SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MAY 25, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000074 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MAY 25, 2007 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for May 25, ¶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: The daily claims to have acquired from circles close to AKP the AKP Adana's parliamentary election ticket. The list the daily published today reportedly will cause an intra-party strife. ¶3. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): MHP Adana provincial party organization announced with a press briefing the party's provincial parliamentary election ticket that would run for 14 seats from the Adana province. Yilmaz Tankut, provincial MHP chairperson, resigned from his office to run in the July 22 parliamentary elections. ¶4. CUMHURIYET: A primary election will be held in 6 provinces on May 27 to determine the candidates of CHP in Mersin, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Aydin, Mugla and Sivas. A total of 51 candidates in Mersin, 35 candidates in Gaziantep and 19 candidates in Kahramanmaras will compete for places on the ballot. ¶5. GUNDEM / EVRENSEL: DTP National Chairperson Ahmet Turk cautioned people against statements made following the bombing incident in Ankara adding that such statements, which aimed to provoke Turkish people, could force Turkey to take a dangerous path. Evrensel daily claims that the Turkish media readily claimed the PKK was responsible for the Ankara bombing despite its announcements denying links with the incident and to the evidence. ¶6. CUMHURIYET: The daily claims that the Ankara suicide bomb attack followed the statements of Abdullah Ocalan, who said that "my health condition is bad; something must be done about it." The PKK had already announced in the recent months that it would start suicide missions. ¶7. GUNDEM: A total of 37 DYP members resigned from DYP in the Elazig province which is the hometown of the DYP leader Mehmet Agar. One of the party officials criticized the central leadership and the merger of DYP and Motherland party. The resigning members said they would settle in the coming days whom they would support in the future. ¶8. GUNDEM: Mardin's Families of the Inmates Initiative will start a hunger strike to call for an independent delegation of doctors to check the health condition of Abdullah Ocalan in the Imrali Prison Island. Meanwhile, the hunger strikes that were started in Diyarbakir, Siirt, and Mardin's Kiziltepe district to draw attention to the health condition of Ocalan have ended. SECURITY ¶9. YENI SAFAK / RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET / EVRENSEL / BOLGE / GUNDEM: PKK terrorists killed 6 soldiers with remote controlled mines in rural sections of Sirnak's Guclukonak district and Siirt's Pervari district, announced the Siirt Governor's Office. Ten security officers were wounded, three seriously. The Gundem daily claims that the soldiers died in a conflict between security forces and PKK members, not because of mine blasts as announced by the authorities. ¶10. BOLGE / SABAH (GUNEY): Ebru Kara, the suicide bomber caught in Adana with 11 kilograms of A-4 plastic explosives (see press summary for May 24),reportedly said during her interrogation, "You are poisoning Apo (Abdullah Ocalan), therefore, I decided I would kill you." Adana police said that they were alarmed for days since the day they got tip-off that well-dressed and groomed women would enter Turkey to carry out illegal activities. The police said they were also looking into whether the suicide bomber, who headed towards Ceyhan district at the time when she was caught, was planning an attack against BTC pipeline or not. Meanwhile, terrorist Adem Barik, who reportedly supplied explosives to suicide bomber Ebru Kara and helped her to come to Adana, was caught in Sanliurfa and brought to Adana by the police for interrogation. ¶11. YENI SAFAK: Police detained 18 people, who were members of the DTP's Halfeti district party organization in Sanliurfa, on ADANA 00000074 002 OF 002 grounds that they praised the criminals and the criminal activities, shouted slogans in support for the terrorist organization, and carried flags which were used as symbols of the terrorist organization. Four of the detainees were arrested later. CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ¶12. EKSPRES / BOLGE: Jandarma teams in Adana's Karatas district found 49 Iraqi nationals who entered Turkey legally as tourists, were planning to travel to southern Cyprus illegally via boat. Eight snakeheads aiding and abetting this illegal operation were detained. ECONOMY ¶13. SABAH (GUNEY) / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Mehdi Eker, Minister of Agriculture and Village Works, attended the opening ceremony of the Middle East Agricultural Fair that was held for the first time in Diyarbakir. A total of 130 companies participated in the fair. CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT ¶14. SABAH (GUNEY): The daily reports announcement of Tarkan Kulak, the owner of the Adana-based company whose 29 workers were killed in an Moldovan-flagged plane's crash in north of Baghdad on January 9, 2007, about the compensation payment that would be made by the American insurance companies to the families of the victims. Kulak appeased the families and assured them that they were following the process attentively. ¶15. GUNDEM: Two hundred Kurdish families, who were reportedly displaced from the southeastern region and who settled in Hatay's Dortyol district, have been suffering from lack of electricity and tap water for years despite applying to authorities many times to resolve the problem. The authorities said that the area was not covered by the district's zoning plans, therefore, the settlers could not subscribe to water or electricity networks. ¶16. GUNDEM: Police reportedly did not allow a group of Kurdish students to dance a Kurdish folk dance and play Kurdish songs in the annual Spring Festival of Kars's Kafkas University allegedly citing the grounds that the dance was "ideological and divisive." ¶17. GUNDEM / EVRENSEL: Diyarbakir Municipality recently announced the program of the 7th Diyarbakir Culture and Arts Festival which will be held between May 30 and June 3. ¶18. SABAH (GUNEY): Seyhan Municipality will open a park on Saturday (May 26) which was built on an 8000- square-meter-land in a quarter of Seyhan district in Adana. GREEN