VZCZCXRO1987
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0168/01 1991210
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181210Z JUL 06
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4236
INFO RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 0837
RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0784
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0681
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000168 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 16, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 16, 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/SABAH: The Sirnak Governorate announced that a terrorist 
who did not yield to "halt" warning of the GOT forces in the 
Cudi Mountain was killed in the ensuing clashes. The 
announcement said that operations to ensure security and public 
order in the region would continue. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: Hasan Salar, a PKK defector who 
was arrested after surrendering to the security forces at Habur 
border gate on April 17 2006, was brought before a judge at the 
4th Felony Court of Diyarbakir for the first time. Hasan Salar 
had claimed that Seferi Yilmaz, the owner of the Umut Bookstore 
bombed in Semdinli in November 2005, had made a telephone call 
with the mountain cadre of PKK. Salar had caused Yilmaz to be 
detained on charges of membership to PKK. Hasan Salar was 
acquitted after his first hearing. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/HURRIYET: Dr. Erdal Bahoz, HPG -People 
Protection Forces- Headquarters Commander signed an agreement 
with the President of the Geneva Call Organization, Paascal 
Bongard; and the Swedish Parliament Spokesperson, Elizabeth 
Reusse-Decrey; that HPG will support all international 
agreements banning and removing land mines. Reusse said that PKK 
had signed the Geneva Convention Agreement 11 years ago and that 
its decision and this agreement it has been signing now should 
become a good model for the countries surrounding them. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: In order to promote sensitivity for 
protesting the construction of the Ilisu Dam on Tigris river, 
which will submerge the historic Hasankeyf township, the Amnesty 
International representatives from Diyarbakir, Batman, and 
Malatya provinces convened in a cave in Hasankeyf. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/BOLGE/EKSPRES: Members of the Prison 
Commission of the Human Rights Chapter of Adana held a press 
release in front of the Kurkculer Prison in Adana concerning 
pressure applied to prisoners and defendants in prisons. Ethem 
Acikalin, the spokesperson for the Prison Committee claimed that 
inmates and prisoners using their democratic rights against the 
pressure of the prison administration were given disciplinary 
penalties. 
 
SABAH: Three persons allegedly in preparation of undertaking 
actions were arrested, and a rocket launcher, many weapons and 
C-4 explosives were seized during the search in a house in 
Baglar Quarter of Diyarbakir. 
 
YENI SAFAK: An "Emergency Medicine Relief" campaign has been 
initiated in Diyarbakir by the Diyarbakir Charity Assistance and 
Solidarity Association. The President of the association, Cevdet 
Kara, said that the imperialist states talking about democracy, 
peace, freedom, and human rights closed an eye to Israel's 
massacre of Palestinians. Kara said that they would apply an 
embargo on products produced by countries supporting Israel. 
Saadet Party (Felicity Party) is also going to organize a 
meeting in Diyarbakir to support Palestine but condemn Israel. 
The date for the meeting has not been announced. Meetings 
protesting Israel were held in Adana and Izmir as well. People 
shouting anti-American and anti-Israel slogans dispersed 
peacefully. 
 
YENI SAFAK/CUMHURIYET/HURRIYET: It is reported that Murat 
Karayilan, a key executive in the PKK ranks, had been wounded 
during the Iranian artillery fire at the Kandil Mountain in 
Northern Iraq about 19 days ago. Karayilan and three other 
militants who had been wounded had been taken to the private El 
Necd Hospital in Baghdad following their initial treatment in a 
township in Northern Iraq. It is reported that one of the 
wounded militants died afterwards. 
 
CUMHURIYET/BOLGE/EKSPRES: Patriots from all over the country 
gathered in front of the Incirlik Air Base and initiated their 
45-day long march dubbed "United States of America get out. This 
country is ours." Addressing hundreds of patriots, Tuncay Celen, 
a founding member of the 1968ers Association, said that patriots 
condemn the United States and its collaborators once more and 
would like to say "stop" to US planes taking off from the 
Incirlik AB and bombing children in Iraq, Palestine, and Middle 
East. The press announcement by Baris Kinik, from the Patriotic 
Union's Adana Initiative, read "War and blood has never stopped 
in our region.  Here is Israel, just on the pretext of one of 
its soldier has been abducted, it has started a big assault. The 
purpose is occupation. This will worsen the position of 
 
ADANA 00000168  002 OF 002 
 
 
imperialists and their collaborators. That is why patriots have 
been setting off." The representative of the Retired Military 
Initiative of the Patriotic Front, Retired Captain Murat Pabuc, 
said "People have been asking us where we find this energy. We 
get this energy from our hatred at the order and system of the 
occupiers. The soldiers who have come here to ensure security of 
this area are our brothers, I ordered and commanded for years. I 
understood that there are collaborators who have been providing 
bases to these occupiers and acting with them." 
 
HURRIYET: A group of approximately 60 Turkish, Lebanese, and 
French nationals fleeing from Lebanon entered Turkey from 
Reyhanli and Yayladag border gates with Syria. The group said 
that there were more than 10,000 people waiting at the Syrian 
border to cross into Turkey. 
 
EVRENSEL: It is claimed that women defendants at  H-Type prison 
in Erzurum, where high security measures are being applied, have 
been threatened by wardens that they would rape them. 15 female 
students, including 3 women had been arrested during the 
security forces' home raids in Sivas on April 18, and had been 
transferred from the Sivas prison to the one in Erzurum. The 
female defendants' attorney Fahrettin Kaya said that his clients 
had been forced to take off their clothes at the entrance of the 
prison but because the inmates rejected the orders they were 
insulted and cursed, and that even one of his clients had been 
beaten by a female warden. 
 
HURRIYET-CUKUROVA: 55 elected headmen from various quarters of 
Gaziantep visited Aleppo to get acquainted with the local 
administration in Syria. Aleppo has been designated as a sister 
city of Gaziantep. 
REID