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 0094 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, 
          APRIL 3, 2003 
 
 
¶1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for April 3, 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.  Cumhuriyet/Bolge/Tercuman/Milliyet: It is 
reported that PKK-KADEK has expedited armament of 
its militants in Northern Iraq by reinforcing 
them with rockets and missiles. It is believed 
that the PKK has been seeking chemical weapons, 
too. Some 44 of these PKK militants had 
surrendered to security forces during operations 
in February and March 2003, while 192 had 
deserted from the organization. It is believed 
that the organization has 743 active members 
within Turkey, and 4550 of its armed militants 
are in northern Iraq. It is alleged that the 
organization purchased a 5 kilo chemical 
"substance" worth of Euro one million and brought 
it to northern Iraq via Iran, and subsequently 
has been keeping it under tight control. 
 
 
¶3.  Cumhuriyet: In an interview with Washington 
Post, a Kurdish leader, Nursirvan Mustafa, said 
there were 6,000 underground fighters in Kirkuk 
who were ready waiting for a nod from the US to 
start an uprising in the town. Mustafa said he 
did not know the reason why the US did not give 
approval for the uprising.  The Kurdish leader 
said the Kurds wanted to be active participants 
in the war and "enhance their autonomy" in the 
post-war restructuring of Iraq. Mustafa said the 
total number of US troops in northern Iraq did 
not exceed 3,000 for the time being, and that the 
northern Front was still a "ghost front". 
 
 
¶4.  Cumhuriyet: Saddam Huseyin warned Celal 
Talabani in northern Iraq that he should not 
support the US in this war. In the message read 
by his Information Minister, Saddam said to 
Talabani: "I am warning you not to get engaged in 
activities that you would regret. You and your 
forces in alliance with the foreigners should 
avoid warring against the Iraqi people and its 
army." 
 
 
¶5.  Evrensel: In a press release yesterday, a 
DEHAP member, Osman Ozcelik, warned the Turkish 
government not to use Kurds as a pretext for an 
operation in northern Iraq.  He asked the Turkish 
government to give up its paranoia about the 
situation south of the Turkish border.  Ozcelik 
added that "The existence of an autonomous 
Kurdish administration in northern Iraq, and its 
becoming one of the fundamental components of a 
possible federation to be established, are a 
reality of Iraq and an event that takes place 
beyond our borders." Ozcelik said that the 
portrayal of PKK-KADEK militants as an obstacle 
to military operations in Iraq was not convincing 
because those militants were positioned in camps 
at Iraq-Iran border some 300 kilometers away from 
the Turkish border. Ozcelik said necessary legal 
changes should be made to enable PKK militants to 
abandon their weapons and participate in 
democratic life in Turkey, and that there was no 
other way of removing PKK from being a danger. 
 
 
¶6.  Evrensel: Abdullah Ocalan's lawyers went to 
Gemlik Jandarma Station in order to visit their 
client at Imrali Island, but were not allowed to 
go to the island on the grounds of adverse 
weather conditions. The lawyers returned to 
Istanbul and announced that they had formally 
requested the Justice Ministry buy a new boat. 
Meantime, Diyarbakir DEHAP's Provincial Womens' 
Committee Organization members held a press 
announcement in which they protested both against 
the war and against Abdullah Ocalan's isolation, 
calling for an end to the war and a general 
amnesty. In Adana and Siirt, DEHAP's women 
members protesting the war and Ocalan's isolation 
handed out carnations. Of 20 suspects arrested on 
the grounds of holding pro-Ocalan demonstrations 
in Yuksekova, two persons, Nuri Kurt and Serbest 
Abi, were ordered held on charges of assisting 
and harboring PKK-KADEK. 
 
 
¶7.  Cumhuriyet/Bolge/Tercuman/Evrensel: On one 
hand the US dispatches its military vehicles and 
equipment from the region, but on the other, they 
still keep their vehicles and equipment in the 
three factories they have hired in the Organized 
Industrial Zone nearby Kiziltepe.  In addition, 
the U.S. has been building a helicopter pad at 
the KIDAS yarn factory inside the Organized 
Industrial Zone. The US continues shipping 
vehicles and equipment from the bases in Mardin 
and Tasucu of Mersin to Iskenderun port and 
Incirlik Air Force Base. It is reported that more 
Patriot batteries will be unloaded from a 
freighter that is expected to dock at Tasucu port 
today. 
 
 
¶8.  Dunya: During his one-day visit to Ankara, 
Secretary of State Colin Powell called on the 
 
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Turkish President, Prime Minister, Foreign 
Minister, and Chief of TGS. Powell said they 
would be in cooperation with Turkey in rebuilding 
of Iraq, and that Turkey was an important member 
of the coalition forces, and while emphasizing 
Turkey's concerns about northern Iraq, the 
Secretary of State remarked that "There is no 
 
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need for the Turkish soldiers to cross the 
border." Turkey and the US agreed on the 
following points, which will not require 
parliamentary approval: humanitarian convoys will 
go to northern Iraq via Turkey, and Turkey will 
be the intermediary for the humanitarian relief 
directed to Kirkuk; fuel for vehicles of US units 
deployed in northern Iraq will be supplied from 
Turkey, and will be carried in Turkish tankers; 
Turkey will facilitate US search-and-rescue 
operations in northern Iraq, from bases in 
Turkey; Turkey's inspection regime along the 
Iraqi border will be lightened, and the channels 
for fuel trade with peshmergas will be reopened. 
 
 
¶9. 
Cumhuriyet/Radikal/Turkiye/Hurriyet/Tercuman/ Mill 
iyet: It is reported that a convoy of 25 Turkish 
trucks carrying US military equipment passed 
through Habur border gate and arrived in Erbil in 
northern Iraq under US troops' protection. The 
TGS announced that permission had been granted 
for 204 Hummer jeeps brought to Turkey under 
modernization project to now cross into northern 
Iraq. Milliyet reports that military vehicles and 
equipment brought to Turkey under the site- 
preparations agreement have to be taken out of 
Turkey by May 6. 
 
 
¶10.  Milliyet: Gang members trying to extort 
money from merchants and police arrested 
businessmen in Adana at gunpoint. Based on a tip 
that some persons were trying to collect money 
for a promissory note a merchant was forced to 
sign, the police launched an operation that led 
to the arrest of the brothers Yusuf Demir and 
Ismet Demir.  They were caught with weapons and 5 
billion Turkish lira in their possession. As a 
result of a series of other operations, three 
more persons wanted by police involvement in 
urer ndother crieswer aresedi Adna 
 
 
CONMC AD GRIULURAL DEVELOPMENS 
¶11. Dnya Bsinssmen in Mersin applied 
 the 
Ministry of Industry and Trade to qualify for 
designation as a Qualified Industrial Zone, QIZ. 
Regarding the issue, the President of Chamber of 
Commerce and Industry of Mersin, Kadri Saban, 
said QIZs helped greatly to the development of 
cities and countries, and there had been talks 
between the US and Turkey for establishing QIZs 
in various regions in Turkey.  He claimed that 
Mersin was the most appropriate place for such a 
project. 
HOLTZ