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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000085 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 21, 2007 
 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 21, 
¶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.      EVRENSEL:       ADSIAD (Adana Industrialists and Businessmen 
Association) started holding meetings with the four 
highest-ranking Adana candidates of four political parties, who 
are most likely to win seats in the parliament in July 22 
elections. 
 
¶3.      EVRENSEL / GUNDEM:      Van's Fourth Felony Court 
overturned attorneys' objection placed against continuation of 
confinement during prosecution process of 2 non-commissioned 
officers and one PKK defector Veysel Ates who are being held as 
defendants in the Semdinli case. They are charged with 
involvement in the Semdinli bombing that took place in a 
bookstore in Hakkari's Semdinli distict on November 2005. 
 
 
¶4.      EVRENSEL / GUNDEM:      DTP National Headquarters issued a 
written announcement and invited PM Erdogan, who criticized DTP 
as "being a party which sees terrorism as in its backyard," to 
participate in a live discussion program together on television. 
 Meanwhile, Ahmet Turk, former DTP national chairperson and 
independent candidate from Mardin, asked the PM: "Whose backyard 
does your party represent?"  Separately, Gundem daily reports 
election campaigns of independent candidates going on in Adana, 
Agri, Malatya and Diyarbakir provinces.  Meanwhile, independent 
candidates protested remarks made by the premier, who reportedly 
attempted to convince people not to vote for independent 
candidates in a speech he delivered at an AKP rally held in 
Agri. 
 
¶5.      EVRENSEL:       Diyarbakir's Sur District Mayor Selahattin 
Demirtas, who has recently been removed from office for 
launching a "multi-language municipality service" in the Sur 
district municipality (see press summary for June 15), said 
that, even if he were wrong in implementing such a service, the 
penalty issued was an excessive  one and went beyond the limits 
of normal legal actions: the court could have simply cancelled 
the decision made to adopt multi-language municipality service, 
said Demirtas.   Meanwhile, Istanbul chapter of the Human Rights 
Association protested the pressure exerted on the Kurdish 
language and condemned the Sur Mayor's removal from office. 
 
¶6.      BOLGE / SABAH (GUNEY):  The Ceyhan Municipality and 
chamber of commerce held a rally in the Ceyhan district of 
Adana, protesting terrorism.  Thousands of people reportedly 
attended the rally. 
 
¶7.      HURRIYET:       The funeral of a soldier, killed during a 
shootout with terrorists in Gumushane (see press summary June 
20) the previous day, was held in Denizli yesterday. 
 
 
¶8.      GUNDEM: A funeral was held in Agri for a PKK member, 
who was killed in a shootout on June 10 in Diyarbakir's Kulp 
district.  DTP Agri provincial party officials and many citizens 
attended the funeral.  Meanwhile, the bodies of two PKK members 
from northern Iraq, who were killed in a May 30 military 
operation in Siirt's Eruh district, remained unclaimed.  The 
coffins were buried by municipality teams. 
 
¶9.      GUNDEM: A Kurdish singer, who was sentenced to a year 
and 3 months in prison for allegedly disseminating pro-PKK 
propaganda by singing a Kurdish song about Abdullah Ocalan 
during Newroz celebrations on March 21 in Sanliurfa, was 
released when the court ruled that the number of days the singer 
remained in prison could be counted against his prison term.  As 
the Kurdish singer was released from the prison, however, 
Turkish officials again detained him as a result of a court 
verdict ordering the singer's deportation. 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶10.     BOLGE / GUNDEM: The dailies report that shipments of 
military ammunition and vehicles to the military units in the 
security zone declared by the army in Sirnak have been 
continuing.  A military convoy, under armored vehicle escort, 
set off from a tank battalion cantonment in the Cizre district 
for a neighboring battalion, located at the outskirts of 
 
ADANA 00000085  002 OF 002 
 
 
Mountain Cudi. 
 
 
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶11.     BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Seventeen Pakistani 
nationals, who entered the country illegally in transit to 
Cyprus, were apprehended in the inter-city bus terminal of 
Mersin. 
GREEN