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INFO RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0779
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0676
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000165 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 15, 2006 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 15, 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 
 
CUMHURIYET: The Iraqi President Celal Talabani and President of 
the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Mesut Barzani collectively disclosed 
in Selahattin that the new Iraqi Government did not honor the 
treaties undersigned between Turkey and Saddam in the past, 
which allowed Turkey and Iran to undertake incursions into 
northern Iraq for the fight against PKK. 
 
ZAMAN: A judicial control decision has been undertaken against 
the DTP Mayor of Cizre, Sirnak province. According to the 
decision, mayor Aydin Budak, who is accused of making propaganda 
of the outlawed PKK organization, will go to Akancay Police 
Station to give his signature until a public case has been 
opened against him. The office of the public prosecutor of Cizre 
had initiated an investigation against Mayor Budak for his 
statements praising the PKK during a cultural and art festival 
on June 16, 2006. Mayor Budak's attorney, Servet Yanar, said 
that such a decision was a very heavy punishment and that it was 
a disproportionate measure for an unverified claim. 
 
CUMHURIYET/U.O. GUNDEM: Famed Kurdish author, Mehmet Uzun, who 
lived and received medical treatment in Stockholm of Sweden, 
came to Diyarbakir yesterday to spend the rest of his life in 
his hometown. Uzun, who has been suffering from cancer, was 
received by the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, DTP officials, 
and an exuberant crowd. 
 
CUMHURIYET: When the "Common Vision Document" between the United 
States and Turkey was being disclosed, the Patriotic Front 
Against Imperialism announced that it would organize a march 
dubbed "U.S. get out. This country is ours." from Incirlik Air 
Base to Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul between July 15 and 
September 1. The march is being organized by a retired military 
captain, Murat Pabuc, from the Military Initiative of the 
Patriotic Front. 
 
CUMHURIYET/SABAH: Jandarma units affiliated to the Sanliurfa 
Provincial Jandarma Command seized 7 million hemp roots, from 
which 140 tons of drugs could be produced, in Tofan hamlet of 
Aydincik village in the newly irrigated Harran district of 
Sanliurfa. A person with H.F. initials has been arrested in 
connection with hemp plantations. Officials disclosed that 60 
percent of the hemp seized in Turkey in the past decade had been 
cultivated in Sanliurfa province. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: The Sub-governor of Cermik township of 
Diyarbakir announced that an epidemic oftyphoid virus had been 
found in the water supply of the town about twenty days ago, and 
that approximately one thousand people complaining about upset 
stomach, diarrhea, and weakness had been admitted to hospital. 
Sub-governor Murat Erkan said that sewage had mixed with well 
waters and two wells, which people considered curative, had been 
sealed. The Cermik Mayor Mehmet Akdag denied the allegations, 
and claimed that people had become sick not because of 
contaminated water but because of washing perishables improperly. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/YENI SAFAK/RADIKAL/EVRENSEL: Five soldiers 
were killed and four others were wounded as an armored military 
vehicle hit a mine near Icgecit village of Bitlis the previous 
night. The wounded soldiers were taken to the military hospital 
in Tatvan for treatment while the dead bodies of the killed 
soldiers were dispatched to their hometowns for burial. In 
addition, an explosion occurred in Daggul Quarter of Hakkari 
yesterday morning when a military vehicle carrying provisions 
passed by. According to initial assessments, on person has been 
wounded, and the area has been blockaded. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: As a result of constent military operations 
throughout the region, clashes between the GOT forces and PKK 
militants have escalated. The GOT forces clashing with PKK 
militants in Erzurum set fire on the crops near Lebu Dagi and 
Kosk villages of Karacoban district and detained the DTP 
district chairman Fetullah Dadas and his nephew Esin Dadas on no 
grounds. 
 
YENI SAFAK/EVRENSEL: Investigations of two Chief Inspectors 
assigned by the Interior Ministry to probe the allegations about 
"excessive and disproportionate use of force and torture" during 
 
ADANA 00000165  002 OF 002 
 
 
the events that broke out in Diyarbakir following burial 
ceremonies of four PKK militants on March 28, 2006 still 
continue. Inspectors started interviewing 72 children listed in 
the report prepared by the Diyarbakir Bar Association and sent 
by the Interior Ministry. Inspectors are also investigating the 
claims about attorney Cafer Koluman that he had been beaten by 
security forces during the events. 26 policemen will give 
depositions to the Public Prosecutor in connection with 
allegations cited in the report. 
 
YENI SAFAK: Representatives of all non-governmental 
organizations, political parties, and some private citizens in 
Elazig released a press statement supporting Palestine and 
expressing reaction to Israel. The press announcement read by 
Kamu-Sen's -Public Employees' Union- representative said 
"Israel, in order to accomplish its Zionist goals, has been 
turning the region into a pool of blood by getting the support 
of the western forces" and added that the United Nations did not 
fulfill its obligations in this matter. 
 
BOLGE: The Mersin Voluntary Organizations Union, consisting of 
35 NGOs, including labor unions and associations, staged an 
anti-Israeli protest in Mersin. The term-spokesperson of the 
organization, Ali Bal, said that Israel did not honor the UN 
decisions and claimed that it occupied Palestine and continued 
to kill people. Bal claimed that the United States and the 
European Union also supported Israel and added that the 
atrocities committed by Israel did not start  with the abduction 
of soldiers but that Israel had been slaughtering Palestinians 
for the past 80 years. Bal advised that the Turkish Red Crescent 
should dispatch health teams to treat Palestinians inflicted of 
wounds and withdrawing the Turkish ambassador to Israel. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS: 
 
RADIKAL: The President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) 
of Ceyhan township of Adana, Ali Duru, said that in addition to 
Petrol Ofisi and Calik Group, a foreign company had also applied 
to erect a refinery in Ceyhan which has become an oil port 
because of the BTC Crude Oil Pipe Line. The Ceyhan CCI President 
Duru said that the refinery considered for Ceyhan would be 
labor-intensive and that between 300 to 500 people would be 
employed during the initial phase of the plant. Duru added that 
he believed more than officially announced 3000 people were 
unemployed in Ceyhan. 
 
BOLGE/HURRIYET-CUKUROVA: The President of Chamber of Commerce 
and Industry (CCI) of Tarsus, Ali Ergezer, said that the yield 
in grapes would be less this year compared to the previous 
years. Ergezer said that different types of grapes were being 
cultivated in an area of 50,000 acres in Tarsus and that most of 
the production was export-oriented. Ergezer said that 50,000 
tons of table grapes had already been exported to Germany and 
Russia and that the farmers expected to export 100,000 tons to 
these countries by the end of the harvesting season. 
 
 
GREEN 
REID