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 000055 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MARCH 23, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for March 23, 
¶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 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   Concerning the issue of foreign 
nationals attending the Newruz celebrations, Spokesperson of 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "Should an unlawful conduct 
took place, it is natural and for certain that required measures 
against misconduct will be taken...I do not know the 
circumstances that surround these foreign nationals' visit to 
Turkey. These will be examined and assessed by our authorities." 
 
HURRIYET / ZAMAN:       Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, allowed a 
Newruz reception to be held at the municipality building where 
people participating in the reception wore badges of Abdullah 
Ocalan.  In his speech Livingstone said that Kurds had been 
suffering oppression for ages. Livingstone used the word 
"Kurdistan" in his speech.  In his remarks made to the Cihan 
News Agancy, Livingstone further stressed that they should 
extend a helping hand concerning human rights issues to the 
Kurdish minority in Turkey. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   DTP Co-Chairpersons held a press conference 
following the Newruz celebrations in Diyarbakir.  Co-Chairperson 
Aysel Tugluk said that people showed what they wanted, namely 
peace and democracy.  People showed that they considered the 
Turkish Parliament and the government as responsible authorities 
to solve the Kurdish issue through democratic means, according 
to Tugluk.  Co-Chairperson Ahmet Tugluk said that the people 
made a call to the government and to all people in the world 
that they wanted peace right now.  Ahmet Turk denied allegations 
that Leyla Zana severed her ties with DTP. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A one-hour scuffle took place between a group 
of people and police in Barbaros quarter of Seyhan district in 
Adana.  According to the daily, people hurled stones at police 
when police used tear gas to disperse people who were shouting 
pro-Ocalan slogans and waving PKK flags. Unspecified number of 
people have been wounded and detained.  Meanwhile, an 80-person 
group attempted to hold an unauthorized Newruz celebration in a 
quarter of Erzincan, and Jandarma intervened. 26 people have 
been detained for violating the bill on holding demonstrations 
and gatherings. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Ten thousand people have reportedly 
participated in the demonstrations held in the outskirts of the 
Qandil Mountain in Iraq.  Guerillas and local people have 
gathered together and danced local dances. 
 
RADIKAL:        Minister of Interior had announced before the Newruz 
celebrations that waving or carrying flags other than the 
Turkish flag during the celebrations would be regarded as an 
offence, according to the daily.  National Security Directorate 
announced that March 19 through 21, eighty-nine people have been 
detained on grounds that they carried pro-PKK and pro-Ocalan 
banners and they shouted pro-PKK slogans during Newruz 
celebrations.  Eight of them have been arrested.  These figures 
may reportedly increase because police will reportedly scan all 
footages taken during the celebrations to identify people 
participating in wrongdoing.   Police have already started 
monitoring the records of the Diyarbakir Newruz celebrations. 
According to the Security Directorate, a total of 414,000 people 
participated in the 89 celebrations held in 45 provinces and 36 
districts.  According to these figures, there was a 25 percent 
decrease in the number of participants as compared to the 
previous years. 
 
ZAMAN:  Narcotics Branch of the Diyarbakir Security 
Directorate launched a crackdown on the drug traffickers and 
seized 40 kilograms of hashish in Diyarbakir.  Six people have 
been detained in connection with the crackdown. 
 
ZAMAN:  A 5th-grader primary school student (11) in Mersin's 
Tarsus district attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself 
allegedly because his teacher beat him.  The child's brain death 
reportedly took place. 
 
ZAMAN / RADIKAL:        Sabri Uzun, National Security Directorate's 
Intelligence Center Chief, has been removed from office upon 
instructions from the Interior Minister.  Uzun had already 
implied in the statements he gave to parliamentary commission 
probing Semdinli case that Jandarma was responsible for the 
bombings that took place in the last quarter of 2005 in Hakkari. 
 
RADIKAL:        The daily reported that parliamentary commission 
probing the Semdinli case would go on a five-day trip to 
Semdinli on March 27.  On the first day of the trip, the 
commission members will talk with non-commissioned officers who 
are held as the defendants of the case and who are under arrest 
in Van.  On the same day, some commission members will go to 
Bitlis and meet with the third defendant, Veysel Ates, who is a 
PKK defector.  Commission members will go to Hakkari, Yuksekova, 
and Semdinli on Tuesday (03/28), Wednesday and Thursday 
respectively.  Commission members will hear statements of Seferi 
Yilmaz, the bombed bookstore owner, in Hakkari.  It is not yet 
certain whether the commission will hear statements of 
Prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya or not. 
 
ZAMAN:  Ibrahim Ozdogan, a deputy from Motherland Party and 
member of the parliamentary commission probing Semdinli case, 
when asked why he would not go with other commission members to 
Semdinli, said that it was not the case that he was worried to 
go to a place where security is a concern; rather he would not 
go because he wanted to protest the government by his refusal to 
go.  Ozdogan claimed that security issues would never be solved 
in the southeastern region if Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu 
remained in his position. 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   Zaman daily reported that Leyla Zana, 
former DEP (Democracy Party), and DTP party organization have 
severed ties with each other.  Zana reportedly was made to 
choose between political life and her family after her husband 
returned from Europe.  Mehdi Zana, Leyla Zana's husband, was 
reportedly already ousted by the PKK and DTP circles because of 
his past statements against the PKK. Ozgur Gundem reported 
statements of DTP co-chairpersons as dismissing such 
allegations.  DTP Co-chairperson Aysel Tugluk added that Zana 
participated in the Newruz celebrations and they were continuing 
dialogue and exchanging ideas with Zana. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Gun TV and radio station will start 
broadcasting in Kurdish language as of today with a 45-minute 
program called Dergusa Cande (The Cradle of Culture).  A 
columnist reported that this was a right won as a result of a 
judicial struggle that lasted two years. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Residence permits of 700 Yezidis have been 
annulled in Germany reportedly as a result of a report generated 
by a delegation which recently toured Yezidi towns in 
southeastern Turkey such as Batman's Besiri, Sanliurfa's 
Viransehir, and Mardin's Midyat districts.  The delegation 
reported that Yezidis were not being oppressed because of their 
faiths in Turkey. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A mathematics teacher has reportedly been 
detained in Tunceli as he was tutoring his class on grounds that 
he participated in an event held to mark March 8 Women's Day 
which allegedly aimed to make terrorism propaganda. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Attorneys of Abdullah Ocalan were reportedly 
prevented from meeting their client on grounds that the vessel 
that would carry them to the prison island was broken. The daily 
reports that it has been four weeks since Ocalan's attorneys 
have not been able to meet with Ocalan. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Eight person Italian delegation members, who 
took part in Newruz celebrations in Mardin's Nusaybin and 
Kiziltepe districts, reportedly said that human rights 
violations were disturbing them.  Delegation members added that 
it was unacceptable to proclaim a person (Abdullah Ocalan) as a 
terrorist especially when such a lot of people was regarding him 
as their leader. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Second Army Commander General Sukru Sariisik, 
Van Jandarma Army Corps Commander General Selahattin Ugurlu and 
Sirnak 23rd Jandarma Border Division's Major General Ahmet Yavuz 
paid a visit to the Sirnak Governor Selahattin Apari. 
 
RADIKAL / HURRIYET:     KIK (Public Tenders Authority) started 
an investigation against AKP officials upon allegations that 
companies owned by AKP members in Hatay had been awarded 266 
contracts out of 271 public tenders. 
REID