VZCZCXRO5136
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0136/01 1630619
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 120619Z JUN 06
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4183
INFO RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 0783
RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0732
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0633
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000136 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 09, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 09, 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 / HURRIYET ONLINE:        An explosion that took place in a 
trash can in Sirnak's Cizre district killed a 13-year-old child 
and wounded five people.  Separately, terrorists opened fire at 
a police residence in Batman's Kozluk district yesterday night 
at around 21.00.  Four police officers on guard have been 
wounded. 
 
RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM: The daily claimed that six soldiers died 
the previous day during the clashes that took place in Hakkari's 
Semdinli and Tunceli's Pulumur districts.  Meanwhile, because of 
an ongoing military operation in Diyarbakir's Dicle district, a 
village has been blockaded by the soldiers for one week and the 
villagers are reportedly very uneasy about the situation. 
 
BOLGE:  Deniz Baykal, CHP National Leader, will come to 
Adana on Sunday and address the party delegates in Adana. 
According to the daily, the opposition group within the party 
will show great interest to Baykal's visit and will convey their 
complaints about the CHP local party administration in Adana. 
 
YENI SAFAK / BOLGE / OZGUR GUNDEM:      TPAO (Turkish Petroleum 
Corporation) discovered two petroleum reserves in the two wells 
it dug in the mined area at the border area with Syria in 
Mardin's Nusaybin district. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Representatives of the business world and 
non-governmental organizations, and intellectuals will hold a 
conference in Diyarbakir on June 11 to discuss democratic ways 
to resolve the Kurdish issue. 
 
EVRENSEL / SOZGUR GUNDEM:       As people voiced allegations about 
military people in connection with killing of Selahattin Aksu 
and his daughter in Mardin's Kiziltepe on June 3, General Chief 
of Staff demanded from Mardin's Kiziltepe Subgovernor and 
Prosecutor that the incident be thoroughly investigated.  DTP 
(Democratic Society Party) delegation, who paid a visit to the 
family of Aksu, pointed out that the event might have been an 
act of (illegal) gangs which embedded themselves in the state 
structure.  The villagers in the district have not provided much 
information reportedly because they had concerns about their 
security. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Adana chapter of Human Rights Association 
announced that human rights violations have increased by 300 per 
cent as compared to the previous year. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Thirty eight attorneys who gathered in front 
of the Court Hall of Adana extended support to Attorney Behic 
Asci who launched a hunger strike in April 5 against isolation 
of the inmates in the jails. 
 
ZAMAN / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        As the news reports about 34 
children, who were found to have disappeared from the state 
orphanage in Diyarbakir, has been making the news. Ozgur Gundem 
daily points out the poor physical and hygienic conditions at 
the orphanage. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   DTP Women's Assembly set up stands in 
Diyarbakir, Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Bursa, Mersin, and Adana to 
gather signatures in support of the co-chairmanship concept of 
DTP, introduced for the first time in the Turkish political 
world (see press summaries 05/26, 30, and 06/06).  DTP has 
recently decided to reintroduce the single national leadership 
model despite objections from women members of the party, in 
response to Turkish Supreme Court objections to the 
co-chairmanship. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Kahraman family in a village of Diyarbakir's 
Bismil district allegedly carried out an attack with the 
reported help of village guards with guns against the Tanrikulu 
family in the neighboring village.  A 40-year-old woman was 
serioiusly wounded as a result of the attack.  The attack 
reportedly resulted from a dispute between the families over a 
piece of land. 
 
BOLGE / SABAH (GUNEY):  Jandarma Command teams in Mersin's 
Tarsus district seized 10 kilograms of hashish during an 
operation conducted on a car.  Separately, police found 8,500 
bottles of smuggled whiskey and vodka in hidden sections of a 
truck in Mersin. 
 
RADIKAL / EVRENSEL:     People, who have incurred damages 
 
ADANA 00000136  002 OF 002 
 
 
because of the Semdinli bombing in Hakkari on November 9, 2005, 
demanded through their attorneys a total of 950,000 YTL (approx. 
615,000 USD) in compensation from the Ministry of Interior.  The 
owner of the bookstore, Seferi Yilmaz, is among the persons who 
solicited compensation. 
 
NTVMSNBC ONLINE:        VAKAD (Van Women's Association) conducted a 
study in Van on the causes of increasing suicide rates among 
women, which is a reported development similar to the cases in 
Batman.  According to the report of the association, women in 
Van are being forced into committing suicide if the family 
thinks the woman brought disgrace to the family.  According to 
the figures provided by VAKAD, 45 women in 2005, and 22 women in 
the first five months of 2006 in Van have committed suicide. 
 
RADIKAL:        Three members of the closed Kurd-Der (Kurdish 
Association), who were arrested on May 2 (see press summary 
05/03) for holding an unauthorized march towards the border in 
Sirnak's  Silopi district against intensified military 
deployments in the border area, have been released by the 
Diyarbakir 6th Heavy Penalty Court. 
 
ZAMAN:  As new stories about theft of archeological 
artifacts from the museums appear in Turkey every day, it has 
been recently found out that an archaeologist working in the 
museum of Kahramanmaras replaced 140 artifacts in the museum 
with fakes 11 years ago. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  International Iraq Fair reportedly boosted 
Gaziantep's economy greatly. 
REID