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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000218 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 11, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 11, 
¶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 
 
HURRIYET:       Following an interview program NTV Television made 
with the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, this time the program 
hosted Edip Baser,  Turkey's Special Envoy for Countering the 
PKK.  Baser, when asked whether he would request anything from 
Baydemir or the elected representatives in the southeastern 
region, gave the message that nobody should try the patience of 
the Turkish people, which also included the Kurdish citizens. 
 
¶3.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   A panel was held in a DTP building in 
Mardin's Nusaybin district to mark October 9, 1998, when eight 
years ago PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was reportedly forced out 
of Syria as a result of an alleged plot contrived by 
international elements.  Selim Sadak, former DEP (Democratic 
Peoples Party) deputy, said that Europe betrayed the Kurdish 
people and surrendered Ocalan to the Turkish authorities. 
Hatice Korkut, an attorney, reminded the audience that PKK 
declared cease-fire four times in the past. 
 
¶4.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Ingmar Karlsson, Swedish Consul General 
in Istanbul, attended a seminar of Van's Bostanici Municipality, 
which is called "Local Democracy and Leadership in Local 
Democratic Organizations", in Van.  Karlsson said that Turkey 
should take action regarding the cease-fire. 
 
¶5.      ANF NEWS AGENCY ONLINE: Paavo Lipponen, Speaker of the 
Finnish Parliament, and an accompanying ten-person delegation, 
paid a visit to the national headquarters of DTP in Ankara, and 
met with DTP leaders Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk. 
 
¶6.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   The daily claims that PKK's cease-fire 
process had its repercussions in the political sphere.   While 
AKP seems to be in a tendency to seize the opportunity the 
process may serve, DYP leader, who launched a tour in the 
southeastern region to meet with non-governmental organizations, 
brought the issue of declaring a general amnesty to the agenda. 
Agar made a call to the government, and told that he was ready 
to hold liability for the consequences of whatever the 
government would embark upon to resolve the issue. 
 
¶7.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Safiye Alagas, who is one of the members 
of DTP in Siirt, was arrested after being detained and arraigned 
yesterday morning on grounds that she was a member of the 
terrorist organization. 
 
¶8.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   DTP demanded in a letter it sent to the 
Turkish Parliament and representatives of the political parties 
that the election threshold be removed. 
 
¶9.      BOLGE / EVRENSEL / EKSPRES / SABAH (GUNEY): 
Municipality Assembly of Adana voted yesterday in favor of 
founding in Adana a monument to mark the "Algerian Genocide", 
if, in case, the French Parliament ratifies the law on 
criminalizing denial of "Armenian Genocide." (This summary is 
from October 10 edition.)  October 11 edition of Bolge daily 
reports that some political parties, chambers and associations 
expressed strong discontent about such a law that could be 
passed today in the French parliament.  Executive members of the 
Adana Arts Council sent a letter of warning to the French 
Ambassador in Ankara about the law envisaged.  Chamber of 
Industry in Gaziantep also called for a boycott on French goods 
should the law takes effect.  Meanwhile, Evrensel daily, equally 
blames Armenians in France and the Turkish authorities, for the 
political uproar on genocide claims, and characterized the 
latest developments in Turkey as "schizophrenic internal strife 
to achieve political ends". 
 
¶10.     SABAH (GUNEY):  Erkan Mumcu, National Leader of the 
Motherland Party, told the journalists during the opening 
ceremony of the new party building in Adana's Yuregir district 
that it was a great shame for the government to be in a position 
as if Turkey was dependent on the U.S. in matters such as 
Armenian issue and terror issues. 
 
¶11.     ZAMAN / SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES:        Prosecutor's Office 
dismissed the complaint Adana Mayor Aytac Durak filed against 
two local chambers for 'being responsible for the irregular 
construction activities and ugly urban landscape that had been 
 
ADANA 00000218  002 OF 002 
 
 
created in the province to date. 
 
HUMAN RIGHTS 
¶12.     EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        The daily reported that 
soldiers were oppressing the villagers in a village of Hakkari's 
Yuksekova district allegedly for not hanging the (Turkish) flag 
on a mast.  Separately, the daily reports a YTL664 fine which is 
reportedly imposed on a driver of a passenger car in Gaziantep, 
about whom a commissioned officer filed a complaint against with 
the authorities allegedly for playing pro-PKK Kurdish songs in 
his car. 
 
¶13.     RADIKAL:        Court of First Instance in Adana found guilty 
the Adana chapter of Haci Bektashi Veli Association, a cultural 
center for Alevis, for its negligence in maintenin one of its 
vehicles, which had an accident where all 39 of its passengers 
died, in Adana four years ago during cultural festivities. 
 
CRIME/LAW ENFORCEMENT 
¶14.     HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / NTVMSNBC ONLINE:  Diyarbakir 
police, monitoring the activities of illegal drug trading rings, 
conducted six separate operations in the province and seized a 
total of 135 kilogram of hashish and unlicensed 7 guns.   In one 
of those operations, police stopped a car traveling from Hakkari 
to Diyarbakir and found 43 kilograms of hashish in hidden 
sections of the car.  Fifteen of the 22 people detained in the 
operations have been arraigned and arrested. 
 
¶15.     BOLGE:  Hatay police seized seven kilograms of hashish 
in an anti-drug operation in Hatay. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY 
¶16.      OZGUR GUNDEM:  The daily complains that the doors of 
the Cultural Center of Mersin are closed to the activities of 
diverse cultures. 
 
¶17.     SABAH (GUNEY):  Prof.Suha Aydin has been elected as the 
rector of the Mersin University. Aydin replaced the former 
rector Prof. Ugur Oral. 
 
¶18.     BOLGE:  A big earthenware jar, which dates back to 
around A.D. 300, has been discovered in Adana's Karatas 
district. 
GREEN