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DE RUEHDA #0004/01 0121323
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121323Z JAN 07
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RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0955
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0823
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
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RHMFIUU/AFOSI DET 522 INCIRLIK AB TU
RUETIAA/DIRNSA FT MEADE MD
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1012

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000004 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 09, 2007 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 09, 
¶2007.  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 
 
ZAMAN / EVRENSEL:       Democratic Peace Initiative will hold a panel 
called "Turkey is Searching Peace" on January 13 - 14 in Ankara. 
 Kurdish issue, peace efforts and suggestions to resolve the 
issue will be raised and discussed during the panel. Fifty 
speakers from academic, political and media circles will 
participate in the event.  Opening remarks will be made by two 
well-known literary figures of Turkey.  President Ahmet Necdet 
Sezer and Prime Minister Erdogan are reportedly also invited to 
the event. 
 
ZAMAN:  DYP Leader Mehmet Agar will pay a visit to the 
Osmaniye province on January 13 to open the new DYP party 
building there and to hear about the problems of people at a 
local level. 
 
BOLGE / EKSPRES:        A 60-year-old person showed his reaction to a 
group of people, who gathered at Inonu Park in Adana to protest 
the alleged isolation policies pursued in Turkish jails against 
inmates, by asking them "Why don't you protest against 
authorities not hanging terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan who 
killed 40,000 innocent people?" 
 
EKSPRES / BOLGE:        Ekspres daily points out that two discrepant 
announcements have been made by Kazim Barisik, Chairperson of 
Adana Chamber of Tradesmen and Artisan's, and, Mustafa 
Attaroglu, AKP Chairperson in Adana.  While Mr.Barisik gave 
grave figures about 2006 and said that nearly 4000 tradesmen had 
to close their businesses last year in Adana , Mr. Attaroglu 
claimed  businesses closed during former administrations, were 
being reopened during AKP rule.  The dailies separately reported 
that farmers in the Adana and Cukurova region are not very 
hopeful about the new year, according to the Chairperson of 
Yuregir District Chairperson of Chamber of Agriculture. 
 
SECURITY 
 
ZAMAN:  A 38-year-old person, Ercan Kaya, who was detained 
in Tunceli on November 2006 on allegations that he was a PKK 
bomber, has been arraigned and put in prison.  According to the 
Tunceli Police, a bomb, which went off as that person was 
setting it up in Tunceli, wounded him and caused him to be 
apprehended back in November in Tunceli.  Kaya is also announced 
as the perpetrator of three bomb incidents that took place in 
the southeastern region in 2006. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Beta, a sapling nursery company in 
Adana, sent a delegation to Spain to examine the Arbequina clone 
I-18 orchards where dwarf olive-oil trees were being cultivated. 
 The delegation explored chances of cultivating dwarf olive-oil 
trees in Adana.  The dwarf trees reportedly allow olive growers 
easier harvest with machinery. 
 
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT: 
 
CUMHURIYET:     Police seized 1300 cigarette packages that were 
smuggled to Van's Muradiye district.  Two persons in the car 
where the cigarettes were found have been detained. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
ZAMAN:  The first surgical operation in the history of 
Hakkari's Semdinli district has been conducted at the new 
operating room established at the Semdinli State Hospital. 
 
ZAMAN:  A 78-million-year-old marine fossil was unearthed in 
the eastern city of Malatya.  This fact, said a professor from 
the Inonu University in Malatya, proves that Malatya was covered 
with sea waters around 18 million years ago. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     European Union allocated 40,000 euros of fund for a 
cultural project of Diyarbakir Municipality about Kurdish 
"dengbejs" (wandering minstrels) and "Dengbej tradition". 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Eleven young persons from different 
European countries that came to English Language Department of 
 
ADANA 00000004  002 OF 002 
 
 
the university as exchange students under European Commission's 
Erasmus Programme, performed a play in Turkish after attending a 
two-and-a-half-month Turkish language course at the university. 
 
 
CUMHURIYET:     A ceremony has been held in Diyarbakir to remember 
75 casualties of a January 8, 2003 plane crash in Diyarbakir. 
Abdurrahman Kurt, AKP Provincial Chairman of Diyarbakir, who 
lost his son and daughter-in-law in that accident, attended the 
memorial ceremony. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     CYDD (Association for Supporting Contemporary Life) 
in Mersin has been actively working in Mersin to win back the 
girls of the disadvantaged families ?n the prov?nce to the 
educational life. 
GREEN