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 0269 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, 
          OCTOBER 15, 2003 
 
 
¶1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for October 15, 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. HURRIYET/MILLIYET/ZAMAN/EKSPRES/TURKIYE: During 
his visit to the Cukurova Journalists 
Association, Adana's governor Kemal Onal told 
reporters that their main challenges were in 
education, health and housing for the poor 
people. Governor Onal said they needed six 
thousand classrooms, that is 300 schools with 
20 classrooms in each, to solve the education 
problem in Adana. He added that they were 
building fourteen schools this year. Governor 
Onal attributed Adana's population growth to 
its being the attraction center of the region, 
and added that this position would continue 
until the disparity between the regions was 
solved. He emphasized that the First Cukurova 
Industry and Trade Fair held in Adana last week 
would contribute greatly to the volume of 
industry and trade in the region. 
 
 
¶3. HURRIYET: Justice and Development Party's (AKP) 
provincial chairman for Adana, Abdullah Dogru, 
denied press rumors that Adana's present mayor 
Aytac Durak would be nominated from his party 
for the upcoming municipal elections. Dogru 
stated at a press conference that the method 
for determining candidates and the calendar for 
the applicants would be determined this month. 
 
 
¶4. YENI SAFAK: "Freedom for Developing Local 
Languages" bill which the government passed 
with the Sixth Harmonization Laws for 
integration with EU is not being applied. No 
classes have been opened anywhere in Turkey for 
developing Kurdish or other languages. Private 
school owners in Diyarbakir, Van, Sanliurfa, 
Mardin, and Kiziltepe who applied to the 
provincial governors to open Kurdish classes 
were denied on the grounds that the buildings 
in which Kurdish would be taught lacked fire 
escape stairs and technical equipment for 
heating. Kurdish names containing "q, x, and w" 
are still not registered on the grounds that 
those letters do not exist in the Turkish 
alphabet. 
 
 
¶5. EKSPRES: The police seized 900 Ecstasy pills 
and arrested three persons in connection with 
the drugs in Adana. It is reported that one 
Ecstasy pill is sold for 10.00 USD. 
 
 
¶6. SABAH: Prime Minister Erdogan will open the 480 
student capacity boarding school built by the 
Sabah newspaper for the earthquake victims in 
Bingol today. 
 
 
¶7. OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: The Van chapter of the 
Educators' Union displayed cards celebrating 
their colleagues' "World Teachers' Day" in 
Kurdish in some schools on October 7. The cards 
read "We Celebrate October 5 Teachers' Day of 
All Educators." The police raided the schools 
the same day, took the photographs of the cards 
and surrendered them to the National Education 
Directorate which initiated an investigation of 
more than ten teachers accused of "committing a 
disciplinary crime by hanging Kurdish 
celebration messages on the notice boards." 
 
 
¶8. OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: In Kovali village of 
Derik, Mardin province, a 17 year old boy 
identified with initials M.D. returned to his 
village after grazing his flock of sheep two 
days ago at midnight. Soldiers fired on his 
family members and wounded five villagers by 
gun fire after they opened gun fire on the 
houses in the village at random. The prosecutor 
came to the village to conduct inspections, but 
it is claimed that he did not speak to any 
villagers. The relatives of the victims claimed 
that the soldiers fired at them while taking 
the wounded people were being taken to the 
hospital and that they were held and beaten 
with clubs by jandarmas from Ucyol Jandarma 
Station. 
 
 
¶9. OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: Villagers from Karbasti 
village of Hizan, Bitlis province, filed a 
petition with the office of Hizan's Public 
Prosecutor claiming that their eighty sheep had 
been confiscated by village guards affiliated 
to Cevizli Jandarma Station in Sirvan township 
of Siirt on October 10. 
 
 
¶10. OZGUR GUNDEM: In retaliation to the killing 
of four militants by Turkish forces in Ovacik, 
Tunceli province, on October 10, HPG (Heze 
Parastina Gel - People's Protection Forces) 
claimed they killed ten soldiers and wounded 
many others in an ambush in rural Semdinli, 
Hakkari province, on October 13. 
 
 
¶11. OZGUR GUNDEM: Hundreds of people getting 
together in Barbaros quarter of Adana marched 
with torches to protest isolation of Abdullah 
Ocalan. During the operations in Kucukdikili 
and Seyhan districts of Adana, the police 
arrested four persons. In some quarters of 
Nusaybin, Mardin province, demonstrators 
displayed banners for lifting the isolation on 
Abdullah Ocalan and improving his health 
condition. The shopkeepers in Nusaybin and 
Kiziltepe hung white scarves in front of their 
shops. In Urfa, some shops and businesses on 
the road to Akcakale township hanged posters 
reading "Your health is our health." 
 
 
¶12. OZGUR GUNDEM: The Adana Anti-war Platform 
protested deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq 
and Abdullah Ocalan's isolation at a press 
announcement. 
 
 
¶13. OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: Charges have been 
brought against the President of Diyarbakir's 
Bar Association, Attorney Sezgin Tanrikulu and 
his three colleagues for abusing their 
"profession as lawyers" by writing petitions 
for the villagers whose villages had been 
evacuated and burnt in Kulp in 1993 and 1994. 
Tanrikulu and his three colleagues will be 
arraigned at the First Felony Court in 
Diyarbakir on October 17. 
 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 
¶14. TURKIYE: Adana based Ceytas Mining and 
Textile Company will exploit coal mines in 
Silopi, Sirnak province. 
 
 
¶15. HURRIYET (Cukurova Supplement): 38 gas 
stations selling smuggled fuel in Gaziantep 
were closed down indefinitely. 
¶16. HURRIYET (Cukurova Supplement): The 
Financial Police Teams from Adana's Security 
Directorate seized 300 thousand boxes of 
smuggled cigarettes during the ten months in 
¶2003. The street vendors are selling the 
smuggled cigarettes for half the price 
determined by the Turkish Monopoly Department. 
The annual turnover of the smuggled cigarettes 
is estimated to be around 1.5 trillion Turkish 
Liras, approximately 1 million USD. 25 persons 
having involved in smuggling were brought 
before the court. 
REID