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 000235 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
NOT FOR INTERNET DISRIBUTION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU ADANA PKK
SUBJECT: VIOLENCE IN SOUTHEAST CONTINUES, WHILE SEMDINLI SETTLES INTO 
JUDICAL CHANNELS 
 
REF: ADANA 207, ADANA 216, ADANA 222 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary: As PKK-related violence continues on a broad 
scale throughout Turkey's southeast region, developments in the 
Semdinli case have settled into relatively peaceful 
investigative and judicial activities (see reftels).  Over the 
past ten days, there have been investigative visits by NGOs and 
other groups to the region.  An attorney who recently visited 
Semdinli believes that the judiciary in Turkey is neither 
sufficiently equipped nor strong enough to fully investigate the 
Semdinli case, and that politicians had to demonstrate greater 
will in order to resolve the case.  He added that Semdinli 
residents believed that these incidents will never end unless 
the Kurdish issue is resolved by allowing greater Kurdish 
cultural expression.  End Summary. 
 
Regional Violence Continues 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) PKK-related violent activities continue apace 
throughout the region. Since December 5, the press and local 
police channels reported 23 PKK-related, violent incidents 
throughout the region, including in Batman, Sirnak, Van, Elazig, 
Gaziantep, Bingol, Sanliurfa, Tunceli, Erzurum, Diyarbakir and 
Mardin.  Most recently, on December 9, the press reported that 
four security forces officers died in a PKK attack on a military 
unit in Sirnak's Guclukonak district.  On the same date, the 
press reported two bombing attempts in Tokat province; one 
included a bomb placed in front of the Turhal Subgovernor's 
office in Tokat, while a second bomb was placed in the back 
entrance to the Tokat Governor's office building.  Both bombs 
failed to detonate.  The Tokat governor just recently rotated 
into his position from the governor's seat in Hakkari. 
 
Investigative Groups Visit the Region 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The confluence of the one-month anniversary of the 
November 9 Semdinli bombing incident and December 10 World Human 
Rights Day sparked a flurry of recent visits to Semdinli. 
Newspapers reported that a delegation composed of DTP, SHP 
(Social Democratic Populist Party) municipal assembly members, 
KESK (Confederation of Public Employee's Unions) members, Human 
Rights Association representatives and Chambers of Tradesmen and 
Artisans visited the area and held a press event to draw 
attention to their commitment to follow developments on the 
case.  The press further reported that an Istanbul-based 
"Delegation of Citizens" made a study tour of the region and 
announced on their return to Istanbul that people in the region 
wanted to make their voices heard. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Finally, the press reported that CHP (Republican 
People's Party) National Leader Deniz Baykal visited Semdinli 
and Yuksekova on December 8, paid calls on local authorities and 
bombing victims, and told a "1000-person crowd" that "This 
country belongs to all of us.  There is no separation of 'you' 
and 'us.'"  Baykal also told a crowd in Yuksekova that he came 
to the region to make sure that the incident is exposed. 
Kurdish community papers indicated that Hakkari residents 
criticized CHP and Baykal for not coming to the southeast until 
a month after the incident, discounting his visit as a political 
gesture rather than an indication of sincere engagement. 
 
Attorney: Government Action Must Strengthen the Judiciary 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
----------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Diyarbakir Bar Association Vice President Tahir Elci, 
who visited Semdinli December 2-4 with Diyarbakir attorney 
Sezgin Tanrikulu and a delegation of Kurdish and Turkish 
intelligentsia from across Turkey, told us that even though the 
two security forces officers implicated in the bombing had been 
arrested, an indictment had not yet been prepared. Elci thinks 
that the judiciary in Turkey is neither sufficiently equipped 
nor strong enough to fully investigate the Semdinli incident or 
similar cases, and that politicians had to demonstrate their 
will in order to resolve such complicated cases. He said that 
recent announcements by the government regarding the issue were 
both promising and occasionally conflicting, but that the 
government had to project a position that would implicitly 
strengthen the judiciary. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Elci said that the people they interviewed in Semdinli 
and other places knew what they wanted.  They expressed 
explicitly that they were respectful of the rule of law, and 
that they therefore gave all evidence to the judiciary; they 
were fed up with bombings and violence, and wanted peace; and 
they believe that these incidents will never end unless the 
Kurdish issue is resolved by allowing education in Kurdish, 
expression of the Kurdish culture, Kurdish language 
broadcasting, and a declaration by the GOT of a general amnesty 
for the PKK. 
 
Comment 
----------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) While the GOT continues to take steps to place the 
Semdinli incident into judicial and administrative channels, 
regional opinions on GOT sincerity in pursuing a full-fledged 
judicial inquiry remain skeptical.  There are no signs that GOT 
efforts to shed light on the case have eased tensions in the 
southeast.  Civil unrest typical of that found in Adana and 
Mersin over the past two weeks has ceased; but violence in the 
southeast continues.  The continuing violence may be due 
partially to milder than normal weather in southeast Turkey, but 
the main reason is  failure by all sides to take steps to 
resolve underlying Turkish-Kurdish political tensions. 
REID