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 0155 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, 
          JUNE 10, 2003 
 
 
¶1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for June 10, 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/Milli Gazete/Turkiye: Ali Keles, 
the headman of Dosekkaya village in Bingol, was 
kidnapped from his home by a group of eight 
PKK/KADEK militants and killed in the countryside 
last night. The security forces established 
contact with a group of PKK/KADEK members near 
Bingol yesterday, but militants, taking the 
advantage of the forest and darkness, vanished in 
the region. 
 
 
¶3.  Turkiye: The security forces found weapons 
and ammunition in the terrorist organization's 
shelters in Hakkari. The governor's office 
disclosed that two Kalashnikov weapons, five 
drums for those weapons, one Maouser weapon, two 
backpacks, and one pair of binoculars that 
belonged to PKK/KADEK militants were seized. A 
large- scale operation is continuing in the 
region. 
 
 
¶4.  Milliyet: In Adilcevaz, a coastal township 
near Lake Van, jandarma arrested forty-one 
Pakistanis and twelve Afghans who illegally 
entered Turkey from Baskale township of Van. 
During their interrogations, the Pakistanis said 
they paid three thousand USD for smugglers to 
Greece via Istanbul. They said they sailed Lake 
Van and later, were dropped at Adilcevaz and told 
they had arrived in Greece. The Afghans said they 
paid seven hundred USD per person to be smuggled 
into Greece. The fugitives were expelled from the 
border. 
 
 
¶5.  Evrensel: An interview with people from 
different walks of life in Sanliurfa revealed 
that people are expecting a general amnesty 
rather than a repent law from the government to 
solve the Kurdish issue. The interviewers 
expressed that the repent law would deepen the 
Kurdish question, and the reconciliation could be 
realized only by declaring a non-discriminatory 
general amnesty. They also added that the views 
of all the Turkish governments about the Kurds 
was the same, and emphasized that the governments 
should change their mentality toward the Kurds. 
 
 
¶6.  Bolge/Turkiye: Based on a tip, jandarma at 
Incirlik found two grams of powdered hemp in the 
glove compartment of the car of a US citizen, 
Ursula Fara Tyson, who works as a teacher at the 
base. Mrs. Tyson had notified the prosecutor's 
office on May 27 that her husband, Orcan 
Fikridanis, who does not want to divorce her, was 
going place drugs in her car, and he should be 
held responsible for anything that would happen 
to her. During her interrogation at jandarma, 
Mrs. Tyson said she had filed a petition with the 
court to divorce her husband. She said her 
husband constantly threatened her by stating he 
would place drugs in her car and house so that 
she would not divorce him. Mrs. Tyson was taken 
to the court after the interrogation. The court 
released Mrs. Tyson but started an investigation 
on Fikridanis. 
 
 
ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 
¶7.  Milliyet/Tercuman: The Micro-credit Project 
initiated by Grameen Bank in Bengal will be 
applied in Elibol village of Diyarbakir on June 
¶11. The project is known as the "poor peoples' 
bank." The bank will give unlimited loans to 
villagers establishing their own businesses 
without requiring a letter of credit or 
guarantor. The reimbursement of the loan will be 
made weekly. Regarding the issue, Aziz Akgul, a 
member of parliament (MP) from Diyarbakir, said 
they would take the credit to the villagers and 
would also take into account the people on the 
Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation's 
Incentive Fund's list for determining who would 
qualify for the loan. Akgul said there was a 
great demand from Istanbul for the loans, and 
thirty-two sub-governors from Istanbul attended 
the bank's meeting there yesterday. MP Akgul said 
they have already raised forty thousand USD for 
the project in Diyarbakir, and that a foundation 
wanted to contribute three hundred thousand USD 
to the fund. Akgul said they would start the 
project in Siirt, Trabzon, Agri, and Istanbul 
after Diyarbakir. 
HOLTZ