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 000046 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MARCH 13, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for March 13, 
¶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 / RADIKAL:     The two-day "Explorations for 
Civil and Democratic Solutions 1- Turkey's Kurdish Issue" 
conference was held in Istanbul's Bilgi University by the 
Helsinki Compatriots Association and the Emphaty Group. Police 
thoroughly searched all confernce participants, including 
Diyarbakir Governor Osman Baydemir.  No activities against the 
conference were held and no hostile incident developed during 
the first day of the conference (03/12).  Diyarbakir Mayor Osman 
Baydemir delivered a speech on the second day of the conference 
and expressed his concern and anxiety over weakening of ties 
between Kurds and Turks.  Disputes took place between journalist 
Hasan Cemal and Diyarbakir Bar Association Chairperson Sezgin 
Tanrikulu, and between Diyarbakir Governor Osman Baydemir and 
Diyarbakir Women's Center Chaireprson Nebahat Akkoc.  Cemal 
criticized Tanrikulu for blaming the state for every wrong 
circumstance and for his (Tanrikulu's) one-sided approach. 
Cemal made a call to the Kurdish intelligentsia to adopt a 
critical approach when talking about the PKK.  Nebahat Akkoc 
reacted when Osman Baydemir said that Kurdish women should not 
be branded as ignorant if they have not learned how to speak 
Turkish. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The daily criticized Istanbul's Bilgi 
University conference for excluding parties in the Kurdish issue 
who have been trying to work out solutions to address the 
matter.  The daily separately reported that Kurdish 
intellectuals of Syrian origin were holding a conference in 
Washington to discuss Syria's Kurdish issue. 
 
HURRIYET / ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM / CUMHURIYET:   Police 
identified the suicide bomber who killed three and wounded 19 
people in Van on March 9. Twenty-nine-year-old assailant's name 
is reportedly Devrim Solduk, and he is allegedly a PKK member. 
Zaman daily noted that the bomber was identified when the 
terrorist organization released his name on its internet site. 
According to the site, the terrorist organization dismissed any 
connection to the bombing and said that the activity was carried 
out upon the individual decision of the terrorist.  The website 
further announced that the bomb went off before the perpetrator 
was able to reach his target.  Meanwhile, DTP's Van branch 
condemned the bomb attack and its members left flowers at the 
site of the incident. 
 
CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM / RADIKAL: A 
clash broke out between the terrorists and security officers 
during a military operation which was launched on March 9 in 
Sirnak's Gabar Mountain.  A commissioned officer was killed 
during the clash.  Turkish military sent helicopters to the 
region to aid the operation. Zaman daily pointed out that this 
military operation was launched before the Newruz celebrations. 
 
HURRIYET:       A deputy from Motherland Party submitted a question 
to the Turkish Parliament concerning Mehmet Ali Altindag, a 
businessman and owner of Soz TV station, who gave statements to 
the parliamentary commission probing Semdinli case and who made 
allegations against Land Forces Commander Buyukanit, as having 
won millions of Turkish lira-worth contracts to date to carry 
out public undertakings. 
 
ZAMAN:  According to the daily, a terrorist organization has 
been launching sites on the internet feigning as official sites 
of the Turkish Armed Forces. By means of this method, nearly 80 
sites of the terrorist organization have been publishing 
propaganda against the Turkish military. 
 
ZAMAN:  Syria dissolved one of its organizations that was 
established in 1989 by its intelligence agency to annex the 
Hatay province in Turkey. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The daily has been reporting preparations of 
the DTP branches in Osmaniye, Tunceli, Hakkari and Mersin 
provinces ahead of Newruz celebrations.  Reportedly, the torch 
of the Newruz would be lit in Hakkari's Semdinli district. 
Applications submitted by the Newruz committees to the 
governors' offices in certain separate cities to receive 
authorization have been turned down on grounds that application 
forms included the letter "w" and "o" in the Kurdish word 
Newroz.  (Note: Turks spell the event as "Nevruz." End Note.) 
 
CUMHURIYET:     The court ruled that one of the three defendants in 
the case prosecuting three suspects of the February 13 bomb 
attack on a supermarket in Istanbul be arrested while he stood 
trial. 
 
RADIKAL:        Semdinli Jandarma Commander Major Erdem Yilmaz 
disclosed to the parliamentary commission probing Semdinli case 
that he (Yilmaz) was the one who released the two 
non-commissioned officers Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildeniz, the 
defendants of the November 9 (2005) Semdinli incident.  Yilmaz 
said that he gave the orders to send these officers to a 
military unit in a military vehicle following the incident. 
Yilmaz said that he had known the two officers because he had 
met them 15 or 16 times, since those officers were divulging 
intelligence information to Jandarma officials. 
 
EVRENSEL:       The daily reported that political parties and civil 
society organizations staged protests in Mersin, Adana and Hatay 
provinces against the U.S.'s current Middle East policies.  The 
political parties holding the protests were: EMEP (Labor Party), 
DTP (Democratic Society Party), SDP (Socialist Democracy Party), 
ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party), and ESP (Socialist Party of 
the Oppressed People). 
REID