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 000016 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 20, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 20, 
¶2006.  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 (CUKUROVA):    Owners of chicken farms in the Cukurova 
region have been suffering serious economic losses and most of 
them reportedly are not able to pay the debts incurred for 
chicken feed.  Reportedly, thousands of chickens may starve to 
death at farms since the owners are not able to feed them 
anymore. 
 
HURRIYET / SABAH:       Four of the 36 children, who have been under 
hospital treatment because doctors have suspected their cases as 
bird flu, have recently been kidnapped by their families. 
Doctors expressed that they had no idea why the parents took 
away their children, and the treatment of the children has not 
been completed yet. 
 
HURRIYET:       Three provinces have been added to the list of 
places where there are patients suspected as having bird flu. 
These provinces are Mardin, Tunceli, and Aydin. 
 
HURRIYET / ZAMAN:       The third court hearing litigating Van 
Centennial University Rector Yucel Askin was held yesterday in 
Van.  Undersecretary of Treasury attended the court hearing as 
an intervening attorney.  The court heard statements of staff 
working at the hospital units for which medical devices were 
purchased as a result of a tender opened by the university. The 
court was then adjourned to February 23.  Meanwhile, two 
Turkish-origin deputies of the German parliament have extended 
support to Askin through a written press announcement. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        People in Semdinli reacted to the 
court releasing Sergeant Tanju Cavus as he continued to stand 
trial on charges of killing Ali Yilmaz when Cavus opened fire at 
a demonstrating crowd after the November 9 Semdinli incident. 
Tradesmen in the district did not open their businesses today as 
a sign of protest against the court decision.  Esat Canan, 
Hakkari deputy from CHP (Republican People's Party), recalled 
the remarks of PM Erdogan who had said that courts could not use 
Semdinli citizens as witnesses since they might be under threat 
by the PKK, asked whether the words of PM Erdogan had proved 
themselves true in the course of that proceeding.  Semdinli 
Mayor Hursit Tekin added that this court case would set an 
example to other military officers and encourage them (to kill 
people). 
 
EVRENSEL:       The daily reported claims circulating about a radar 
base established in the Amanos Mountains in Hatay at an altitude 
of 1770 meters.  According to the claims of people concerned 
about the presence of a radar base in Hatay and the possibility 
that the U.S. could be using it to monitor the Middle East, 
American officers from Incirlik Airbase are paying visits at 
times to the site. 
 
SABAH / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN:        Diyarbakir 
Prosecutor's Office started a probe against Ahmet Turk, 
co-chairperson of DTP (Democratic Society Party), because of the 
press announcement (see press summary 01/19) of DTP 
Co-chairpersons and 56 mayors of the southeastern region in 
Turkey to make a call to the government not to aggravate 
tensions by confining the terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan to a 
cell in his solitary prison in Imrali Island for 20 days. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan reportedly 
met with his attorneys and told them that his room was emptied, 
his books and his radio were taken away for 20 days.  Ocalan 
reportedly claimed that such conditions were meant to develop 
suicidal tendencies in him.  Ocalan said that he would not 
commit suicide but should he die, the state would be held 
accountable. 
 
 ZAMAN / SABAH: Three soldiers died and 13 of them were 
wounded when a military car had an accident on a road between 
Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep. 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   A journalist from Gun TV was allegedly 
attacked by a village agha and his men in a village in 
Diyarbakir's Bismil district (on an unspecified date) during an 
activity carried out by IP (Labor Party) to protest the agha, 
who attempted to till land that belonged to the Treasury.  Gun 
TV news director demanded that the action be brought against the 
assailants. 
 
EVRENSEL:       Following the decision of the Adana Cigaratte 
Factory workers not to leave their workplaces until the 
government withdrew its decision to close down the factory, the 
workers in Malatya Cigarette Factory also started a similar 
strike in their factory. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    The volume of transactions in the Free 
Trade Zone of Gaziantep reportedly has decreased by 16 percent 
last year compared to the figures of 2004. 
 
¶2.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    The businessmen of Hatay paid a 
visit to Ahmet Kayhan, the new governor of Hatay, and provided 
information to the governor on the current problems awaiting 
solution in the province.  BIRSIAD (United Businessmen and 
Industrialists Association) Chairperson Mehmet Narin said that 
the most pressing problem for Hatay was the airport, whose 
construction has been left incomplete for years.  Narin also 
noted that a joint effort to build a dam on the Asi River with 
Syria should be a top priority on the list of issues to be 
addressed for the province. 
REID