SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR APRIL 27, 2007

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SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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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
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

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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