SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 14, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000081 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 ADANA 00000081 002 OF 002 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