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 000025 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 02, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 02, 
¶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:       The draft report prepared by the Turkish 
Parliamentary Commission for Honor Killings sparked a debate at 
the Turkish Parliament.  CHP (Republican People Party) members 
claimed that the recommendations section of the report did not 
sufficiently address the issue of feudal family structures and 
honor killings. 
 
HURRIYET:       The court reached a verdict about twenty-four 
defendants including former DEHAP (Democratic People's Party) 
mayors of Diyarbakir, Siirt, Batman and Bingol provinces, who 
have been on trial for six years on charges of establishing 
contact with Murat Karayilan, a senior leader of PKK/Kongra-Gel, 
in Holland and granting some of the state resources allocated to 
the municipalities to the PKK.  Former Batman Mayor Abdullah 
Akin, former Siirt Mayor Selim Ozalp, former Bingol mayors 
Feyzullah Karaaslan and Selahattin Ertas, have been acquitted in 
the case.  Files of former Diyarbakir Mayor Feridun Celik and 
the other 13 defendants have been closed due to the statute of 
limitations.  A PKK defector has been sentenced to 2 years and 
one month in prison.  Four other defendants have been sentenced 
to 7.5 years in prison. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Turkish Parliament's Commission Probing the 
Semdinli Case has reportedly focused its attention to the 
alleged links of non-Commissioned Officer Ali Kaya with the 1996 
Susurluk case when a car accident in Susurluk revealed the 
scandalous links of a politician, a police chief and a mafia 
leader in Turkey.  The commission will reportedly hear 
statements from Kutlu Savas, former Inspection Board Chairperson 
of the Prime Minister's Office, who created a report on the 
Susurluk case then. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Frequently occurring power outages in Van's 
Bostanici quarter have been causing serious inconveniences for 
the dwellers of the area. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Alevis, as required by their ritual 
obligations, have started a 12-day fasting term in the month of 
Muharram.  In Tunceli, a province densely populated by Alevis, 
some of the food selling stores and diners will stay closed 
during the interval which commemorates the assassination of 
Caliph Hussein in the Karbala desert.  The fasting period is 
called Twelve Imam Fasting. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:    The daily claims that reported evidence has 
been disclosed on alleged negligence on the part of the health 
authorities in Van for covering up the cause of the deaths of 
two children, who were transferred from Agri province's 
Dogubeyazit when bird-flu broke out in the district.  According 
to the daily, Van Centennial University's Research Hospital said 
that there was no bird flu in the children; however, the 
hospital procedures ordering burial of the children stated the 
cause of the death as bird flu. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Twelve people in Iraq have been hospitalized 
and their cases are suspected as bird flu.  Separately, unusual 
chicken deaths observed a week ago in Elazig's Keban district 
and tests confirming bird flu in the birds have caused the 
authorities to impose quarantines in the district and start 
culling birds.  Moreover, four small children suspected as 
having contracted bird flu in Agri's Buyukagadeve village have 
been transferred to the hospital in Erzurum. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   PKK Chief Headquarters reportedly issued a 
public statement to pay condolences to the family of the 
Nakshibendi Sheikh from Batman, Suleyman Bagdu (55), who was 
killed in an ambush on the Batman-Siirt road yesterday (January 
31,200) at 3.30 p.m. The assailants using automatic guns left 26 
bullet marks on the jeep and wounded five others. In addition to 
the sheikh, Abdullatif Engin, who was in the jeep and heavily 
wounded, also lost his life. The sheikh's relatives and 
followers rushed to the hospital after the assassination. The 
Batman Security Director, Arif Oksuz, announced that the 
incident was not of political nature, and that the incident was 
being investigated. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Artist Ferhat Tunc, who was invited by the 
Danish Parliament to deliver a speech in the parliament (see 
press summary 01/30), gave a small concert in the parliament 
following his speech and was given a standing ovation by the 
parliamentarians.  Ferhat Tunc has been on trial in Turkey under 
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for writing an article for 
Ozgur Gundem which reportedly used a two-word term in Turkish 
which is equivalent of "deeper unlawful structures rooted in the 
(Turkish) judiciary". 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Mothers for Peace Initiative members in Van 
and Diyarbakir ended the strike they started on January 20 to 
extend support to Abdullah Ocalan.  Meanwhile, fifteen members 
of the Democratic People's Initiative launched a rolling strike 
in Mardin's Derik district to protest the procedures applied in 
Imrali Prison that reportedly paved the way for to the 
"isolation" of Abdullah Ocalan in the prison on the island. 
Moreover, 18 people in Adana started a hunger strike on the same 
grounds in Adana's Human Rights Association.  Separately, Mus 
Democratic People's Initiative members staged a march in the 
province and police intervened without warning the crowd in 
advance. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Greens Party in Sweden condemned Turkey's 
efforts to black out pro-PKK Roj TV.  Meanwhile, Kurdish 
Writers' Association condemned the investigation started against 
56 mayor of the southeastern region from DTP (Democratic Society 
Party) who sent a letter to the Danish Prime Minister not to 
block the broadcasting of Roj TV. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Following the meeting held in Yuregir district 
of Adana, Ziya Aydemir has been assigned as the Adana DTP 
provincial chairperson once again. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A long queue of trucks piled up at the Habur 
border again. Truck drivers are reportedly suffering from the 
slowness of the border operations, a situation which is 
reportedly caused by the insufficient number of personnel at the 
gate. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The court, which brought action against 
attorney Hasip Kaplan decided to discontinue the lawsuit against 
Kaplan when forensic medicine authorities found out that the man 
in a photograph posing with Murat Karayilan, a senior leader of 
PKK/Kongra-Gel, was not Hasip Kaplan.  The photograph, which was 
reportedly taken in the Qandil Mountains, was found on a 
captured PKK member. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        Workers in Batman's Tekel 
Cigarette Factory staged a protest against the privatization 
policies adopted by the government and laid a black wreath in 
front of the provincial AKP (Justice and Development Party) 
premise.  Meanwhile, workers in Diyarbakir Tekel Cigarette 
Factory extended support to the workers in Batman by paying a 
visit to the Batman workers with a 50-person delegation. 
 
