VZCZCXRO7329
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0205/01 2621219
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191219Z SEP 06
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4298
INFO RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0737
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/AFOSI DET 522 INCIRLIK AB TU
RUETIAA/DIRNSA FT MEADE MD
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 0899
RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0845
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000205 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER 19, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for September 19, 
¶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 
 
CNNTURK ONLINE / HURRIYET:      Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who 
is currently meeting with official contacts in New York, stated 
in a speech at the American-Turkish Association, that if civil 
war were to break out in Iraq Turkey, which had to date been 
maintaining stability in that extremely volatile region, would 
protect the Kurds.  Gul observed that this had been Turkey's 
role throughout recent history. 
 
CNNTURK ONLINE / HURRIYET:      It is claimed on the website of 
the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) that the Iraqi 
Government gave concrete instructions to authorities to close 
down all PKK offices and to halt all activities of the PKK in 
Iraq.  The announcement pointed out that the decision came when 
some countries blacklisted the PKK among the terrorist 
organizations; the Iraqi Constitution does not allow any 
terrorist organization to find shelter in Iraq's territory. 
This decision reportedly followed retired General Ralston's 
recent visit to Iraq. 
 
SABAH / HURRIYET:       Allegations that terrorist leader Abdullah 
Ocalan had died, which were posted on unspecified websites 
yesterday, have been dismissed by the Prosecutor's Office in 
Bursa.  Bursa's Deputy Prosecutor told the press that regular 
health checks of Ocalan have indicated that he does not suffer 
from any health problems. 
 
HURRIYET:       During a search conducted in a small bus on a road 
in Tunceli's Ovacik district by Government anti-terror units, an 
improvised bomb device made out of a battery and a car alarm 
system and designed to be remotely detonated, was discovered. 
Security officers noted that this was the first time that PKK 
members had been caught with a bomb designed to function using a 
car alarm system. 
 
CNNTURK ONLINE / OZGUR GUNDEM:  The first hearing of the 
lawsuit brought against Seferi Yilmaz, the owner of the 
bookstore that was bombed on November 9, 2006 in Hakkari's 
Semdinli district, was held yesterday at Van's 4th Heavy Penalty 
(Felony) Court.  Charges were brought against Yilmaz for 
allegedly being a member of the PKK terrorist organization.  The 
court adjourned the hearing to November 15.  Meanwhile, the 4th 
Heavy Penalty (Felony) Court in Van held the first hearing for 
Metin Tekce, mayor of Hakkari, against whom accusation was 
placed for telling the Parliamentary Commission probing the 
Semdinli Case that the PKK was not a terrorist organization. 
The court linked Tekce's case to a former lawsuit brought 
against him in 2003 for "being a member of a terrorist 
organization." 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Protests continued in Sirnak's Cizre district, 
in Istanbul, and in Adana against last week's bombing in 
Diyarbakir.  The mayor of Cizre, Silopi's DTP Provincial 
Chairperson, the DTP Provincial Chairperson for Cizre, the Union 
of Municipality Workers, and members of KESK (Confederation of 
Public Employees' Unions) in Sirnak, joined protesters in 
attending the press announcement made (in Kurdish) in front of 
Cizre's DTP party headquarters.  A group of young people waved 
PKK flags and demonstrated in the Sakirpasa quarter of Adana. 
The group briefly blockaded a road, chanted pro-PKK slogans and 
hurled Molotov cocktails at the police, but dispersed when 
police intervened. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The army is reportedly escalating the fight 
against the PKK and is launching a series of measures, to 
include establishing new military units and special teams made 
up of sergeants, non-commissioned officers and officers.  The 
army will also take over jurisdiction of some formerly 
police-controlled special teams. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The family members of a PKK terrorist who was 
killed with five others in a village in Van's Ercis district 
(see press summary for September 17), have claimed his corpse 
from the Ercis Hospital and brought it to Batman for his 
funeral.  Meanwhile, the authorities buried the unidentified 
bodies of the other terrorists in a "hole" in an Ercis village. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / OZGUR GUNDEM:     Fire broke out in a mined 
 
ADANA 00000205  002 OF 002 
 
 
area located around the border with Syria in Sirnak's Cizre 
district.  Since firefighters were not able to take immediate 
action because of the explosion risk, the fire spread to both 
countries' watch towers located on either side of the border 
where guards regularly stand duty.  The fire lasted ten hours 
and affected 24.7 acres of land on Turkish territory. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / OZGUR GUNDEM:     The police detained a 
seventy-eight year old woman on grounds that she was carrying a 
bag with 6.5 kilograms of hashish in a passenger car in 
Diyarbakir's Lice district.  The woman told the police that the 
bag was given to her by her grandsons and that she was not 
familiar with its contents.  Police conducting searches of a 
passenger car destined for Mersin in Mardin also found 14 
kilograms of heroin in a car. 
 
BOLGE:  Mersin Police conducted a countersmuggling operation 
in the port of Mersin, and found 3000 cigarette packets in a 
container shipped from China. 
 
EVERNSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        The deputy governor of 
Diyarbakir's Kulp district allegedly required that men of the 
village of Uzunova enroll as village guards in response to 
demands made by villagers to the subgovernor's office about 
drilling wells to find potable water. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Specialists from the Education Foundation, and 
from the Diyarbakir Municipality, offered a seminar covering 
topics such as decision-making and providing social services. 
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, who noted that economically 
disadvantaged people expected their pressing social demands be 
addressed soon, believed that volunteers attending those 
seminars will contribute a great deal in efforts to meet those 
demands. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Eight English instructors and one 
administrator from the Center for Teaching Foreign Languages at 
the Cukurova University returned from a trip to Dundee 
University in Scotland.  The group went to Scotland under the 
auspices of the European Union's Leonardo Da Vinci Program for 
Vocational Training. 
 
EVRENSEL:       During the opening ceremony for the new academic 
year at Gaziantep University Erhan Ekinci, rector of the 
university, complained about the shortage of administrative 
staff at the university hospital. 
 
HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM:        The Diyarbakir Chamber of Commerce 
and Industry will be holding the Fifth International Middle East 
Industry Fair between September 20 and 24.  The offices of the 
Diyarbakir Governor and the Mayor, and the Rector's Office of 
the Dicle University, are among the institutions sponsoring the 
event.  A 1000-person commercial delegation, including 100 
protocol members from government officials, will reportedly come 
to Diyarbakir from northern Iraq on September 19 to participate. 
 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Two men accused of kidnapping an Istanbul 
businessmen a week ago and bringing the businessman to Adana, 
have reportedly been identified as former members of the 
intelligence offices of the Adana police. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Azim Ozturk, mayor of Adana's Seyhan district, 
will attend a 19-22 September mayors' workshop in Rotterdam, 
Holland, together with the mayor of Gaziantep's Sehitkamil 
district and the mayor of Ankara's Altindag district. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE:  Azim Ozturk announced that the Seyhan 
Municipality will support Adanaspor, one of Adana's soccer 
clubs, by making a 40,000 YTL monthly contribution for a period 
of ten months. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Aytac Durak, mayor of Adana and the Honorary 
Chairperson of Adana Demirspor, will host a luncheon for the 
Adanaspor's players at Adana Demirspor.  Durak and Ozturk showed 
their support for Adanaspor by attending one of its games this 
past Saturday. 
GREEN