This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 0075 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, 
          MARCH 13, 2003 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for 
March 13, 2003.  Please note that Turkish press 
reports often contain errors or exaggerations; 
AmConsulate Adana does not vouch for the accuracy 
of the reports summarized here. 
 
 
¶1.  Milliyet/Dunya: It is reported that the UN is 
also going to establish a humanitarian assistance 
center in Mardin, and relief items to be sent by 
the will be distributed from Mardin. Officials 
announced they had initially considered 
Gaziantep, but because of the distances involved 
preferred Mardin. 
 
 
¶2.  Radikal/Sabah/Dunya/Cumhuriyet/Hurriyet: 
Around 100 Turkish Communist Party members 
shouting slogans tried to enter the Iskenderun 
port. Soldiers and policemen intervened. When the 
protesters resisted, the soldiers fired warning 
shots in the air, and the port was put on alarm. 
As the demonstrators persisted, the military 
commander drew his soldiers back. Police 
reinforcements tried to disperse the group with 
their clubs. American soldiers who came to the 
gate were kept back from the gate by Turkish 
military officers.  All the demonstrators were 
taken to the police station in Iskenderun, and 
eventually those detained were released by the 
court.  According to Sabah, after the events, CHP 
Hatay Deputy Aziz Yazar visited the Iskenderun 
port's facilities.  When he wanted to visit the 
ones hired by the US, he was told that TGS 
permission was required. MP Yazar said "Our ports 
are occupied, and we condemn this situation," and 
claimed that no modernization activities were 
indeed being conducted at the port. 
 
 
¶3.  Radikal/Sabah/Evren: Regarding Abdullah 
Ocalan's trial at the State Security Court (SSC), 
the European Human Rights Court (EHRC) rendered 
its verdict, saying Turkey had violated the 1st 
and 3rd Paragraphs of Article 6 of the European 
Human Rights Convention. Turkey has been found 
guilty for exceeding the alloed detention period, 
not providing a fair trial, and mistreatment 
(specifically for giving the death penalty to 
Ocalan). The EHRC did not find replacing of the 
military judge with a civilian one sufficient for 
fair trail, and remarked that the defense lawyers 
were not given time and means required for 
defense. The lawyers' claim that Abdullah Ocalan 
was arrested in, and brought from Kenya, to 
Turkey in an illegal way and thus subjected to 
discrimination was refused by the court. The 
court also announced that there had been no 
violations in Ocalan's imprisonment conditions. 
Despite the violations, EHRC did not demand 
Turkey pay any indemnities other than the sum of 
100,000 euros for court's expenses. Regarding the 
court's decision, Ocalan's lawyer, Hasip Kaplan, 
said the infringements of their defense rights 
were obvious, and that he would appeal the 
decision concerning illegal arrest, as well as 
other articles. Turkey, meanwhile, also opposed 
to the court's decision, saying it lacked solid 
grounds. 
 
 
¶4.  Evrensel/Hurriyet: Cukurova University 
students protested US-led war on Iraq by throwing 
eggs at posters of President Bush yesterday. The 
students, who demonstrated in front of the 
Education Faculty, shouted anti-US slogans, 
danced folk dances, and read poems of peace 
versus war. 
¶5.  Evrensel: Ten students from Gaziantep 
University were detained on charges of pro-KADEK 
activities.  Emine Celebi, a member of the 
Womens' Flank of DEHAP in Kars, who was arrested 
for saying "No to Isolation (in Prison)" during 
March 8 International Women's Day demonstrations, 
was released by the court. 
¶6.  Bolge: Adana DEHAP's weekly "sit-in at Inonu 
Park to protest aainst war and against isolation 
in prisons has turned into a tradition. The 
security forces took away "No to War and 
Isolation" banners carried by DEHAP supporters. 
DEHAP's Provincial Chairman, Mehmet Can Celik, 
declared that the seizure of the banners by the 
police was an anti-democratic act, that protestos 
would continue sitting in the park. 
 
 
¶7.  Hurriyet: It has been determined that foreign 
media representatives following developments in 
Mersin and Iskenderun ports have given small 
cameras and offered money to truckers to take 
pictures inside the ports. Security officials 
also determined that the foreign reporters have 
offered money to truckers operating between 
Turkey and northern Iraq. Evaluating this 
information, the Foreign Ministry and Turkish 
General Staff (TGS) decided that any reporters 
detected doing so would be deported from Turkey 
immediately and truckers receiving money would be 
severely punished. Some Spanish reporters who 
were given a five-day permission by TGS to 
observe the meeting of the Iraqi Opposition in 
Selahaddin in Northern Iraq but subsequently did 
not return to Turkey will definitely not be 
allowed to reenter Turkey. The Spanish Embassy 
wrote an apology to the Turkey Foreign Ministry, 
but the TGS's response was that Turkey was a 
serious country, and the rules were given to the 
reporters earlier, and they would make no 
exception. 
 
 
¶8.  Radikal: Ambassador Pearson denied 
allegations that the US had gone beyond the 
permission given within the framework of the 
modernization project for Turkish bases. 
Ambassador Pearson said: "All of our ongoing 
activities are within the framework of the 
permission given for the modernization of the 
bases on February 6. We are behaving honestly and 
carefully." 
 
 
¶9.  Sabah: After Mesut Barzani, now Celal 
Talabani has also started sending messages to 
Ankara through the western press. In an exclusive 
interview with the Italian La Repubblica paper, 
Talabani said Turkish soldiers should return to 
Turkey after Saddam's regime was ended, and the 
Americans should leave at most one hour after 
their job in Iraq was concluded. In response to 
what would happen if Turkish troops entered 
Northern Iraq alone, Talabani said Turkey could 
enter only in limited numbers to a certain place 
along with the Americans. Talabani said the 
Turkish FM Undersecretary, Ugur Ziyal, guaranteed 
that Turkey would not disarm the peshmergas and 
that the Turkish operation would be for 
humanitarian assistance. When asked if he 
believed Turkey's intervention would be limited, 
the Kurdish leader said they were very anxious 
about it but with the US they felt more 
comfortable. 
 
 
¶10.  Milliyet: The Iraqi Turkomen Front's 
representative for Turkey, Mustafa Ziya, claimed 
that the Turkomen were under great threat, and 
that they asked for protection from the UN, the 
US, and Turkey. Mr. Ziya claimed Kurdish groups 
in the region, including the KDP and PUK, had 
secret plans, and would put them into effect the 
 
SIPDIS 
moment the war started. He said that the Kurdish 
groups had agreed among themselves to enter 
Kirkuk.  Ziya said the US and Turkey had pledged 
that they would not allow such a thing to happen. 
 
 
¶11.  Radikal/Dunya: The US and Turkey are 
preparing to receive 600,000 thousand refugees 
who could come to the Turkish border in a war on 
Iraq. The relief that will be provided by the 
United Nations (UN) will be extended to refugees 
on the Iraqi side of the Turkish-Iraqi border. 
The Turkish Red Crescent is already deployed at 
the border. 
HOLTZ