SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 21-27, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ADANA 000099 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 21-27, 2007 ¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 21-27, 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. CUMHURIYET/EVRENSEL/HURRIYET/YENI SAFAK/CUMHURIYET/SABAH/HURRIYET: Charges have been pressed against Leyla Zana, the Kurdish former deputy from DEP, and Mehmet Nuri Gunes because of the speeches they delivered in Igdir in support of the DTP-supported independent candidates. Leyla Zana allegedly said Turkey should except dividing the country into states and naming the Southeastern Turkey as the "Kurdistan" federation. She added that demanding such a thing was not in violation of the territorial integrity of Turkey. The Chief Public Prosecutor of Igdir, Mustafa Kucuk, initiated an investigation about Zana and Gunes for violating articles 216, 302 by instigating hatred and animosity among people, and violating paragraph 58 of 298 by using a language other than Turkish in the election campaign. The Evrensel newspaper quoted Leyla Zana as saying "Those who are getting mad at my statements today will recognize the reality in five or ten years and realize it -the federation." ¶3. RADIKAL: In reaction to the Prime Minister's claim that MHPers and DTPers would fight in the parliament, the former DTP National Chair, Ahmet Turk, said that the Primier threatened the voters by such a statement, and added that they were not getting into the assembly to fight with others but to represent their thoughts and beliefs. Turk and former DTP co-chair, Aysel Tugluk, said that they were ready to discuss the Kurdish issue even with the MHP should the appropriate climate be created. ¶4. EVRENSEL: Thousands of people attended the DTP-supported independents' meeting in Silopi district of Sirnak where there has been a constant troop and military equipment build up. The crowd carried banners reading "Either true democracy or none. Solutions in democracy, not in operations. This country is ours, we will bring peace. Don't do separatism Baykal." The Sirnak independent candidate, Sevahir Bayindir, criticized Prime Minister Erdogan for not solving the Kurdish issue and closing down the Habur border gate with Iraq. Approximately 10,000 people attended the DTP-supported independent candidates' meeting in Bingol. Akin Birdal and the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir addressed to more than 10,000 people in Bismil district of Diyarbakir, and more than 30,000 people attended the independents' meeting in Hakkari. ¶5. CUMHURIYET/SABAH/ZAMAN: While Ankara is awaiting Baghdad to take concrete steps against the PKK, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry gave two demarches to Ankara claiming that Turkey had bombed some targets in Northern Iraq and that some of the medicine and food items received from Turkey had gone bad. The Mesut Barzani-affiliate Kurdsat TV channel broadcasting from northern Iraq aired some images of villagers leaving their homes in the rural Zakho region. In its demarche to Turkey, the Iraqi administration noted that a diplomatic solution should be sought to the tension in the border region because of the bombings on July 18. The Turkish Health Ministry disclosed that no medicine had been exported from Turkey to Iraq but that it was exported from other countries through Turkey. ¶6. CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN/RADIKAL/HURRIYET/BOLGE/EKSPR ES: The Justice and Development Party (AKP),which had gained 365 seats with 34.43 percent popularity in the 2002 general elections, increased its votes to 46.67 percent but its seats decreased to 341 in the July 22 General Election. The Evrensel newspaper claimed that the e-memorandum by the Turkish General Staff helped AKP to increase its popularity which had dropped to 30 percent prior the memorandum. ¶7. BOLGE: Residents from the Suruguden, Saridal, Yukari Sizma, and Cicekli villages of Mus province protested casting their votes on the grounds that they did not receive any services from the government. The village headmen of the four villages jointly said that they would not cast their votes in the coming elections unless they received some services. They said that their village did not have roads, their schools were in poor conditions, and that they did not benefit from any health services. The villagers demanded a boarding school to be built in the region. ¶8. RADIKAL/SABAH/BOLGE: Medeni Oz, the CHP's Diyarbakir ADANA 00000099 002 OF 004 Provincial Chairman, resigned from his position after the crushing defeat of his party in