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DE RUEHDA #0077/01 1581227
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RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1136

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000077 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 06., 2007 
 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 06, 
¶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 (CUKUROVA):    The dailies report the 
intra-party controversies that followed final nomination lists 
submitted to elections boards.  Journalists asked State Minister 
Kursat Tuzmen why the province where Tuzmen would run for the 
parliamentary elections was shifted from Gaziantep to Mersin. 
Tuzmen said that the decision was taken with regard to which 
provinces would most probably cast more votes for his party 
(AKP).  Tuzmen further said, since he was a diver, he wanted to 
return back to a place where there is sea.  Provincial 
Chairperson of AKP in Mersin said that they were aiming to win 6 
seats with lawmakers from Mersin.  Hurriyet's Cukurova 
supplement reports that AKP's nomination lists in Gaziantep 
startled everybody when it was found out that Tuzmen would run 
in Mersin.  CHP in Mersin had already listed two names from the 
Tarsus district in its pre-elections for nomination lists. 
However, national headquarters nominated two other candidates, 
who had also run in the pre-elections and ranked 14th and 11th, 
as the first and third ranking nominees in CHP's Mersin list. 
Meanwhile, Alevi organizations showed reaction because no Alevi 
candidates were listed in CHP's ticket. 
 
¶3.      SABAH / EVRENSEL / BOLGE:       Following the ceremony, 
which was held in Elazig for seven privates who were killed by 
PKK terrorists in Tunceli's Pulumur district (see press summary 
for June 5), the coffins of the privates were sent to their 
hometowns today.  The dailies all report the grief of the 
families of soldiers who died in the attack. 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶4.      GUNDEM: The PKK announced that the PKK attack on a 
jandarma station in Tunceli's Pulumur district which killed 8 
soldiers and wounded 6 other, was only a warning issued against 
Turkish Army Forces (see press summary for June 5).  According 
to the daily, Turkish forces blockaded the village located near 
the jandarma station the PKK attacked and detained 4 villagers. 
A jeep was reportedly used during the attack and the owner of 
the jeep from the village gave his statement to the military 
officials and said that his car was seized by the PKK members an 
hour before the incident.  The daily further claims that the 
death toll is actually higher than what is officially announced. 
 
¶5.      GUNDEM / SABAH: Gundem daily claimed that the PKK hit 
two Cobra helicopters with anti-aircraft guns in Hakkari's 
Cukurca district.  Sabah daily reports that General Chief of 
Staff refuted such allegations and said that one helicopter 
safely landed in an area in Cukurca to see whether it was hit 
with light-weaponry.  Personnel, upon seeing that there was no 
hit, took off and continued its mission. 
 
¶6.      EVRENSEL:       Unidentified people attacked the DTP party 
building in Eskisehir and threw Molotov cocktail in the building 
the previous night.  There were no casualties since it was not 
the working hours, but, all of the property within the building 
was burned. 
 
¶7.      GUNDEM: The daily reports that four of the six people, 
who were detained on alleged grounds that they participated the 
previous night in a funeral of a PKK member killed in a conflict 
in Siirt on an unspecified date, have been arrested on charges 
that "they aided and abetted the terrorist organization".  A 
Dicle News Agency reporter, who was also detained as he 
participated in the same funeral as a reporter, claimed that he 
was tortured under detention. 
 
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶8.      SABAH (GUNEY):  One of the 77 illegal migrants, who were 
caught on May 25 in Adana's Ceyhan district, fled from the 
gymnasium hall in Adana where they were being kept temporarily 
by the police because of the ongoing bureaucratic processes. 
Police are now searching for the Afghan national who fled. 
 
 
¶9.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Upon receiving a tip-off Jandarma 
teams raided a house in Van's Baskale district and found 50 
kilograms of heroin.  One person was detained. 
 
ADANA 00000077  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶10.     SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE / EKSPRES:        It is reported that 
BOTAS (Petroleum Pipeline Corporation) lost 1,097,347 USD 
because of the leakage from the Ceyhan-Kirikkale pipeline caused 
accidentally by a highway construction activity in Pozanti 
district of Adana in late in April (see press summary for May 
1).  2433 tons of oil was wasted.  The official from BOTAS also 
noted that they cleaned the river where the oil leaked and 
therefore the spill did not affect the Seyhan reservoir. 
 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
¶11.     SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE:   The daily reports that Yusuf 
Halacoglu, the head of the Turkish History Institute, gave a 
conference on the Armenian issue in Adana. The conference, which 
was called "How the Western World Sees the Armenian Issue", was 
organized by Adana Chamber of Commerce and Association for 
Businessmen Supporting Information Technology.   Mr. Halacoglu 
reportedly based his arguments on documents derived from the 
archives.  During the conference Halacoglu said "We can of 
course maintain our relationship with the EU, but we do not 
necessarily have to enter the EU."  Halacoglu said that the 
Armenian genocide claims could be refuted by the documents 
available at the historical archives.  The Adana Mayor and the 
Governor attended the conference, as well. 
 
¶12.     EKSPRES / BOLGE:        It is reported that (Turkish) actors and 
actresses flooded into the city of Adana for the Fourteenth 
Adana Altinkoza Film Festival which is being sponsored by the 
Adana Municipality and which runs between June 4 and 11. 
 
¶13.     BOLGE:  A team from French national TV station TF1 
came to Karatas district of Adana to shoot a documentary on 
children working in the cotton fields.  The team was interested 
in the social project undertaken by the International Labor 
Organization and the Turkish Ministry of Education that aims to 
win those children in the fields back to education system in a 
bid to struggle with child labor. 
 
¶14.     GUNDEM: A 34-year-old women, mother of four kids, 
hanged herself and committed suicide at the base floor of her 
house in Bingol. 
GREEN