VZCZCXRO5455
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0130/01 1530502
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020502Z JUN 06
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4169
INFO RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 0769
RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0718
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0619
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000130 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 01, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 01, 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 
 
HURRIYET ONLINE:        The second hearing of the Semdinli case 
started at Van's Third Heavy Penalty Court today at 11.30 am 
(see press summary 05/31).  The defendants have been brought to 
the courtroom under intense security measures and in high 
secrecy. Defendants Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildeniz have been brought 
from the Van Military Jail and PKK defector Veysel Ates has been 
brought from Bitlis Jail.  Mehmet Elkatmis, Turkish Parliament's 
Human Rights Commission Chairperson; Mesut Deger, Van deputy 
from CHP and deputy chairman of Turkish Parliament's Commission 
for Probing Semdinli Case; Mehmet Kartal, Van deputy from CHP; 
Chris Bradley, Political Affairs Officer at the British Embassy 
in Ankara, came to Van to watch the trial. 
 
CUMHURIYET / ZAMAN / RADIKAL / YENI SAFAK:      Two soldiers and 
three temporary village guards died in a clash between security 
forces and terrorists in the area of the Kato Mountain in 
Sirnak.  Five village guards were wounded.  Security forces 
intensified their military operations in the area around the 
Gabar and Cudi Mountains.  Meanwhile, family of one of two 
soldiers, who died in a clash in Sirnak (see press summay 
05/31), sang Kurdish dirges during the funeral of their son in 
Mersin. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   HPG (People's Forces of Defense) (read PKK) 
press center claimed that 17 soldiers have died and 10 soldiers 
have been wounded in the last five days. 
 
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / YENI SAFAK: Another lawsuit has 
been instituted against Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir (and 
nine municipality employees) by the Diyarbakir Prosecutor's 
Office for causing the municipality to incur a financial damage 
worth 967,000 YTL during a public tender in which the cheapest 
bid was overturned and contract was awarded to another company. 
 
ZAMAN / BOLGE / EKSPRES / SABAH (GUNEY):        General Assembly of 
Turkish Union of Municipalities, presided over by Adana Mayor 
Aytac Durak, was held in Ankara.  Durak said that they resolved 
disputes and reached an agreement with the Ankara Mayor Melih 
Gokcek over the list of candidates that will run for membership 
of the sub-committee. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The daily claimed that Ministry Of Interior 
refused application of Osman Baydemir to the ministry to take 
part in the delegation that will attend European Council's 
Regional and Local Administrations Congress (see press summary 
05/31).  The Norwegian chairman of the congress reportedly said 
that they did not find the grounds conveyed by the interior 
ministry satisfactory about the regional representative from the 
southeastern region.  The congress administration will send two 
raporteurs (one from Sweden, one from Switzerland) to get 
first-hand information about local and regional democracy issues 
in Turkey. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   DTP (Democratic Society Party) 
co-chairpersons, who are currently in northern Iraq (see press 
summaries 05/30 and 31), met with Federal Kurdistan Regional 
President Massoud Barzani and parliamentary spokesperson Adnan 
Mufti.  Barzani said the dialogue among the Kurds should be 
fostered for resolving of the Kurdish issue. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The daily claims that interesting developments 
have taken place concerning the case of Ferhat Tepe, a 
journalist of daily Ozgur Gundem newspaper, whose reported 
tortured dead body was found nearby a lake in Elazig allegedly 
after he was taken onto custody in 1993 and whose case has been 
filed with the European Court in 2000.  A witness of the case, 
who announced in 1993 to the public through a letter that Tepe 
was heavily tortured at the anti-terror branch in August 1993, 
recently announced that he now regretted being bribed by 
Ministry of Interior officials in 2000 to lie to European Court 
jurors that he did not witness any torturing back in 1993. 
 
 OZGUR GUNDEM:  The indictment prepared by the Osmaniye 
Security Directorate against people because of alleged illegal 
concerns about this year's Newruz celebrations referred to 
mythological Newruz figures "Brutal Dehaq" and "Ironsmith Kawa", 
which included Kurdish letters, as "Brutal Dehap" and "Ironsmith 
Kova" respectively. (Note: DEHAP is a Kurdish political party 
which preceded DTP and which ws abolished last year.  Kova means 
"bucket" in Turkish which does not have any contextual 
relationship with the mythological character. End Note.) 
 
 
ADANA 00000130  002 OF 002 
 
 
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM:      When the muftiluk installed 
megaphones for calls for prayer in Kahramanmaras's Nurhak 
district, which is mostly populated by Alevis, members of the 
Alevi community reacted, and the megaphones were removed. 
Currently, there is one mosque and two cemevi (Alevi worhip 
centes) in the district, reported the papers. 
 
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM:      Syriacs, who left their villages 
in Mardin's Midyat district and went abroad years ago, have 
recently been returning to their villages. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    A school in a village of Mardin's 
Kiziltepe district has been renovated by joint efforts of the 
Mardin Governor's Office and 7th Army Corps Command. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Because of consanguinal and intra-community 
marriages taking place in Diyarbakir's Dokmetas village, many 
children have been suffering from thalassemia or mental 
disorders. 
 
ZAMAN / YENI SAFAK:     A 23-year-old nurse of a private 
hospital committed suicide in Batman, a city where suicidal 
tendencies have been reported as increasing among women in most 
of the newspapers nowadays. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Hatay police seized 1350 grams of hashish, 418 
bottles of smuggled whiskey, and 6370 packets of cigarettes in 
Hatay and detained 4 people in connection with that smuggling 
and organized crime. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Members of BTS (United Transportation Trade 
Union) Adana chapter conducted a sit-in protest for "exiling" of 
the Train Station Chief of Mersin to another post. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Veli Serin, Mayor (CHP) of Yenice in Mersin, 
who has attempted to punish Cag University by not collecting its 
garbage when the university administration rejected hiring a 
person as a cleaner at the request of Serin, reportedly 
attempted this time to collect all copies of Sabah Guney 
newspaper from shelves, for reporting on Serin's activities. 
 
BOLGE:  The daily reports that 55 people who have been loyal 
to and worked for CHP to date in Adana decided to become a 
member of MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) in Adana.  Yilmaz 
Tankut, MHP Adana chairperson, who talked at the ceremony held 
for new recruits, criticized the government and said that AKP 
has been acquiescent in the face of imperialists who turned the 
country into a hell of minorities in order to exploit the 
country. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     Parents reacted upon learning that a book on 
interpretation of the Koran was sold to the students during the 
religion class of a high school in Adana on the day that marks 
the birth of the Prophet Mohammed.  The school administration 
and the provincial education directorate was not knowledgeable 
about the selling of the book. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     A manuscript in the form of a eulogy, dating back to 
1884, which was presented to Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II by a 
clergy of a theological school for sultan's contributions for 
the school's construction, has been found during the excavation 
studies for the ongoing restoration project (of the Armenian 
Christian church)on Van's Akdamar Island. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  A 20-person delegation from Mersin's Chamber 
of Commerce and Industry returned from a business trip to 
Kazakhstan. 
 
¶2.      SABAH (GUNEY):  Chairperson of the Gaziantep Chamber of 
Industry said that foreign businessmen, who will come to 
Gaziantep to attend June 7-11 International Iraq Fair, will 
benefit from exemption from visa fees when entering Turkey for a 
period of fifteen days during the fair. 
REID