Diyarbakir. CHP got only 2 percent of the votes in Diyarbakir province. ¶9. YENI SAFAK: At a press conference at the DTP's office in Mersin yesterday, the independent candidate Orhan Miroglu, disclosed that he would file a petition with the Provincial Election Committee on the grounds that the elections were not held in a healthy fashion in Mersin province. ¶10. EKSPRES/CUMURIYET: The DTP-supported candidate from Adana, Nazmi Gur, said that he would reject to the temporary results announced by the Provincial Election Board through his lawyers. According to the results that have been announced, Gur received 50,340 votes and lost by only 1,792 votes. The Cumhuriyet and Bolge newspapers report that when it became clear that Gur did not get elected, his supporters gathered in the Kurdish-populated quarters of Adana and chanted pro-Ocalan slogans. Police arrested 12 persons. ¶11. SABAH/HURRIYET/RADIKAL/EVRENSEL: According to the preliminary election results in Hakkari province, the DTP-supported candidates had won two seats in Hakkari, but after the votes cast in the customs offices at the border areas were distributed to the provinces the AKP candidate Abdulmuttalip Ozbek won the election by 41 votes and independents lost one seat. The independent candidates objected to the result and the Provincial Election Committee (PEC) recounted the votes cast in 40 ballot boxes. The PEC will announce the result later. DTP dismissed its administrators in Hakkari and Yukeskova based on people's demand. The imprisoned DTP-supported PKK-suspect Sebahat Tuncel, who was elected as a lawmaker from Istanbul, was discharged from the Gebze Prison and was met by 2,000 people at the prison gate. ¶12. HURRIYET: The DTP-supported lawmakers gave warm messages about the course of action they would follow at the parliament. Sevahir Bayindir, the independent lawmaker from Sirnak, said "We will be the power of solutions not of crisis. Turkey's future depends on establishing dialogues and producing solutions." Osman Ozcelik, the independent lawmaker from Siirt, said "We do not recognize any other force above the parliament. In general, we will not be creating problems but generating solutions at the parliament." Hasip Kaplan, the independent lawmaker from Sirnak, was quoted "We have to overcome the presidential issue with consensus. We are coming to the parliament to solve people's problems. ¶13. HURRIYET: The former Minister of National Education, Huseyin Celik, took a thank-you tour in Van together with AKP's newly elected four lawmakers and stopped by the DTP's election office and congratulated the independent lawmakers Ozdal Ucer and Fatma Kurtulan. Minister Celik was applauded by DTP supporters for his visit to their office. ¶14. HURRIYET: Kutbettin Arzu, who has been elected to the parliament from the AKP's ticket when he was the President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Diyarbakir, said that the people in East and Southeastern Turkey have given to Turkey and the world the message that they want to live in unity and peace. Arzu said that the Prime Minister was knowledgeable about the problems of the region and that they should find solutions to the unemployment issue through short and mid-term projects immediately. ¶15. EVRENSEL: 170 villagers from Cevizlibelen village of Bahcesaray district in Van province applied to the Human Rights Association's Van Chapter claiming that they had been beaten and prevented from casting their votes on the July 22 General Election. The villagers want to be given a chance to use their votes again. The President of Van HRA office, Cahit Bozbay, said that they would file petitions with the Interior Ministry, High Election Committee, and the Chief Public Prosecutor of Bahcesaray and follow the issue closely. ¶16. SABAH: Because of the speech he delivered and talking with demonstrators during the March 28, 2005 events which broke out when the dead bodies of four PKK militants were being buried in Diyarbakir, the Diyarbakir Mayor, Osman Baydemir, whose trial continued at the 6th Felony Court of Diyarbakir, did not attend the hearing but a delegation from the European Parliament did. ¶17. RADIKAL/HURRIYET: The demand by defendants of the Semdinli case, the jandarma noncommissioned officers Ali Kaya, Ozcan ADANA 00000099 003 OF 004 Ildeniz, and PKK defector Veysel Ates to be discharged from prison, was unanimously rejected by the 5th Felony Court of Diyarbakir. The defendants are accused of throwing a bomb to the Umut bookstore in Semdinli district of Hakkari on November 9, 2005 and killing one person and wounding another one. The court had sentenced Ildeniz and Kaya to 39.5 years and Ates to 39 years