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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0114 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, 
          APRIL 21, 2003 
 
¶1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for April 21, 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. 
 
 
POLITICAL, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
 
¶2.  Bolge: A visible decrease is seen in the 
number of US military vehicles and equipment 
deployed at Iskenderun port as more of them are 
being sent back to other destinations.  A 
freighter named "Cape Ducato" docked at the port 
yesterday for onward shipment of US military 
vehicles and equipment.  The part of the port 
known as the "chrome area" has been totally 
cleared of military equipment.  A group of US 
military officials and Turkish port authorities 
are working on an inventory to assess the 
maintenance, repair, and renovation works made at 
the port. 
 
 
¶3.  Bolge: Following the ending of Operation 
Northern Watch (ONW), some of the US troops 
deployed at Incirlik AFB have already left the 
country, and the ones who have remained are 
conducting war-games exercises for security 
purposes.  The ONW mission deployed at Incirlik 
AFB was jointly fulfilled by US and British 
troops with a December 25, 1996 decision by the 
Turkish National Assembly, and ended on March 19, 
¶2003.  During the scheduled exercises, gas-masked 
and armed US soldiers defended hangers 
successfully against possible attacks.  Turkiye 
reported that Washington was going to minimize 
its military presence in Turkey and Jordan, and 
planned to establish four permanent military 
bases in Iraq while evacuating Incirlik AFB. 
Thus, the US aimed to control the Middle East, 
Southeastern Asia, and the Indian Ocean from the 
Mediterranean against potential threats. 
Accoringtothi pan,th USwll set up its 
new air bases in Baghdad, Tali in outher 
Nairiye,the Bahur reio innothrn ra, ad 
aoter nein thedesertregionto conrol oil 
pipes close to Jordan. 
 
 
¶4.  Evrensel: Zehra Barin, a women with three 
children who was seriously wounded as a result of 
an explosion of a land mine while picking wild 
cardoons (an edible root plant) in a village of 
Sirnak, died at the university hospital in 
Diyarbakir.  Mrs. Barin said she was picking 
cardoons during the early morning in a fenced 
area where some villagers were grazing their 
cows.  She said her three-year-old nephew 
accompanied her and she thought soldiers would 
warn them if that area had been a military zone. 
Her husband, Nurettin Barin, said that although 
they were made to wait at two jandarma stations, 
one in the village and another one at Kasrik 
Pass, for a total of about two hours, her health 
worsened after she was given anesthesia at the 
hospital.  The President of HRA's Diyarbakir 
Chapter, Selahattin Demirtas, held the military 
responsible for the land mines, and said they 
would conduct the necessary investigations and 
would apply to the European Human Rights Court 
after all the domestic legal avenues had been 
exhausted.  He added that the problem of land 
mines would not diminish unless the Kurdish issue 
was resolved. 
 
 
¶5.  Milliyet/Evrensel/Bolge/Cumhuriyet/Sabah/Hur 
riyet: The Governor of Hatay, Ismet Gurbuz 
Civelek, passed away due to a heart attack he had 
in Izmir yesterday. His body was sent to Ankara 
for burial. 
 
 
¶6.  Turkiye/Cumhuriyet: A mysterious e-mail 
dated March 11, 2003 from Germany, which read 
"Only 70 days are left for the happening of the 
most important event in 2003," put the Turkish 
National Police (TNP) and other intelligence 
units on alert.  The security officials believe 
that the message hinted a likely terrorist 
attack. Taking the e-mail message into account, 
an Anti-Terror Directorate circular ordered the 
related security agencies to revise their 
protections for primarily the airports and other 
sensitive buildings and facilities, and be 
extremely vigilant during and after May 19, the 
National Sports and Youth Day. It is speculated 
that the Islamist radical group in Germany known 
as "Kaplancilar" may have sent the message. 
 
 
¶7.  Evrensel:  According to the studies made by 
Woman's Status and Problems (WSP), and Woman's 
Social Status Research and Examination 
Association, the difficulty of being a women in 
Turkey varied from region to region. The result 
of research conducted in 19 provinces revealed 
that 45.8 percent of women have not enjoyed any 
education at all, 4.3 percent have left school 
without completing their elementary school 
education, while only 33.5 percent had completed 
the five-year compulsory elementary schooling. 
Of the educated women in Turkey, 81 percent are 
graduates of junior high schools, 5.8 percent of 
senior high schools and only 2.6 percent are of 
universities.  Thirty-nine point six (39.6) 
percent of educated women between the ages of 15 
and 24 are unemployed nationwide.  The ratio of 
unemployed women in urban centers is reported to 
be around 37.4 percent while it is 45.3 percent 
in rural areas. The Secretary for Teachers Union 
Women's Organization, Senay Ozmen, said the main 
problem the women faced in the region was that 
the girls were not sent to schools for education, 
and remarked that the economic and social 
dimensions of the issue were parallel.  Because 
the girls were married at a very young age, they 
were deprived of their rights, and the girls 
constituted 2/3rds of the uneducated children in 
Turkey.  Ms. Ozmen said the girls were used in 
the fields and gardens in the rural areas, and 
because of that they were unable to express 
themselves in any subject and unable even to help 
their children when they got married. As a 
sample, she said, 51 percent of Diyarbakir's 
population was made up of males, and the 
education ratio among them was 30 percent while 
this ratio was 19 percent among the female 
inhabitants.  Finally, she said that development 
could not take place unless regional differences 
were eradicated. 
HOLTZ