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 000241 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 16, 2005 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for December 16, 
¶2005.  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 
 
HURRIYET / ZAMAN:       Land Forces Army Commander General Yasar 
Buyukanit, who was invited to Washington by the U.S. Army 
Command, pointed out during a speech he made in Washington that 
the PKK is not on NATO's terrorist organizations list. 
 
RADIKAL:        General Yasar Buyukanit, who was criticized in a 
report prepared by the Turkish Parliament's Human Rights 
Commission on the Semdinli case, said that he was really curious 
about whether a probe was ever conducted following the 
incidents. 
 
CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / RADIKAL:        Van Centennial University 
rector has been acquitted of the charges against him for not 
officially declaring and registering historical artifacts he 
allegedly kept possession of, because of lack of evidence.  The 
artifacts seized by the police will be returned to Askin.  The 
newspaper separately noted that six hours at the Court Hall 
reportedly caused Askin to end up with cardiac arrhythmia and 
high blood pressure. 
 
HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET:  YOK(Higher Education Board) Chairman 
Erdogan Tezic, in a press announcement, said that the venue of 
Yucel Askin's and eight other defendants' trial should be 
changed to enable a secure and fair trail.  Tezic further 
pointed out that the methods the court applied and its 
jurisdiction capacity were not even discussed during the trial. 
The newspaper separately noted that Jandarma Commander 
Selahattin Ugurlu hosted Tezic during his stay in Van. 
 
RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM: DTP (Democratic Society Party) held a 
meeting and started getting politically organized in Diyarbakir. 
 Co-chairpersons, senior members and many delegates participated 
in the meeting.  DTP Co-Chairperson Aysel Tugluk said that 
trying to come out with a solution (to the Kurdish issue) 
without us, without the representatives of the Kurdish people, 
and without (Kurdish) people is destined to be futile.  DTP 
Co-Chairperson Ahmet Turk said that Kurds must have the right to 
determine their own fate. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Camiel Eurlings, European Parliament's 
raporteur on Turkey, who came to Turkey to attend as an observer 
to the trial of the author Orhan Pamuk, told a Firat news Agency 
reporter that their optimism about the reforms made in Turkey 
was weakening.  If this situation continued, our relationships 
with Turkey will suffer serious problems, said Eurlings. 
According to Eurling, the Semdinli incident is a really grave 
problem which should be probed thoroughly; and what they hoped 
to see in southeastern Turkey was not an environment dominated 
by a heavy military presence, but one where civilians were in 
charge in addressing the issues. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The raid conducted on the premise of the 
Ulkede Ozgur Gundem newspaper (see press summary 12/15) was 
authorized by the Van Heavy Penaty Court aleedy as part of 
the Semdinli inestigaion.  he Geeral Publication Director of 
the ewspaprbrandd the raid as a "scandal", ad he frther 
said tat criminal evidence should be sought for in the ofices 
of JITEM (Jandarma Intelligence), not in a newspaper building. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   One of the attorneys of Abdullah Ocalan 
demanded that Ocalan go through a health check.  According to 
the newspaper, Ocalan is kept in a 13-square-meter-prison-cell 
and can only go out for one hour per day in the fresh air. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM: The paper reported that Ali Erol, who was 
allegedly taken into custody on October 12 during a checkpoint 
search of a bus in Hakkari, brought to a landfill area, beaten 
and threatened (see press summary 11/17), was reportedly called 
to the Jandarma Command after his release and was interrogated 
by Ali Kaya, one of the defendants of the Semdinli case. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Hundreds of people marched from the Silopi 
Municipality building to the center of Sirnak's Silopi district 
to protest the recent bombings in Semdinli.  People did not 
shout any slogans, but only kept silence during the march. 
 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Turkish Armed Forces initiated a large-scale 
military operation in Tunceli's Gulec village.  Reportedly, 
4,000 soldiers are deployed in the area.  Tunceli Governor's 
Office announced that the security forces seized two drums of 
Kannas rifles, a hand grenade and a backpack, 12 batteries and 
various other materials during an operation. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     Kurdish circles, which are against the PKK, will 
hold a two-day summit called "Kurdish National Democratic Study 
Group" tomorrow in Diyarbakir mainly to discuss two issues: the 
right to self-determination and formation of a federation.  It 
is expected that 250 people will participate in the event to 
explore new perspectives -- other than the ones the PKK propose 
-- for resolving the Kurdish issue. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     Following the kidnapping of nephews of former Batman 
deputy from ANAP (Motherland Party) by masked gunmen, hundreds 
of people raided the local Jandarma Station and demanded the 
release of the people kidnapped.  Jandarma officers reportedly 
had to convince people that the incident had no links with them. 
REID