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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000006 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARAY 10, 2007 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 10, 
¶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 
 
HURRIYET / BOLGE / EKSPRES / ZAMAN / RADIKAL / SABAH / 
CUMHURIYET / YENI SAFAK:        The names of the 34 Turkish 
construction workers who died in a cargo plane crash at 7 a.m. 
north of Baghdad were announced to the anxious crowd of people 
waiting outside the Adana premises of the Kulak Construction 
Company. The Moldovan-flagged Antonov-26 plane had taken off 
from the airport of Adana and was carrying construction workers 
of the Kulak construction company, the governor of Adana said. 
The company's owner was among the dead.  A team comprised of 
Moldovan and Turkish experts flew to Iraq yesterday night to 
explore the causes of the accident.  Adana Governor Cahit Kirac 
told he was informed that the cause of the accident was foggy 
conditions during plane's landing, not an armed or missile 
attack. 
 
HURRIYET / SABAH:       CHP Leader Deniz Baykal harshly criticized the 
large ads of the AKP hung on billboards to extend sacrifice 
holiday greetings to the people.  According to Baykal, the ads 
with a big Turkish flag seen in the background were allegedly 
not hung in the provinces of southeastern Turkey. Deniz Baykal 
is quoted as asking to PM, "Will you be the president of the 
places where you had your ads hung, or will you be the president 
of the places where you did not have your ads hung?" 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / CUMHURIYET:       Municipality assembly 
members from DTP and SHP objected to the tender opened by Siirt 
Municipality which is administered by AKP officials, and filed a 
complaint with the prosecutor's office last month, claiming that 
the municipality put a land to tender below the current price 
that should actually be charged for the land.  The municipality 
cancelled the tender because of the precautionary measures 
imposed by the prosecutor's office.  Cumhuriyet daily claims 
that AKP officials in Siirt engaged in a row among themselves 
because of the intra-party strife. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / YENI SAFAK:       The area of fields where 
olives are grown currently reached to nearly 300,000 acres and 
the number of total olive trees is now 6 million, according the 
Gaziantep Provincial Agricultural Directorate, which reportedly 
shows a growing interest in olive tree cultivation. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Tarsus Chamber of Agriculture and Tarsus 
Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Mersin will be holding Citrus 
Fruit Festivities between January 15 and 20.  Tarsus 
Subgovernor's Office is providing support for that event. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Fahrettin Akyil, Chairperson of Diyarbakir's 
Commodity Exchange, pointed out that the government should 
provide a wider range of resources and opportunities for 
Diyarbakir province because of the pressing problems of the 
province due to unresolved critical issues such as terrorism and 
unemployment.  Akyil added that SMEs in Diyarbakir were 
suffering from serious problems and they desperately needed 
government subsidies in terms of marketing issues.  Akyil noted 
that First Middle Eastern Agricultural Fair that will be held in 
May in Diyarbakir will bring dynamism to the region. 
 
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT: 
 
EVRENSEL:       Inspectors from the Ministry of Education, who were 
assigned to investigate the sexual harassment case at one of the 
boarding schools of Tunceli's Mazgirt district, resumed office 
after a one week lapse due to the New Year and Sacrifice Holiday 
(see press summary for December 25).  Three male students, who 
were all 13 years old, were arrested on sexual harassment 
charges that affected four younger male kids. 
 
RADIKAL:        One of the deputy governors of Adana faces 
allegations that he was also among the perpetrators involved in 
a fraudulent business of imaginary exports transactions 
amounting to 1 billion USD in Mersin's Organized Industrial 
Zone.  An operation began against the reported illegal business 
back in 2004. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
ADANA 00000006  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Seyhan District Municipality in 
Adana started a series of conferences at schools on "Substance 
Abuse and Its Prevention." 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Canadians, who were very appreciative of the 
help Adana people and authorities extended during the evacuation 
of Canadians from Lebanon in mid-July last year because of the 
Israeli attack on the country, called the Adana Governor's 
Office and offered to provide 20,000 USD donation for a project 
that would be beneficial to Adana.  Governor's Office awarded 
the money to CESKA's (Association for Education for Sustainable 
Development) "Karayusuflu Public Education and Recreation 
Project." 
 
EVRENSEL:       Freezing temperatures caused the water supply pipes 
at houses and water tanks to freeze up in Diyarbakir.  People 
and institutions are experiencing serious difficulty because of 
lack of running water at their water systems. The daily reports 
that the heating system got frozen at a primary school and the 
younger students are reportedly being schooled under 
inconvenient cold circumstances. 
 
RADIKAL / HURRIYET / ZAMAN / SABAH / YENI SAFAK:        A 
12-year-old child committed suicide in a village of Mus province 
after watching Saddam Hussein's execution. 
 
HURRIYET / ZAMAN / SABAH / CUMHURIYET / YENI SAFAK:     It is 
reported that during one of the flights of Turkish Airlines from 
Istanbul to Erzurum the pilots allegedly could not access 
anybody from whom they could request landing permission for 20 
minutes.  The plane allegedly had to fly over the airport for a 
while.  The flight was one of the additional flights the Turkish 
Airlines offered to meet the high demand during the holiday 
season.  The airport authorities at Erzurum claimed that Turkish 
Airlines did not inform them about the additional flight. 
 
ZAMAN:  The daily reported that 1,064,000 YTL was allocated 
by the GAP (Southeastern Anatolian Project) Regional Development 
Authority in 2006 to save and conserve the archeological 
heritage of Hasankeyf district which will be flooded under 
waters of a dam envisaged to be built in the area.  Batman 
Provincial Cultural and Tourism Director however pointed out 
that only half of the money was used in 2006, and 524,873 YTL 
was returned. 
WILSON