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DE RUEHDA #0114/01 1430622
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 230622Z MAY 06
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4145
INFO RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 0743
RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0694
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0601
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000114 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MAY 22, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for May 22, 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 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A bomb explosion took place on Friday (05/19) 
in a trash can located in front of the apartment building where 
Sabahattin Suvagci, former DEHAP (Democratic People's Party) 
provincial chairperson, has been living in Hakkari.  No 
casualties have been reported.  The daily hints that bombings 
are being orchestrated to refute claims that bombings in the 
region that took place in the second half of 2005 abruptly 
stopped when defendants of Semdinli case were arrested.  PKK, 
according to the paper, had already denied any links with the 
May 3 bombing incident this year in Hakkari, which targeted a 
school bus.  That bombing, the daily hints, has reportedly 
already been used by the defendants themselves in a May 4 court 
session to prove that bombings did not abruptly stop following 
arrest of Semdinli case defendants. 
 
EVRENSEL / EKSPRES / BOLGE:     A tragic accident took place when 
a truck, which was carrying trafficked Afghani and Bangladeshi 
nationals, hit another truck on the road between Gaziantep and 
Adana on Friday (05/19).  Forty-three people were killed and 4 
people were wounded as a result of the accident. 
 
RADIKAL:        Ankara Governor's Office demanded twenty-three 
amendments to the charter of the Association for Academic 
Research and Kurdish Democracy Forum on grounds that some items 
violated the Turkish constitution's clauses against separatism. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The PKK claimed that six soldiers and a 
village guard died during military operations going on in 
Diyarbakir, Mardin and Hakkari provinces. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:    Foreign national delegates of the 5th ICAD 
(International Conference Against Disapperances) in Diyarbakir 
have reportedly been baffled by reported police activities such 
as recording events during the conference, obtaining identity 
information of the disappeared people who delivered talks during 
the conference, and barring the closing date of the conference. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        A campaign has been launched 
recently to gather signatures from people in support of 
Diyarbakir's Sur District Mayor Abdullah Demirbas.  A lawsuit 
was brought against Demirbas for submitting an article called 
"Municipalities and Local Administrations in the Light of 
Multi-Language Environments" to European Social Forum in Vienna. 
 Separately, an investigation has begun against Cevdet Konak, 
Hozat district mayor in Tunceli, reportedly because of a speech 
he delivered at a festival in Germany. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Thousands, including Nusaybin mayor, authors 
of the weekly Kurdish language newspaper Azadiya Welat, DTP 
Nusaybin administrators, Egitim-Sen (Teacher's Union) members, 
SES (Health Laborers' Union) members, BES (Laborers' Union) 
members, attended a concert which was organized by Mardin's 
Nusaybin Municipality.  Police, reportedly seized 
green-yellow-red colored scarves from women and demaned copies 
of the identities of two musicians. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   An investigation has been started against 
seven people including DTP Nizip district chairperson in 
Sanliurfa on charges that they "praised criminals" and "chanted 
illegal slogans" during a January 25 dated youth festival in 
Sanliurfa's Birecik district. 
 
CUMHURIYET / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:   Local DTP congresses 
have been held in Van, Mardin, Adana and Sanliurfa provinces. 
Ibrahi Sunkur, Ferhat Turk (currently under arrest), Kerem Ugur 
and Ibrahim Binici have been elected provincial chairmen of Van, 
Mardin, Adana and Sanliurfa provinces respectively.  Yesterday 
DTP also held two congresses in Diyarbakir and Istanbul.  DTP 
co-chairperson Aysel Tugluk made a call to authorities to act 
more bravely to reach a democratic solution for the Kurdish 
problem in Diyarbakir. 
 
YENI SAFAK / ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:      A 4.8-magnitude earthquake 
hit Bitlis and Siirt yesterday morning.  The epicenter of the 
earthquake is reportedly Bitlis's Hizan district.  No casualties 
or material damage has been reported. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The ministry of education in England has 
reportedly begun revising its policies about languages being 
taught at schools in England.  Among current discussion topics 
are integrating new languages in school programs including 
Kurdish language and its dialects. 
 
ADANA 00000114  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
YENI SAFAK / RADIKAL / BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):     Gaziantep 
Security Directorate conducted operations and seized four 
undocumented shotguns, six cartridges, and 385 bullets in a 
business place and a storage house in Gaziantep.  Thirty-six 
tons of smuggled diesel fuel, 65 kilograms of smuggled tea, and 
100 kilograms of sugar have also been seized.  A total of 26 
people, five of whom were customs officers, have been detained 
during the operations and police have started monitoring the 
Kilis border gate closely. 
 
RADIKAL:        A bee keeper, who opened fire in the air thinking 
that a wild animal entered his apiary, was shot dead by security 
officers who mistook the bee keeper for a terrorist in the dead 
of the night in Erzincan's Pulumur district. 
 
EVRENSEL:       Adana branch of Chamber of Electrical Engineers 
(CEE) held a panel against nuclear power plants.  Tuncay Ozkul, 
CEE chairperson; Tacidar Seyhan, CHP deputy from Adana; a 
nuclear engineer, CEE board president and member engineers 
attended the panel discussion. 
 
EKSPRES:        AGIMAD (Clothing Brands Association in Adana) will 
protest the Industrial and Commercial Fair of Adana this year 
and 22 companies under the umbrella of the association will 
boycott the fair unless the organizers of the fair are chosen 
from among more professional companies. 
 
ZAMAN / BOLGE / EKSPRES:        With the coming of wheat harvest 
in the Cukurova region, the farmers are reportedly expecting the 
government to announce incentives to support wheat buying. 
Fethi Coskuntuncel, Chairperson of Adana Commodity Exchange, 
said that the government should provide regional incentives for 
wheat buying instead of buying wheat from the farmers; a measure 
which would trigger self generated agricultural planning, 
according to Coskuntuncel. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Efforts reportedly gained momentum in 
Gaziantep as the day for the International Iraqi Fair, which 
will be held on June 7, neared. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Hatay Governor Ahmet Kayhan said that the 
bidding process of the airport project for Hatay had begun and 
the airport would be completed in the following year. 
 
EVRENSEL:       Youth for Labor group in Diyarbakir remembered Deniz 
Gezmis, a young leftist student leader of the 1970s and his 
friends, who were hung by a military tribunal in 1972 in Turkey, 
on the 34th anniversary of their execution. 
 
ZAMAN:  PM Erdogan met with Deputy Secretary of State in 
Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh city where World Economic Forum is being 
held.  Erdogan sent a message to the U.S. to start fighting 
against the PKK. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     Patriotic Front against Imperialism protested in 
Hatay's Iskenderun district the reported U.S. aspirations to use 
the port of Iskenderun as a military base. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     Seven terrorists, who were caught in an operation 
conducted in Nigde province on May 16, have been arraigned and 
arrested.  The terrorists are reportedly members of TKP-ML TIKKO 
(Liberation Army of the Workers and Peasants of Turkey) 
terrorist organization. 
WILSON