SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MAY 02, 2007

UNCLAS ADANA 000066 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MAY 02, 2007 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for May 02, ¶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. EKSPRES / SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE: Sanliurfa Mayor and a delegation from the municipality paid a visit to the Adana Mayor Aytac Durak to study the municipal implementations and to benefit from the experience of Aytac Durak as a mayor, report the dailies. ¶3. BOLGE: During May 1 Labor Day march in Adana yesterday, CHP and DSP members displayed an attitude of solidarity and walked side by side as they carried the flags of their parties. ¶4. BOLGE: In a television program yesterday, Necati Erdem, Provincial Chairperson of Motherland Party in Adana, made a call to Mayor Aytac Durak to resign from his party, namely AKP, because, according to Erdem, Durak was incompatible with his party. ¶5. GUNDEM: A DTP delegation met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. During the meeting of the parties, it is reportedly stated that Kurdish issue could be resolved through dialogue. ¶6. GUNDEM: During May 1 celebrations in the southeastern region, the message the people of the region conveyed was that they were objecting to the memorandum the Turkish military issued over the weekend against the government. The banners carried read, "We are citizens of the Turkish Republic, we are Kurds, but we are not enemies." SECURITY: ¶7. GUNDEM: A helicopter had to carry out a forced landing in a village of Diyarbakir due to a mechanical failure. Gundem daily reports that the helicopter actually crashed and two officers were wounded. CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ¶8. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): A police dog searching a car found 52 kilograms of heroin in a hidden section of the car in Bitlis. ¶9. SABAH (GUNEY): In two separate operations police conducted in Gaziantep, 1,140 ecstasy pills, nearly 2 kilograms of heroin and 64 Indian hemp roots were found and seized. Police detained 18 people in connection with those anti-drug operations. CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT ¶10. EKSPRES: Murat Caner, a disabled Adana war veteran, is paying visits to the schools in Adana and talking to the students. Caner is telling the students the grief that terrorism brings into people's lives and pointing out the importance of performing one's duty to preserve the (Turkish) Republic. GREEN