EVRENSEL:       Turkish Parliamentary Commission Probing Semdinli 
Case heard statements from Tacettin Aslan, Semdinli Security 
Director.  Aslan reportedly said that they did not have any 
intelligence information about Seferi Yilmaz, owner of the 
bombed Umut Bookstore in Semdinli; but, they had received a 
tip-off that a package would be received (by unspecified persons 
at an unspecified place.) According to Aslan, when they heard 
the explosion, they were in the midst of a meeting.  Aslan 
further said that he went to the site of the incident and saw 
that people were throwing stones at a car and a man (PKK 
defector Veysel Ates) was sitting in the car. Aslan claimed that 
no armored vehicle opened fire at the people who held 
demonstrations following the incident.  Aslan confirmed firing 
into air by officers standing on the vehicle. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / BOLGE:  To 
revive the poultry sector in Adana, Adana Municipality and 
owners of poultry integrated plants will hold a picnic on 
February 4 on one of the old bridges over the Seyhan river, and 
chicken will be the main dish of this activity. 
 
YENI SAFAK:     Mustafa Eraslan, attorney of Abdullah Ocalan, said 
that retrial process of Abdullah Ocalan has started following 
his clients application to the Ankara 11th Heavy Penalty Court. 
However, article 311 of the Turkish Penal Code was still posing 
an impediment concerning the retrial process of Ocalan. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / BOLGE: 
Fifteen CHP (Republican People's Party) deputies, who 
established a commission to study the problems of citrus fruit 
farmers, have been holding a series of meetings with citrus 
fruit producers in various regions of Turkey.  The last meeting 
was held in Adana.  The CHP deputies, while they distributed the 
citrus fruit, which farmers were not able to sell, to people in 
the street for free, protested the government for neglecting the 
problems of the citrus fruit farmers. 
 
¶2.      SABAH (GUNEY):  CHP deputies extended support to the 
businessmen Bulent Ozulku who announced that he could buy the 
TEKEL Cigarette Factory if the government decides to privatize 
the premise. 
REID