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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000208 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER 23-24-25, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for September 
23-24-25, 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 
 
HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM:        A bomb, which Hurriyet daily 
reports as placed by PKK in a truck that was parked outside a 
police residence in Igdir province, was detonated with a remote 
controlled device on Saturday (09/23) at around 6.30 p.m. 
Seventeen people, five of whom were policemen, were wounded by 
the blast.  Health conditions of three among the wounded are 
serious.  Separately, a bomb, which was detonated on a railroad 
between Bitlis's Tatvan district and the Elazig province at 1 
a.m. on Sunday (09/24), derailed seven cars and damaged eight 
cars of the train.  No casualties were reported. (This summary 
is from September 24 editions.) 
 
¶3.      RADIKAL:        09/25 edition of the daily reports that the 
bomb in Igdir was detonated when people, who gathered for a 
regular 6 p.m. cinema event at the garden of the police 
residence, were watching a movie there.  The daily reports that 
the damage the bomb caused became apparent when the day cast its 
lights on the scene.  Windows of hundreds of businesses were 
broken. 
 
¶4.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   An explosion took place in Siirt's Eruh 
district for unknown reasons.  One person was killed in the 
blast. 
 
¶5.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / SABAH (GUNEY):    The local 
supplements covered today the killing of 35 year-old Yusuf 
Erenkara, the mayor of Adana's Karatas district, and his brother 
on September 22 at around 24.00 by unidentified person(s) with a 
gun attack.  Cukurova supplement reminds that a district mayor 
in Mersin's Silifke district was killed in May 2005 with a bomb 
attack, and, a former deputy from Gaziantep and former Kilis 
mayor was killed with a gun attack (on an unspecified date.) The 
police is suspecting that a 40 year-old person, who was not 
awarded a contract by the municipality, might have killed the 
mayor. 
 
¶6.      SABAH / RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM: A 22-year-old girl, 
who was reportedly being forced into marrying a person thirty 
years older than her, committed suicide in Batman.  Friends of 
the girl, eight high school girls, protested the authorities in 
Batman for remaining indifferent to the women's issues. 
Reportedly, fifteen women committed suicide in Batman in the 
last nine months. Meanwhile, women activists in Hakkari pointed 
out the fact that three women in Hakkari committed suicide in 
the last six months in the province. 
 
¶7.      SABAH / HURRIYET / RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM:      Five 
hundred soldiers and military personnel at Hakkari's Commando 
Brigade held an activity and collected garbage in the province 
to protest the Hakkari Municipality which allegedly pursued 
goals "to divide the country" instead of doing its essential 
duties.  Hakkari Mayor Metin Tekce branded the development as a 
"provocation." 
 
¶8.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Greek Orthodox Church in Hatay hung a 
banner on the gate of the church which extended greetings for 
Muslims who started observing Ramadan. 
 
¶9.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Andrew Wilson, U.S. Consul in Adana, and 
Jeffrey S. Collins, after holding some contacts in Van, paid a 
visit to the Yuksekova Mayor in Hakkari.  Wilson asked the Mayor 
questions about migration issues and issues about returning to 
villages. (This summary is from September 23 edition.) 
 
¶10.     OZGUR GUNDEM:   Military operations of the Turkish Armed 
Forces have been continuing in the southeastern region.  Turkish 
Army reportedly launched operations in a section of Bingol's 
Sancak district and Diyarbakir's Lice district the previous day. 
 Allegedly, soldiers who started operations on September 20 in 
Bingol's Kigi district, set some wooded areas on fire.  Turkish 
Army also launched operations in rural sections of Van's Baskale 
district.  (This summary is from September 23 edition.) 
 
¶11.     OZGUR GUNDEM:   The daily claimed on its 09/25 edition 
that clashes took place in Diyarbakir's Dicle district and 
Bingol's Yedisu district, and, allegedly seven Turkish soldiers 
died in the clashes. 
 
ADANA 00000208  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶12.     OZGUR GUNDEM:   National Leader of ODP (Freedom and 
Solidarity Party) paid a visit to the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman 
Baydemir to extend condolences for the September 12 bombing in 
Diyarbakir. (This summary is from September 23 edition.) 
 
¶13.     RADIKAL:        The policemen in Van chased a suspected truck 
and found it later deserted with 63 people who were being 
smuggled.  The people, who reportedly entered the country 
illegally from Iran, will be deported soon. (This summary is 
from September 23 edition.) 
 
¶14.     HURRIYET:       Diyarbakir Security Directorate filed 
complaints about DTP Chairperson Ahmet Turk and Diyarbakir Mayor 
Osman Baydemir for allegedly breaching the law on holding public 
demonstrations and meetings, during the demonstration held in 
days following the September 12 bomb attack in Diyarbakir. 
People allegedly chanted illegal slogans and showed resisted to 
the policemen despite the police issued warnings about the 
results of the people's actions during that demonstration.  The 
prosecutor's office shall decide whether a lawsuit will be 
brought against Turk and Baydemir or not.  Meanwhile, two of the 
seven people, who were detained for hurling stones at policemen 
during that demonstration, were arraigned and arrested. (This 
summary is from September 24 edition.) 
 
¶15.     HURRIYET:       Bulent Arinc, spokesperson of the Turkish 
Parliament, sent a letter about the PKK to the spokesperson of 
the Iraqi National Assembly.  Arinc reportedly stated Turkish 
Government's appreciation of the measures that the Iraqi 
Government started to take agianst the activities of the PKK in 
Iraq.  Arinc also expressed a strong desire for those measures 
to get implemented unequivocally country-wide.   (This summary 
is from September 24 edition.) 
 
¶16.     HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    The rector of Hatay's Mustafa 
Kemal University announced that State Planning Authority will 
allocate 11.5 million YTL funding for construction of 
Engineering and Architecture Faculty which will be located at 
the university's other campus in the Iskenderun district. 
 
¶17.     HURRIYET / SABAH:       One of the two brothers, a 10-year-old 
boy, who found as he was playing with his brother an explosive 
device on a road in Siirt, died when the device exploded. 
 
¶18.     BOLGE / EKSPRES:        A delegation from the Chamber of 
Commerce and Industry in Germany's Essen province will visit 
Adana on September 27, said Umit Ozgumus, Chairperson of Adana's 
Chamber of Industry. 
 
¶19.     BOLGE / EKSPRES:        Chairperson of Federation of Eastern 
Mediterranean Industrialists' and Businessmen's Associations 
(DASIFED) said that they were following closely the developments 
taking place at the BTC (Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan) project in 
Adana's Ceyhan district.   A 35-member delegation paid a visit 
to the General Manager of BOTAS (Petroleum Pipeline Corporation) 
at BTC. 
 
¶20.     HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    School of fish found dead on the 
surface of the Seyhan River in Adana alarmed authorities.  Some 
fish hunters by the lake alleged that there were people who were 
pouring agricultural pesticides in water to paralyze fish in 
order to catch them easily.   (This summary is from September 23 
edition.) 
GREEN