and 10 months of imprisonment. SECURITY ¶18. CUMHURIYET/HURRIYET: The Sirnak Governorate announced that the GOT forces killed two terrorists, one female, who had killed one lieutenant colonel, one major, and one private on June 9 with a remote-controlled mine on the Guclukonak-Sirnak highway on June 9. Terrorists, who attacked a police check point at the entrance of Semdinli, Hakkari province with rockets, wounded two policemen. Security forces detonated explosives planted on a road in Sirnak and seized a photocopy machine and 81 bullets for the Kalashnikov weapons in Malazgirt district of Mus province. ¶19. YENI SAFAK/CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN: In general, the July 22 General Election was held in a peaceful manner throughout Turkey. As a consequence of the fights that broke out between rivaling groups and families with blood feud, 27 persons were wounded in Sivas, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Batman, and Antalya provinces. ¶20. EVRENSEL: People in Southeastern Turkey cast their votes under the shadow of soldiers and village guards. The security officials who are supposed to be 100 meters away from the ballot boxes monitored the election very closely and village guards wounded two persons with weapons in Bismil district of Diyarbakir. ¶21. BOLGE: The Sirnak Governor's office announced that the security officials detained and brought to justice a total of 11 persons involved in recruiting militants for and shouting pro-PKK slogans during an election campaign meeting in Sirnak. ¶22. CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN/YENI SAFAK: The PKK militants who determined a minibus carrying bread to the jandarma outpost near Sutluce village of Tunceli yesterday warned the minibus driver not to carry bread to soldiers anymore and set fire on his minibus. The GOT forces carrying out operations in Silvan and Lice districts of Diyarbakir and Dogansehir of Malatya arrested 2 PKK militants, including a female. Legal action has been taken against three persons allegedly harboring the illegal terror organization. ¶23. ZAMAN/YENI SAFAK: It is claimed that three soldiers on patrol in Bogrupek village of Baskale district of Van province had been kidnapped to Iran. The Van Governor, Ozdemir Cakacak, said that he had not received any news of that nature. ¶24. ZAMAN: In an operation in Hinis district of Erzurum province, jandarma seized assorted explosives, organizational documents and discovered life-support devices cached in the fields. Jandarma detained 20 suspects in Hinis. The GOT forces also detained 20 people on the charges of membership to, assisting and harboring the PKK in Varto district of Mus. ¶25. ZAMAN: PKK militants exploded a mine on the Cukurca-Hakkari highway and wounded a noncommissioned officer. CRIME & LAW ENFORCEMENT ¶26. CUKUROVA HURRIYET: Based on a tip, the counter-narcotic teams from the Bitlis Security Directorate seized 28 kilos and 20 grams of hashish in the secret compartments of a truck and 1 kilo and 422 grams of hashish in a car that were traveling from Bitlis to Diyarbakir. ¶27. RADIKAL/BOLGE/CUMHURIYET/YENI SAFAK/SABAH: In Mersin, 68 persons allegedly involved in irregularities in state-sponsored construction bids have been arrested by police after six months of technical surveillance. The detainees include the Provincial Director and some employees of the Public Works, Provincial Board members, some AKP administrators, and contractors. ¶28. RADIKAL/ZAMAN: Based on a tip, the GOT forces in Van seized 140 kilos and 700 grams of heroin in Omerova hamlet of Ekecek Village of Baskale district in Van province. The market value of the drugs is estimated to be around 12 million US Dollars. ADANA 00000099 004 OF 004 ECONOMY ¶29. HURRIYET: According to the Turkey's 500 Largest Industrial Establishments 2006 Report, eight companies from Adana ranked among the top 100 and 10 companies from Gaziantep ranked among the top 500. ¶30. SAFAK: While visiting the AKP's Provincial Office in Siirt, Nihat Ozdemir, the President of the Executive Board of Limak Construction Company, told reports that two dams would be built on the Botan River in the region: Alkumru and Cetin dams. Mr. Ozdemir said that his company had already been awarded the bid for the construction of the Alkumru Dam which will produce 1 million kilowatts of energy per year. ¶31. ZAMAN/BOLGE: The President of Chamber of Commerce of Adana, Saban Bas, is trying to have 55,000 hectares of land adjacent to the Adana-Yumurtalik Free Trade Zone be designated for a new Organized Industrial Zone, which would help create new employment opportunities. The land belongs to the Treasury Department. GREEN