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 000050 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MARCH 15, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for March 15, 
¶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 
 
RADIKAL:        Hanri Leylek, Bishop of Catholic Church in Mersin, 
made a press announcement together with the spiritual leader of 
the church, Roberto Ferrari, in Mersin, and said that a man with 
a knife came to the church on March 11 and attacked them during 
the rehearsals of a theater play.  The assailant reportedly 
forcibly took the cell phone of the bishop and ran away after 
making threatening remarks.  Mr. Leylek and Deputy Security 
Director of Mersin confirmed that assailant was caught, his 
statement would be taken and he (assailant) would be arraigned. 
 
ZAMAN:  The council of ministers will discuss tomorrow 
celebrations that will be held on March 21 for Newruz. 
Authorities from MIT intelligence center, Security Directorate, 
and Jandarma will take part in this meeting.  The daily 
separately claimed that PKK has been scheming murders to provoke 
people and it has been devising bomb incidents to exert its 
influence. 
 
ZAMAN:  DTP will be holding the celebrations in four major 
cities of the southeastern province, namely Istanbul, 
Diyarbakir, Batman and Van.  DTP will reportedly recruit a 
thousand people to mitigate any kind of incitement that may take 
place during the celebrations. 
 
ZAMAN:  Police found twenty kilograms of heroin in a car in 
Van during a search. 
 
YENI SAFAK:     Ali Urkut, former DEHAP Deputy National Chairperson, 
has been sentenced to one year and three months in prison on 
grounds that he conducted an unauthorized gathering (on an 
unspecified date.) 
 
YENI SAFAK / CUMHURIYET:        Kurdish groups which are opponents 
of Syrian regime have held a meeting in the U.S. Senate building 
to mark the second anniversary of the conflicts that broke out 
between Kurdish groups and security forces in 2004 in Syria.  A 
map in the hand-outs delivered during the meeting depicted 
Trabzon, Antalya and Ankara provinces in Turkey as in the 
territory of "Greater Kurdistan." 
 
RADIKAL / YENI SAFAK / CUMHURIYET:      Deniz Baykal, CHP national 
leader, claimed that ratings on the Semdinli Case indictment 
have broken records in Turkey.  Baykal criticized attempts of 
certain circles that so easily and willingly held guilty Land 
Forces Commander who "is indeed in the position to serve as the 
future Chief of Staff in Turkey."  Cumhuriyet daily reported 
remarks of the CHP leader as blaming PM Erdogan and his party 
for involving themselves in a dark plot against the miltary. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     The Semdinli case file, which is comprised of more 
than 10,000 pages, reportedly included records of telephone 
conversations among members of the terrorist organization and 
allegedly revealed that PKK obtained reports created by JITEM 
(Jandarma Intelligence Center).  The report cited two terrorists 
reportedly sharing intelligence information obtained about them 
among themselves in a telephone conversation, and exchanging 
ideas concerning this information. 
 
YENI SAFAK:     Twenty-three civil society organizations in Van 
extended support to the Prosecutor Ferhar Sarikaya who prepared 
the Semdinli case indictment. 
 
YENI SAFAK:     The government has committed itself to complete last 
phase of the reforms in the path to the EU access ahead of 
parliamentary summer recess.  Reform Watch Group, which has been 
led by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, has determined major areas 
of reform that will be subject to legal revision.  One of the 
major areas to be handled will be the relationship of civilians 
and the military. 
 
YENI SAFAK / HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET:     Kurds will hold a reception 
in Ankara on March 23 this year to celebrate Newruz instead of 
hitting streets and burning tires outside.  Kurdish Democracy 
Forum, which was established in February 1, invited PM Erdogan 
and political party leaders, and Ankara representatives of Iraqi 
President Calal Talabani and IKDP leader Massoud Barzani, to the 
reception.  Meanwhile, one of the columnists of Hurriyet 
criticized DTP Diyarbakir provincial chairperson for sending out 
Newruz invitations in Kurdish to Talabani and Barzani and for 
calling Diyarbakir by its Kurdish "Amed" name in the 
invitations. 
 
YENI SAFAK:     Bingol Governor's Office announced that 84 of the 
families that applied to benefit from the law that aims to 
compensate for damage and losses incurred by the people in the 
eastern and southeastern region have been paid 1,200,000 new 
Turkish liras to date. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A court of first instance started action in 
Diyarbakir against the use of a Kurdish name for a women's 
association called "Pelda." 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   As Newruz draws near, people in the region 
started celebrating Newruz by burning tires in the streets.  In 
Sirnak, police reportedly intervened when youth started burning 
tires and shouting slogans in support for Abdullah Ocalan in 
some quarters of the district.  People in Van burned Newruz fire 
and youth shouted slogans in support for Ocalan.  NGOs in Agri's 
Dogubeyazit district held a meeting in the DTP provincial 
headquarters and announced the Newruz program. 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   S?rnak Governor's Office, which has recently 
turned down the application documents of the Newruz committees 
that used Kurdish "w" and "o" letters in the Kurdish word 
"Newroz", now decided to grant authorization to the applications 
involving those letters following a second meeting with the 
Newruz committee.  Menawhile, Newruz celebrations and 
preparations for it have been continuing in Diyarbakir. 
Diyarbakir Newruz Committee hung big banners in the streets 
reading "Newroz piroz be! (Happy Newruz!). There is still Hope 
for Peace."  Meanwhile, Security Directorate in Adana turned 
down an application submitted by the Newruz Committee for using 
the letter "w" in the documents.  Celebrations in Adana will be 
held on March 18. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   An indictment Diyarbakir Chief Prosecutor 
prepared concerning the case of Osman Uzan allegedly refers to 
the Kurdish people as "so-called" people.  Charges will be 
brought against Uzan who allegedly shouted slogans in support of 
Abdullah Ocalan during a press announcement of TUHAD-FED 
(Federation Initiative for Solidarity with Inmate Families) in 
Diyarbakir on January 16, 2006. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   According to the daily, police have been 
implementing heavy security measures in Van following last 
week's bomb attack.  Police reportedly prescribed a car cleaning 
business to relocate its business elsewhere to provide more 
security to the area surrounding Governor's Office.  The owner 
of the business claims that the police are obliging them to 
leave because of their Kurdish origin. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   PKK reportedly claimed that during the 
four-day military operation Turkish Armed Forces launched on 
March 9 in the Gabar Mountain in Sirnak, 13 soldiers allegedly 
have died. 
 
CUMHURIYET / RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM:    Atilla Kart, Konya 
deputy from CHP, have brought the case of Kilis Mayor and former 
deputy Ekrem Cetin and his son Cahit Cetin, who were murdered on 
June 3, 2005 in Kilis, to the agenda of the Turkish Parliament, 
and requested a response from the Interior Minister concerning 
this question.  Kart reportedly inquired about the particular 
question concerning whether Mustafa Demir, who allegedly aided 
and abetted the killing of the mayor and his son, was an 
intelligence member or not. 
 
CUMHURIYET / BOLGE:     Adana will celebrate today the 84th 
anniversary of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's visit to the Adana 
province. 
REID