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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000020 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 14, 2007 
 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 
14, 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 
 
¶2.      BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / EKSPRES:  Street vendors 
in Adana held a protest activity in front of the Seyhan 
Municipality and complained that the six venues the municipality 
constructed and assigned to them for their use have now been 
assigned to others.  Meanwhile, Adana Mayor Aytac Durak 
criticized the district municipalities for not having solved the 
issue of street vendors who are occupying the streets illegally. 
 
 
¶3.      GUNDEM: "Public Initiative for Liberation in Support 
for Apo" has been delivering brochures everywhere in Diyarbakir 
to make a call for people to temporarily shut down their 
businesses in protest to remember the anniversary of the arrest 
of Abdullah Ocalan by Turkish authorities eight years ago on 
February 15. (Note: Apo is a nickname for Abdullah Ocalan. End 
Note.) 
 
¶4.      GUNDEM: Five people, who were conducting a campaign 
for gathering signatures in support of peace under "Democratic 
Free Women's Movement" in Sirnak's Silopi district, were 
detained.  Meanwhile, the daily reports the PKK as held a 
conference between January 15 and February 4.  According to the 
daily, decisions were taken at the conference to turn the PKK 
into a professional guerilla army, because, the policies of 
denial and neglect in Turkey brought the Kurdish people to the 
point where they would have to reconsider their situation and 
would eventually have to make new decisions to bring about 
change. 
 
¶5.      SABAH:  The judge did not allow Attorney Ibrahim 
Guclu, the spokesperson for the former Kurd-Der (Kurdish 
Association), to give his statement in Kurdish during the trial 
opened against him for his remarks made on the anniversary of a 
Kurdish rebellion which dates back to 1920s. 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶6.      SABAH:  Office of the Chief of General Staff announced 
that an anti-personnel mine, which was placed by the PKK in a 
rough terrain area in Batman's Hasankeyf district, was safely 
detonated.  The Office further announced that two PKK shelters 
were discovered in Tunceli last Sunday, and one RPG 7, its 
ammunition, two flame throwers and large amounts of ammunition 
were seized in mountainous sections of Sirnak. 
 
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT: 
 
¶7.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Van police announced that 31 
kilograms of hashish were seized during a police search at two 
houses.  In a separate operation Van police seized 18,000 
packets of smuggled cigarettes in a car they followed.  The car, 
which did not stop when police warned it to halt, was found with 
the cigarettes as deserted later.  Meanwhile, jandarma teams in 
Elazig searched a passenger bus on a road between Elazig and 
Bingol, and found 6 kilograms of hashish in the luggage of a 
passenger. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶8.      BOLGE / ZAMAN:  Umit Ozgumus, Chairperson of Adana 
Chamber of Industry, talked with the Seyhan Subgovernor who paid 
a visit to Ozgumus.  During their conversation, Mr. Ozgumus said 
that people should not long for the wealthy era of Adana between 
1950s and 60s since it had not been a period of healthy economic 
growth.  According to Ozgumus, there was no competition then and 
money was earned easily by only a small portion of the society. 
Ozgumus made further positive comments about the investment 
prospects in Adana. 
 
¶9.      BOLGE:  Saban Bas, Chairperson of Adana Chamber of 
Commerce, announced that they created a report on the chief 
economic and social problems of Adana and submitted it to the 
Ministry of Industry and Commerce. 
 
¶10.     GUNDEM: Chairperson of Kars Commodity Exchange said 
that Kars would be a center of attraction when the 
Kars-Tibilisi-Baku Railway Project is completed. 
 
ADANA 00000020  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
¶11.     BOLGE / EVRENSEL / EKSPRES / SABAH (GUNEY) / GUNDEM / 
ZAMAN / RADIKAL:        A ten-year-old child was found stabbed and 
wounded by fire from a modified blank firearm in a street in 
Adana.  The child was hospitalized by people who found him in 
the street.  The father of the child is reported to be in 
prison, and, the police detained a suspect, who is a person they 
suspect is romantically involved with the mother of the child. 
 
¶12.     ZAMAN / RADIKAL:        Ministry of Agriculture and Village 
Works verified that bird flu virus was detected in the poultry 
that died in Batman's Doluca village.   Meanwhile, the Radikal 
daily reported that Ministry of Agriculture and Village Works 
verified that bird flu virus was detected in the poultry that 
died in Diyarbakir's Silvan district. 
 
¶13.     GUNDEM: Green card system in Turkey provides a special 
card giving access to hospital care at state hospitals for poor 
people.  The daily reports an alleged "green card scandal" in 
Sirnak's Cizre district: 2000 expired green cards, were found 
dumped in the garbage of a state hospital.  Local Green Card 
holders, whose expired green cards were found in the garbage, 
complained that state authorities have not been reissuing green 
cards to them only because they are of Kurdish origin. 
 
¶14.     GUNDEM: Orthodox Christians in Hatay's Iskenderun 
district started festivities to welcome the Easter Fasting that 
will start on February 19. 
GREEN