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DE RUEHDA #0102/01 1290524
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RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0678
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000102 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MAY 08, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for May 08, 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 / BOLGE / EKSRPES:        Abdullah Dogru, chairperson of AKP 
Adana party organization, withdrew from chairmanship race hours 
before the election time upon reported instructions from PM 
Erdogan who was in Adana over the weekend.  From among two 
candidates who ran for chairmanship, Mustafa Attaroglu, who was 
reportedly endorsed by the party center, won by receiving 398 
votes out of 643 delegates.  Dogru gave messages of solidarity 
following the contest. (This summary is from 05/07 editions.) 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE / EKSPRES:        AKP Adana provincial 
congress winner Attorney Mustafa Attaroglu, who was reportedly 
being backed by Seyhan and Yuregir district delegates, said that 
nobody lost the race in the run for chairmanship.  Meanwhile, 
Ekspres daily noted that many AKP delegates criticized lack of 
democratic processes within the party upon PM Erdogan's orders 
for Abdullah Dogru to withdraw from the race before the party 
election. 
 
BOLGE:  Cukurova Journalists Association condemned the bomb 
attack carried out on the premises of Cumhuriyet daily in 
Istanbul. 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   First hearing of the trial of defendants 
of Semdinli case lasted for two days.  Defendants Ali Kaya and 
Ozcan Ildeniz claimed that they had no connection with the 
bombing of the bookstore in Semdinli on November 9.  During the 
hearing, as the third defendant Veysel Ates's (PKK defector) 
statement would be taken following the statements given by two 
defendants, the claimant's attorneys demanded that the other 
defendants be taken out of the courtroom since Ates was their 
junior officer.  The defendants' attorneys demanded that 
claimant Seferi Yilmaz (bookstore owner) also be taken out of 
the courtroom.  The court then ordered that those three people 
be taken out of the room during Veysel Ates's statements. 
Court jurors overturned the demand of intervening attorneys to 
take nine civilian Jandarma officials out of the courtroom.  At 
the end of the hearing, the court decided that the defendants 
stay under arrest and the court be adjourned to June 1. (This 
summary is from 05/07 editions.) 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   June 1 trial of the Semdinli case will 
reportedly hear the statements of owner of the bookstore which 
was bombed on November 9 last year.  Esat Canan, Hakkari deputy 
from CHP, and Diyarbakir businessman Mehmet Ali Altindag will 
testify as witnesses as well.  The court officials will then 
read the statements of 37 witnesses from Hakkari.  It is also 
expected the information the court solicited from Jandarma 
National Command about all rewards, prizes and certificates 
granted to the defendants will be received by the court by June 
¶1.   One of the attorneys told the daily that the pressure on 
the court could be intensified in the coming days, since the 
court did not release the defendants. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        The dailies criticized PM Erdogan 
for saying nothing about resolving the Kurdish issue during his 
visit to Diyarbakir on Sunday (05/07) which sharply contrasted 
his visit 9 months ago to the province.  Diyarbakir Mayor Osman 
Baydemir welcomed the premier at the airport, but did not attend 
Erdogan's party congress despite being invited.  Erdogan went to 
the party congress in Siirt following his tour to Diyarbakir. 
 
RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET / SABAH:   Radikal daily pointed out that PM 
Erdogan did not use the contentious term "Kurdish issue" during 
his address to people in Diyarbakir as compared to his former 
address last year in August.  Cumhuriyet daily quoted Erdogan as 
saying that his remarks uttered following the violent riots in 
Diyarbakir were abused and misinterpreted by certain circles. 
(Note: Erdogan was sharply criticized when he said then that the 
security forces would intervene even if the demonstrators were 
children or women. End Note.) Radikal daily added that 
Diyarbakir district mayors were not allowed at the airport to 
welcome the premier because their names were not included in the 
list. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Diyarbakir police reportedly conducted a raid 
on a house of a person whose brother was arrested during the 
violent riots at the end of March in Diyarbakir.  The person's 
brother was a chairperson of Diyarbakir Branch of Tum Bel Sen 
(Union of Municipality Employees).  Police seized books and 
journals about Tum Bel Sen found at the house. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        Members of the Human Rights 
 
ADANA 00000102  002 OF 002 
 
 
Association's Hakkari branch, while condemning the bomb attack 
on a school bus in Hakkari, pointed out a possible coincidence 
between the timing of the bombing of the school bus and the 
start of Semdinli trial. 
 
YENI SAFAK:     Two children, who were victims of a bomb attack on a 
school bus in Hakkari five days ago, have been discharged from 
hospital. 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   Thousands of people held a rally called 
'No to Terrorism' in Hakkari to condemn the terrorist attack 
carried out on a school bus in Hakkari three days ago.  Ozgur 
Gundem claims that this rally was mostly backed by military 
circles, police and village guards. (This summary is from 05/07 
editions.) 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM / SABAH:   An inmate at a jail in Malatya has been 
penalized with a 13-day confinement in a prison cell on charges 
of referring to Abdullah Ocalan with a courtesy title in Turkish 
in a letter that demanded the prisoner's transfer from the 
Malatya jail to the Imrali prison where Ocalan was being kept. 
Sabah daily in contrast reported seven inmates being punished by 
reading books for two months in the library on the same charges. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / SABAH (GUNEY):    Rifat Hisarciklioglu, 
Chairperson of TOBB (Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity 
Exchange), attended an informative meeting for businessman in 
Bitlis's Tatvan district.  Sabah's Guney supplement reported 
Hisarciklioglu as paying a visit to Mus and announcing that 
Eastern Anatolia Regional Meeting of TOBB would be held in Mus 
in June or July. 
REID