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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000226 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 17, 2006 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 17, 
¶2005.   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 
 
RADIKAL / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN / HURRIYET:     The 
Prosecutor's Office at the Supreme Court of Appeals objected to 
the verdict that issued a 39-year-and-5-month prison sentence on 
June 2006 for Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildeniz, two non-commissioned 
officers, who were convicted for their alleged crimes in the 
Semdinli bombing on November 9, 2005 in Hakkari's Semdinli 
district.   The grounds for objection cited by the Prosecutor's 
Office's were procedural inefficiencies, incompetent 
investigation process, and establishment of wrongful grounds 
when placing accusation against defendants during the trial. 
The Prosecutor's Office claims that the verdict was 
superficially based on thoughts about an alleged and unproven 
criminal network. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL / BOLGE:  Ozgur Gundem daily blames the 
government for not taking tangible steps regarding the Kurdish 
issue and for holding back by only extending support to the 
moderate announcements of the DYP National Leader Mehmet Agar. 
The daily, while reporting that the government was not 
considering a general amnesty in any way, blames the government 
for falling behind Mehmet Agar and asks: "Is AKP or DYP in 
power?"  Evrensel daily quotes Tunceli Mayor Songul Erol Abdil 
as finding both the government's and DYP leader's announcements 
as positive and further proposes that the PKK can lay down arms 
gradually.  Bolge daily reported that Recai Kutan, the leader of 
Happiness Party who is currently visiting Adana, criticized Agar 
for making proposals which are in line with the proposals of the 
PKK terrorist organization.   Kutan also criticized PM Erdogan 
during his speech at the Cukurova Journalists Association and 
blamed Erdogan for being the co-chairperson of Great Middle East 
Project of the U.S. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM: The political wing of the PKK announced that the 
calls made for laying down arms instead of a cease-fire, would 
do no good for the peace process.  Meanwhile, the daily reports 
calls of some members of the intelligentsia to end the military 
operations in the southeastern region. 
 
CUMHURIYET:   Senior leaders of the PKK are making calls for 
girls in the southeastern region to go up the mountains to join 
the ranks of the PKK instead of yielding to the backward social 
pressures they are exposed to,causing them to commit suicide. 
 
BOLGE:    The 261-member Turkish Military Unit, which will join 
the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), has 
arrived at Mersin.  The military materiel that would be sent to 
Lebanon has also arrived at the port of the Mersin. 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   Culture and Tourism Ministry, Prime 
Minister's Office, Chief of General Staff, Ministry of Interior, 
MIT Intelligence Center and Turkish Mountaineering Federation 
signed a protocol on October 15 which included Mount Ararat, the 
highest peak in Turkey, as part of an access-restricted security 
zones of Turkey.  The protocol regulates access of the foreign 
mountaineers and imposes some bureaucratic steps to be taken 
before climbing the mountain.  The daily points out that the 
protocol came after the French bill on the Armenian issue was 
passed in the French parliament. 
 
SECURITY 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM: Jandarma members allegedly opened fire on a 
private car, whose driver allegedly did not obey the halt 
warning at a checkpoint in Van's Baskale district on September 
¶14.   The car had an accident and the driver was killed.  No 
bullet wounds were found in the body of the driver.  DTP 
Provincial Chairperson in Van and DTP members attended the 
funeral of the driver today. 
 
RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET:  The funeral of an infantry 
private, who was killed after being fired on by shooters riding 
in a personal vehicle, which did not obey the security 
personnel's warning to halt.  The incident occurred on an 
unspecified date in Hakkari's Cukurca district in Yozgat 
province. 
 
CUMHURIYET / ZAMAN / RADIKAL / HURRIYET:   An F-16 plane, which 
 
ADANA 00000226  002 OF 002 
 
 
took off from the 8th Main Jet Base in Diyarbakir, crashed 
around the Bitlis River a while after take off, for unknown 
reasons.  The pilot died. 
 
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
SABAH (GUNEY): As a result of an anti-drug operation conducted 
in Gaziantep, police seized 61 kilograms of heroin which was 
brought from Van in hidden sections of a truck and which is 
worth 600,000 Euros.  Two people in the truck were detained. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Gaziantep police found 12 kilograms of 
hashish in an add-on component of a motorcycle used for carrying 
things. 
 
ZAMAN:    Seven people, including the captain from the District 
Jandarma Command at Mardin's Derik district, were detained on 
allegations that those people got involved in the illegal 
business of theft of fuel oil from BOTAS's (Pipeline 
Corporation) pipeline in Derik. 
 
HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM: Following the start of complaints from the people 
about a disruption in broadcasts of Roj-TV in Hakkari, Mus, 
Erzurum, Kars, Sanliurfa, Batman, and Sirnak, most of the people 
in Van's city center are no longer able to watch Roj-TV.  The 
daily suspects that military authorities are jamming the Roj-TV 
broadcasts since Roj-TV is no longer available at locations 
close to military compounds. 
 
EVRENSEL: DTP's party organization in Kars will hold a public 
meeting called "Unemployment, Corruption and Democracy" on 
November 6. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:  Four hundred 
thirty nine workers of the Mardin Municipality went on a strike 
indefinitely.  The Municipality is reportedly indebted to its 
workers for a large sum of salaries. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY 
 
EVRENSEL: Kurdish author Mehmet Uzun, who had a stomach cancer, 
has been recently released from hospital.   His medical 
treatment will reportedly continue.  Uzun congratulated author 
Orhan Pamuk for winning the Nobel Literature Prize. 
 
BOLGE / EKSPRES:   Adana Municipality launched a campaign to 
deliver 30,000 Turkish flags to people ahead of the celebrations 
for the 83rd anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish 
Rebuplic on November 29. 
 
BOLGE / EKSPRES:   Some student groups at Cukurova University 
exhibited photos of students who protested increased meal prices 
in the cafeteria being detained by anti-riot teams at the 
university last week. 
 
BOLGE / ZAMAN: Cukurova University and Association for Garden 
Plants in Adana is currently holding the First International 
Pomegranate and Minor Fruits Symposium at the university.   The 
four-day event will end on October 19. 
 
CUMHURIYET:   Governors of six provinces, including the Ankara 
Governor, convened this time in Adana for a meeting entitled 
"Services of Governors' Offices". 
GREEN