SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 14, 2007

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SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 14, 2007


1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 14,

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. BOLGE / EKSPRES / ZAMAN: Osman Gunes, Minister of
Interior, attended the Regional Election Security Meeting in
Adana together with governors of Gaziantep, Osmaniye, Adana,
Kahramanmaras, Mersin, Hatay, Adiyaman, Nigde, Antalya and
Karaman (see press summary for June 12). The Minister said they
would take all necessary measures for the security of the
elections, and, they will discuss and find out in the meeting
with the governors whatever additional measures they should
take. Journalists were mostly interested in the following
questions: whether 123 special teams would be dispatched to the
southeastern region, and, whether investigations would be opened
against eight people who shouted anti-government slogans during
funerals of the martyrs. Minister Gunes later paid visits to
the Adana Jandarma Regional Commander and the Deputy Security
Director.


3. CUMHURIYET / GUNDEM / RADIKAL: Diyarbakir's Sur
District Municipality distributed 3000 brochures about organ
donation which read in two languages, namely Turkish and
Kurdish, in the title of the brochure's text. Ministry of
Interior started an investigation against the municipality under
the Law on Inauguration of the Turkish Alphabet and Its Use.


4. CUMHURIYET: The daily reports that clans in Van province,
which generally tend to cast bloc votes for one party during
elections, are reportedly undecided about which party they are
going to cast votes for. Most of the clans, which supported AKP
in the last elections, were reportedly frustrated that some
influential figures of the clans were not listed in AKP's
election tickets.


5. CUMHURIYET: The daily claims that there is a strange
coincidence in the recent similar approaches of the U.S. and AKP
in the face of a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq and the
cease-fire the PKK has recently declared.


6. CUMHURIYET: Turkish Armed Forces have been continuing to
amass tanks and long-range cannons in Hakkari and Siirt around
the border area with northern Iraq. Separately, amidst heated
debated in Turkey about a possible incursion into northern Iraq,
the daily notes that the Kurdish Regional Authority decided to
use the flag of Iraq at the peshmerga posts which can be seen
from the Turkish side of the border, despite Massoud Barzani's
order nearly three weeks ago to use the flag of Kurdistan at the
public offices.


7. GUNDEM: Tunceli Mayor Songul Erol Abdil has been
acquitted from the lawsuit which was brought against her on
charges of making propaganda for the PKK during a speech she
delivered in June 2006. Separately, Ahmet Turk, former national
chairperson of DTP and independent candidate from Mardin
province, gave his statement within the scope of an
investigation brought against him on charges of meeting PKK
administrators during his visit to northern Iraq on May 1.
Meanwhile, seven of the nine DTP members, who were detained on
an unspecified date in Gaziantep for making a pro-Ocalan press
announcement on March 11, have been released.


8. ZAMAN / GUNDEM: Irfan Dundar, one of the attorneys of
Abdullah Ocalan, has been sentenced to 3 years and 9 months of
prison on charges of attending a meeting of the Kongra-Gel and
exchanging information between Ocalan and the PKK.


9. ZAMAN: Alevis, displeased with the weak
representation of Alevis in CHP's election tickets, will most
likely cast their votes for the independent candidates, reports
the daily.


10. ZAMAN: DP's first ranking candidate in Mersin
withdrew his candidacy and resigned. A DP district chairperson
in Mersin had already resigned from office following the
collapse of DYP-Motherland Party merger.

SECURITY


11. GUNDEM: The daily reports complaints of the local
people in Sirnak's Uludere district because of an alleged "food

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embargo" soldiers imposed on villagers. Reportedly, security
authorities are not allowing the villagers to store large
amounts of food in their houses. A person from Andac village
reportedly told the Gundem reporter that they were not allowed
to go further than ten kilometers away from their village. The
daily compares the pressure on the local people to the state of
emergency rule of 1990s.


12. GUNDEM: Jandarma started an investigation against 24
village guards who are unwilling to join the ongoing military
operations in Van's Baskale district. The daily separately
claims that a conflict broke out between security forces and
soldiers in a village of Sirnak's Uludere district. Three
village guards were allegedly killed.

CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT


13. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Jandarma teams caught 98 illegal
migrants in Van's Baskale, Caldiran and Muradiye districts. The
migrants are from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Bangladesh.

ECONOMY


14. GUNDEM: A group of women in Sanliurfa applied to
governor's office to found a Woman Entrepreneurs Association in
Sanliurfa. The association will support women in business.

CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT


15. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): The International Music Festival
of Mersin has been granted membership to the European Festivals
Association.
GREEN