Tugluk, Deputy Chairperson of DTP; Selim Sadak, former DEP deputy; and the Mayor of Sirnak (from DTP) came to the hearing to extend support to the women. Tugluk addressed a 100-person group in front of the court hall and criticized the arrest of the women and the arrest of Ayhan Budak, Cizre Mayor (from DTP),on Newroz Day because of a speech he delivered. GUNDEM: DTP's agenda in early May will prioritize the unilateral cease-fire the PKK declared on October 1, 2006. DTP will be holding extensive meetings with mayors, its provincial chairmen and party assembly to discuss and evaluate the issue. Meanwhile, Batman Democracy Platform, made a call to the authorities to respond to the PKK's call for ceasefire. EVRENSEL / BOLGE / EKSPRES: The leftist-oriented Evrensel paper reports that preparations are under way in the southeastern region to celebrate the May 1 Labor Day. Labor Day committees are applying to governor's offices to get permission for celebration programs in Diyarbakir, Tunceli, Batman, and Hakkari. Preparations in Adana have almost been finalized, report the dailies. SABAH (GUNEY): Karatas District Subgovernor's Office in Adana issued a decree for Metin Catalbas, the Mayor of Karatas, who assumed office (after the former mayor was killed in a murder in 2006) despite the fact that his municipality assembly membership was disputed, to resign from office. Catalbas finally resigned from the mayor's office and the elections will be renewed on May ¶2. SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE / EKSPRES: DYP Adana Provincial Chairperson and DYP Seyhan District Chairperson toured the construction site of Seyhan Municipality's new cultural center in Adana together with the Seyhan District Mayor Azim Ozturk (from AKP). DYP officials, after seeing the construction site �00A;and activities, told journalists that they saw that they were misinformed by the media about the construction process going on there and DYP members further affirmed that the project, as they saw it, was going on very successfully. SECURITY: HURRIYET / CNN ONLINE / GUNDEM / ZAMAN: The Sirnak Governor's Office announced that a mine blast killed a soldier in Sirnak on April 24. The coffin of the soldier will be sent to a village of Hakkari for the funeral ceremony. Separately, a 36-year-old sergeant major was killed in a blast caused by a mine planted by the PKK members in a rural section of Bitlis. The coffin of the soldier will be sent to Elazig for the funeral. The Governor's Office also announced that a terrorist, who was involved in the killing of a second lieutenant in the Kupeli Mounain of Sirnak on April 23 (see press summary for April 25),was caught alive yesterday. GUNDEM: A gun attack has been carried at DTP's Iskenderun chapter in Hatay the previous night. Shot guns were used during the attack, the building was fired at, and, nobody was hurt since it was not during working hours. DTP National Headquarters condemned the attack. ECONOMY: GUNDEM: A foundation called HISKAV (Hakkari Science, Health, Culture and Research Foundation) trained 60 women in Hakkari on "Cultivating Organic Vegetables" under an EU funded project. CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT HURRIYET: Sirnak Governor's Office announced that jandarma launched a crackdown on an illegal network of human traffickers in Sirnak's Cizre district, caught 22 snakeheads, and ADANA 00000063 002 OF 002 apprehended them. Reportedly, the members of the network were assisting Iraqi people to enter Turkey illegally during their journey to Europe via Istanbul. HURRIYET / ZAMAN: 'Berdel' is a type of marriage practice, mostly seen among Kurds, in which a family offers a bride from their own family in compensation for the required bride-price they would pay to the other family whose daughter they will get as a bride for their son. Three people died in a village of Malatya's Yazihan district because of a conflict that arose between two families when their 'berdel' deal was broken. The Kati family initially decided that their 14-year-old daughter should marry the son of Tay Family because the Tay Family wanted to get her in exchange for their 18-year-old girl whose marriage with the son of Kati family was already arranged. When the Kati family decided later that their daughter was too young to marry and she preferred attend school instead of a getting married, the family settled with Tay Family to pay the bride-price instead of doing a berdel. Violence ensued when the Tay Family still insisted to get the 14-year-old girl as a bride for their son, despite that they had reportedly already taken 5000 YTL bride-price for their own daughter. Three people from the Tay Family opened fire on four members of the Kati Family yesterday morning, killed three people and wounded the other. Jandarma detained the father of the Tay family and is now searching for the two other kin who were accomplices. The girl has been given to her uncle for protection since her father died in the attack. CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): A "Chorus of Faiths" was established in Hatay and they performed for the first time during the visit of the Tourism Minister last week in Hatay as he paid a visit to the city to mark the Tourism Week (see press summary for April 25). Chorus members are comprised of followers of diverse faiths, and, members from the Armenian community. Faiths and sects include people from Sunni Muslims, Alevis, Catholics, Orthodox and Jewish people. The idea for such a chorus was reportedly initiated by Hatay's Provincial Cultural and Tourism Director. HURRIYET: Abdulkadir Aksu, Minister of Interior, and, Mehdi Eker, Minister of Agriculture and Village Works, whose hometowns are both in Diyarbakir, attended an event held in southern Antalya province which was held by a branch of the Solidarity Foundation for Promoting Diyarbakir and its Culture. Mr. Eker reportedly sang a song in Kurdish when a singer extended the microphone to the minister to join the singing. The bodyguards of the minister prevented the journalists from taking footage as the minister was singing the song. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Mehdi Eker paid a visit to Mersin, conducted local studies there, and heard the issues and problems the citrus fruit growers had been experiencing. Eker said they were trying to solve the citrus fruit marketing problems by increasing the amount of the yield per year. GUNDEM: The mass grave that allegedly buried Armenians and that was found by villagers on October 17, 2006 in a village of Mardin's Nusaybin district has been examined by a delegation comprised of members of Turkish History Authority and Swedish scholars. The daily claimed that the examination frustrated the Swedish Professor David Gaunt, because the grave was reportedly destroyed and a scientific research could no longer be conducted there. Gaunt claimed that the photographs taken when the grave was first found showed many skulls, but their team found only a few bone remnants at the grave site. BOLGE / EKSPRES: Adana Governor Ilhan Atis paid a visit to the Adana Chamber of Commerce. ZAMAN: Van Centennial University Rector Yucel Askin's term of office ended. GREEN