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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000247 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR NOVEMBER 26, 2006 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for November 26, 
¶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 (CUKUROVA):    Hatay Governor Ahmet Kayhan paid a 
courtesy visit to the Governor of Lazkiye province in Syria. 
One of the topics the governors discussed was about two border 
gates between the two countries. 
 
BOLGE:  President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus 
came to Gaziantep to attend a series of openings and to take 
part in a November 25 dated conference in the Gaziantep 
University. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Gaziantep Mayor Asim Guzelbey announced 
that last stage of construction has begun on the monument that 
described the story of what had happened during the French 
occupation in Gaziantep in the early decades of the 20th 
century. 
 
ZAMAN:  Despite the fact that the EU listed the PKK among 
terrorist organizations, France, which discontinued Turkish 
language broadcasts on its International French Radio, has 
remained acquiescent to the pro-PKK broadcasts on a radio 
station France allocated to several associations in France.  A 
radio program held yesterday invited Kurdish people in France to 
join the events that would be held to celebrate the 28th 
anniversary of the PKK. 
 
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI:    Youth Assembly of the DTP in Mardin's 
Nusaybin district held an event to mark both International Day 
for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25) and 
the 28th anniversary of the foundation of the PKK (November 27). 
 Meanwhile, the DTP district party organization in Mardin's 
Mazidagi district held a public meeting to discuss the 
cease-fire PKK announced. 
 
ZAMAN:  Despite remarks of Iraqi President Massoud Barzani 
that they would not allow the PKK to take shelter in the Iraqi 
territory, a senior PKK official recently announced that the 
fifty villages in northern Iraq were under the control of the 
PKK. 
 
HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI / CUMHURIYET / RADIKAL:     Diyarbakir 
Women's Platform and International Amnesty Organization members 
held a joint press announcement in Diyarbakir to mark 
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. 
 Meanwhile, police in Mazidagi district banned the brochures DTP 
Women's Assembly prepared to mark the Day, on grounds that the 
brochures included illegal propaganda materiel.  Cumhuriyet and 
Radikal dailies further noted women's activities held by several 
political parties and civil society organizations in Hatay, 
Sanliurfa, Adana, Antalya and Ankara provinces. 
 
SECURITY 
 
ZAMAN / CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / RADIKAL:        The funeral of an 
infantry commando sergeant, who died in a clash in the Kupeli 
Mountains in Sirnak the previous day, was held in Izmir.  Agean 
Army Commander, several senior officers, the governor of Izmir 
and many people attended the funeral. 
 
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI:    Three PKK members, who were killed 
during the military operations of the Turkish Armed Forces 
started in rural sections of Tunceli, Elazig and Bingol ten days 
ago, have been buried with three funerals held in the hometowns 
of the PKK members, namely Tunceli, Adiyaman and Mus provinces. 
Relatives of one of the PKK members are reportedly suspecting 
that chemical weapons caused the burns on the dead body of the 
PKK member.  Meanwhile, one of the eight PKK members killed on 
November 16 during the military operations in Tunceli and 
Bingol, was recently identified and announced by the PKK 
headquarters. 
 
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI:    When people of a township in 
Diyarbakir's Hani district objected to the burial of a village 
guard, who was killed by unidentified person(s) some days ago in 
 
ADANA 00000247  002 OF 002 
 
 
the township, the family of the village guard had to bury their 
dead in another district. 
 
CUMHURIYET / ZAMAN / RADIKAL:   Van police announced that a total 
of 1,217 kilograms of heroin, 8,982,000 Indian hemps, and 854 
kilograms of hashish was seized in the province to date in 2006 
in Van. 
 
ZAMAN:  Jandarma teams in Adana's Ceyhan district searched a 
passenger bus and found 12 kilograms of hashish on two 
passengers. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
ZAMAN / TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI / HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET / RADIKAL: 
The biggest live animal market of Turkey has been opened in 
Diyarbakir.  Music by Kamkars, Iran's Kurdish Family Ensemble, 
and Pink Floyd were played during the opening ceremony, and 
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir and DTP Chairperson Ahmet Turk 
delivered speeches.  Banners included Turkish, Kurdish and 
English versions of the word "Welcome."  Turk said during his 
speech that Turkey cannot enter the EU as long as it continued 
to deny the presence of the Kurds.  The market was built on 30.6 
acres of land and 10 million YTL has been spent to build it. 
 
 
CUMHURIYET / BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / ZAMAN:       Two 
hundred citrus fruit farmers held a protest on the day when 
Mersin Governor's Office and Erdemli district's citrus fruit 
union jointly held an event called "Lemon Harvest Day." 
Farmers, who reportedly had complaints about authorities 
neglecting problems of citrus fruit farmers, chanted slogans. 
Jandarma, as they forcibly quelled the commotion, detained the 
district chairperson of the Erdemli district (from CHP) and two 
farmers.        Farmers angered by the detentions, briefly blockaded 
the flow of traffic on the road between Mersin and Antalya. 
 
BOLGE:  Chairperson of the Adana Chapter of Agricultural 
Engineers complained that middlemen, who were paying 0.13 cents 
per kilogram to farmers to buy citrus fruit, were selling the 
produce at a five times more expensive price in the market. 
 
HURRIYET / RADIKAL:     State Minister Kursat Tuzmen announced 
signing of a protocol with Iraqis at a joint economic commission 
to hold the International Baghdad Festival for the second time 
again in Gaziantep in 2007. 
 
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI:  Mehdi Eker, Minister of Agriculture and 
Village Works, announced in a speech he delivered at 
Diyarbakir's Commodity Exchange that the first of the Middle 
Eastern Agricultural Fair will be held in Diyarbakir between May 
23 and 27. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
BOLGE:  People in Hatay extended their thanks to the Pope 
Benedict XVI for the 10,000-Euro aid the pope sent to the 
victims of the flooding that took place in Hatay at the onset of 
November.  Bishop Luigi Padovese, Representative of Papacy in 
Anatolia and Chairperson of Catholic Bishops Council, conveyed a 
part of the aid to the Iskenderun District Subgovernor in 
Iskenderun district of Hatay. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    A project called "Raising Awareness 
about Cleaning", which was created by Yerel Gundem 21 (Local 
Agenda 21 Project) in Diyarbakir with the support of Jarfella 
Municipality of Sweden, has been promoted in the province. 
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir delivered a speech during the 
event and said that one of the distinctive qualities of a 
society was the attention paid to cleanliness. 
 
HURRIYET:       An unidentified person participating in a wedding 
opened fire in the air and accidentally killed a 60-year-old 
woman watching the wedding from the balcony of her house. 
(Note: Opening fire in the air is a practice observed in 
weddings in some parts of Turkey. End Note.) 
GREEN