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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000187 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 20, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 20, 
¶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 / CUMHURIYET:     An explosion took place in a natural gas 
transportation line of BOTAS (between Iran and Turkey) in Agri's 
Taslicay Township on Saturday (08/19) at 9.15 p.m.  Governor's 
Office of Agri announced that the explosion took place as a 
result of PKK's terrorist attack.  The fire that resulted from 
the explosion threatened the villages in the environs. 
Firefighters and ambulances were sent to the area.   The fire 
stopped when the gas was cut off from the line. 
 
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM:      Fire broke out in Petroleum 
Production Fields of TPAO (Turkish Petroleum Corporation) in 
Mardin's Nusaybin district the previous night at 1 a.m.  The 
fire spread via the wind to a 10-kilometer area where mines were 
located.  Firefighters took the fire under control after 6 hours 
of hard work.  Three mines reportedly went off during the fire. 
No casualties were reported. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The number of soldiers dispatched to Hakkari 
from other cities reportedly reached 250,000.  Checkpoints were 
increased from 2 to 7 in the city, and people are not able to go 
out of their homes after certain times at night.  People are not 
allowed to go to the highlands and breed their animals there. 
War planes flying low, intermittent cannon fire, and increased 
military activity are reportedly adversely affecting the 
psychology of the people. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Police in Silopi caught 24 Iraqi Kurds who 
entered the country illegally in Sirnak's Silopi district.  The 
refugees were sent to the Habur Border Gate to be deported after 
their medical examinations were completed. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Flooding occurred in a village of Van because 
of the heavy rains.  Fifty houses were damaged and 150 sheep and 
goats were killed. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The mayor of Van's Kurtalan district (from 
DTP) had an accident with his official car as he was traveling 
to Ankara.  The mayor was seriously wounded and is now under 
intensive care.  Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, and DTP 
Co-Chairpersons Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk went to the hospital 
upon hearing the news. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   DTP's Adana branch has been successful in 
resolving the hostilities between two families that erupted one 
month ago in Adana's Sakirpasa quarter. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Senior officials of Mazlum-Der (Association 
for Solidarity with Oppressed People) and Human Rights 
Association (HRA) will go to Iraq to get more information about 
Mustafa Egili, Ozgur-Der (Free Thought and Educational Rights 
Association) national chairperson, who was detained in the 
Federal Kurdistan Region on June 1 with another Ozgur-Der 
official from Diyarbakir. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   It is claimed that Iran's security officials 
surrendered 3 PJAK (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan) members to 
Turkey.  Those PJAK members were then reportedly brought to 
Yuksekova District Security Directorate.  A second military 
operation in the last week came in the Kato Mountain of Sirnak's 
Beytussebap district. Village guards and jandarma commandos are 
reportedly extending suport to the operation. 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM / BOLGE:   A 50-person group, which was 
comprised of members of HRA, KESK (Confederation of Public 
Employees' Unions), ESP (Socialist Party of Oppressed People), 
EMEP (Party of Labor), DTP (Democratic Society Party), SDP 
(Socialist Democracy Party), held a press announcement in front 
of Incirlik Airbase against shipment of military materiel from 
the base to the NATO port in Mersin and against recent 
discussions on sending Turkish troops to Lebanon. 
 
ZAMAN / CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM:      Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a 
U.S. terrorism expert, wrote an article on HYPERLINK 
"http://www.counterterrorismblog.org" 
www.counterterrorismblog.org and said that the U.S. and Turkey 
developed a joint strategy to counter PKK.  The strategy was 
reportedly developed in order to prevent Turkey from undertaking 
 
ADANA 00000187  002 OF 002 
 
 
a unilateral incursion into Iraq, which would have risked 
accidental Turkish engagement with non-PKK Kurdish forces or 
even U.S. forces. 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   The European Court, which accepted the 
file submitted about the dam project which envisages submerging 
ancient Hasankeyf district under dam waters, requested that 
Turkey provide urgent information on the measures taken to 
preserve the district's historical richness. 
 
ZAMAN:  Restoration works on the 10th century Armenian 
Church on an island on Lake Van will be completed soon, and PM 
Erdogan will hold the opening ceremony on October 15.   The 
Armenian Minister of Culture will also be invited to Turkey for 
the opening ceremony. 
 
ZAMAN:  PM Erdogan reportedly called last week the father of 
a soldier, who died because of a remote controlled PKK mine in a 
village of Bitlis in July.  Erdogan reportedly tried to raise 
the family's morale and gave information to the father on 
measures taken to combat PKK terrorism. 
 
ZAMAN:  A group of environmentalists in Adana, who 
complained about the pollution levels in the Seyhan River, 
collected 12 sacks of garbage on the riverside in one hour. 
The general secretary of Adana Municipality said that although 
it was DSI (State Water Works Authority), not the Adana 
Municipality, whose responsibilities covered cleaning of the 
bank of the Seyhan River, the municipality still embarked upon 
efforts to clean the riverbank. 
REID