SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 16 AND 17, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000096 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 16 AND 17, 2007 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 16 and 17, 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 / HURRIYET: Deniz Baykal, National Leader of CHP, addressed people in Igdir and Erzurum, the provinces included in his campaign program, and said that a new era will start after July 22 elections. Meanwhile, Gaye Erbatur, Adana candidate from CHP and current Adana deputy, promised the electorate that they would clear the path of politics from corruption. ¶3. BOLGE: Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, first ranking AKP candidate running in Adana and deputy national chairperson of AKP, opened more campaign offices in several quarters of Adana. ¶4. EVRENSEL: AKP Bismil district provincial party organization canvassed people in villages they toured in Diyarbakir and reportedly pledged to issue green cards as they collected copies of the villagers' identity cards for the required procedures. (Note: Green cards in Turkey are issued for disadvantaged poor people in order to grant them access to health services. End Note.) Reportedly, however, the copies of the ID cards were later found in trash cans later. ¶5. EVRENSEL: Thousands of people reportedly attended the election campaign meetings in several southeastern provinces of Turkey: meetings are held by Emine Ayna, a female DTP-endorsed candidate running in Mardin; Huseyin Yilmaz DTP-endorsed candidate running in Agri's Patnos district; Vakkas Dalkilic, DTP-endorsed candidate running in Gaziantep, and Selahattin Demirtas, DTP-endorsed candidate running in Diyarbakir. ¶6. EVRENSEL: ADSIAD (Adana Industrialists and Businessmen Association) held last round of its meetings with the candidates who are running in the July 22 elections. The last candidates the meeting hosted were the AKP candidates of Adana. ¶7. ZAMAN / BOLGE / EKSPRES: Adana Governor Ilhan Atis gave a present, a laptop computer, to a student from Adana who received one of the best scores in the National University Entrance examination. ¶8. SABAH (GUNEY): The local supplement of Sabah daily launched a campaign to extend support to and prevent closing sown of the Mensa Textile Company of Adana which had been suffering from financial hardship. Mensa Textile employs 2500 workers. CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ¶9. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Police caught 11 illegal immigrants of Pakistani origin in Van's Baskale district. ¶10. BOLGE: Jandarma teams conducting road checks in Yuregir district of Adana opened fire when an oil tanker truck did not obey a halt warning of the jandarma. The Jandarma later found the truck one kilometer away from the original scene. The truck has been transporting oil stolen from the Ceyhan-Kirikkale pipeline. The driver was able to flee the scene. (This summary is from June 16 edition) ¶11. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Diyarbakir police seized 80 kilograms of hashish and 160,000 packets of smuggled cigarettes in two separate anti-drug and anti-smuggling operations. Twenty-one people were detained and arraigned. ¶12. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Police broke up an illegal ring in Mersin members of whom employed themselves in fraudu and counterfeiting of documents. The members of the ring included two police officers, one computer engineer and a public servant. ¶13. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / ZAMAN: Police in Van's Ercis district seized 26 kilograms of heroin they found in the fuel tank of a car they searched. The driver of the car was apprehended. CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT ¶14. ZAMAN: A fire that broke out in Adana's Imamoglu district burned 98 acres of a forest area. The firefighters were ADANA 00000096 002 OF 002 able to take the fire under control in seven hours. ¶15. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): A 3.7-magnitude earthquake shook Adana's Kozan district yesterday. No casualties were reported. ECONOMY ¶16. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): EPDK (Energy Market Regulatory Authority) will be holding a tender to award natural gas distribution license in the Cukurova region on July 20 (see press summary for June 22). The Cukurova region is the biggest natural gas distribution area of Turkey and the company which will be awarded the contract will provide service to 3 million users in the region. ¶17. SABAH (GUNEY) / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): The recent allegations that surfaced in Mersin about importing of 106,000 tons of lemon from Argentina angered Mersin's citrus fruit producers. GREEN