VZCZCXRO9896
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0021/01 0470944
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160944Z FEB 07
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4435
INFO RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0981
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0845
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/AFOSI DET 522 INCIRLIK AB TU
RUETIAA/DIRNSA FT MEADE MD
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1038

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000021 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 16, 2007 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 16, 
¶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 / SABAH / ZAMAN:       The dailies report that some 
businesses at parts of the provinces in eastern and southeastern 
Turkey closed their businesses for one day in protest of the 
eighth anniversary of arrest of Abdullah Ocalan by the Turkish 
authorities on February 15; sporadic illegal demonstrations took 
place.  Businessmen in parts of Diyarbakir did not open their 
businesses in the morning hours.  The dailies report some 
businesses as choosing to stay open in Hakkari.  Around 10 a.m. 
in the morning, Hakkari Deputy Governor, Hakkari Commando 
Brigade Commander and Provincial Jandarma Commander and the 
Security Director paid visits to tradesmen and thanked those who 
chose to stay open throughout the day.  Sabah daily reports that 
when tension broke out between a jewelry shop owner and a group 
of DTP members who tried to convince the jeweler to close his 
business in Yuksekova, the 17-year-old son of the DTP district 
chairperson was wounded by gunfire.  The daily observed that 
some businesses in Mersin, Sirnak, Siirt, Mardin, Batman, 
Sanliurfa and Adana acted in accordance with the call of the 
terrorist organization.  In Batman, police detained 11 people 
making preparations to launch activities with Molotov cocktails. 
In Diyarbakir, tradesmen in Baglar, Surici, Sehitlik and 
Kayapinar quarters observed the rule of shutting their 
businesses, however, the tradesmen in the main streets of 
Diyarbakir, in Ofis and Yenisehir quarters reportedly stayed 
open. People, mostly children, conducted illegal demonstrations 
in Mersin.  Diyarbakir Governor's Office circulated a request 
from the public institutions to report staff members and workers 
who boycotted work yesterday and the students who boycotted 
school. 
 
GUNDEM: The pro-PKK newspaper Gundem reports that ninety 
percent of tradesmen in Diyarbakir closed their businesses 
yesterday.  Hundreds of people, civil society organizations, 
some mayors and DTP members reportedly gathered in front of the 
DTP party headquarters and held a silent march towards the 
Kosuyolu Park in Diyarbakir.  Women wore white headscarves and 
put on a black ribbon around their heads as if they wore a 
shroud.  The protests occurred in Mardin's Nusaybin, Kiziltepe 
and Derik districts despite strict security measures taken by 
the police there.  The daily reports that there was a high level 
of tension in Kiziltepe throughout the day and tradesmen there 
strictly complied with practice of not opening their businesses. 
 The demonstrators, most of whom were comprised of children and 
youth, set small fires with tires, carried posters of Abdullah 
Ocalan and flags of so-called democratic confederalism, chanted 
slogans in Kurdish and Turkish in support for Abdullah Ocalan. 
Some clashes took place at times when police intervened in the 
ongoing protest activities.  The daily further gives detailed 
reports about demonstrations that went on throughout the day 
yesterday in sections and districts of Diyarbakir, Van, Batman, 
Siirt, Hakkari, Mersin and the refugee camp in Maxmur in 
northern Iraq.  The brochures being delivered in those places 
urged people to close down their businesses for one day and 
urged students to boycott schools. The brochures further told 
people to fast, wear black apparel, and not go out in the 
streets, as a sign of protest against Ocalan's arrest. 
 
ADANAHABER ONLINE / BOLGE:      A group of pro-PKK protestors held 
a protest in Barbaros quarter of Adana and reportedly used many 
children in their protest activity.  When the demonstrators 
built barricades, burned tires in the street and threw stones at 
the police, the police intervened with armored police vehicles. 
The demonstrators dispersed into the back streets and the police 
put out sporadic fires caused by burning tires.   The anti-riot 
teams have been striving to control the situation at the site of 
the protest. 
 
GUNDEM: The U.S. is increasing its pressure on Denmark 
against the broadcast of pro-PKK Roj TV.  Danish Royal 
Prosecutor placed a request to initiate a new investigation 
process against Roj TV.  Opposition parties indicated that this 
move came as a result of pressure exerted by the U.S. 
 
GUNDEM: The court continued to hear the case against  Cizre 
Mayor Ayhan Budak and six other people for making statements 
praising the PKK during the March 21 Newruz celebrations in 2006 
in Sirnak's Cizre district. 
 
ADANA 00000021  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
SECURITY 
 
GUNDEM: A 37-year-old police officer was found shot in the 
head in front of his house in Diyarbakir.  Diyarbakir police 
started investigating the incident. 
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT: 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    A 21-year-old person, 
who fled the scene after running into a 20-year-old medical 
faculty student on December 12, 2005 with his car in Adana, has 
been sentenced to 6 years in prison.  The mother of the victim 
protested the verdict. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Regarding the case of a 10-year-old boy 
who died when a bullet from an unknown source hit him as he was 
playing in the street in a section of Adana on February 8 (see 
press summary for February 13), the daily reports that the 
sister of the victim has identified the perpetrator as the son 
of the mayor of Havutlu district (from AKP) in Adana. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Police found more than 3 kilograms 
hashish in the luggage of a passenger in an inter-city passenger 
bus in Hatay's Belen district. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
HURRIYET / ADANAHABER ONLINE / ZAMAN / BOLGE / SABAH (GUNEY): 
Hilmi Guler, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, came to 
Adana to attend the ceremony marking the loading of 100th 
petroleum tanker at the Ceyhan end of the Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan 
pipeline in Adana.  The minister announced that 300 million 
dollars were earned from 76 million barrels of oil that was 
loaded onto tankers from the Ceyhan terminal. The general 
manager of Botas International Limited said that the 100th 
tanker was the biggest tanker that was loaded at Ceyhan to date 
with a capacity of 2 million barrels. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
GUNDEM: When the petroleum pipes of Perenco Petroleum 
Corporation located within the borders of two hamlets in 
Diyarbakir exploded as a result of an accident twenty days ago, 
oil spilled and polluted the water in the area.   People, whose 
drinking water has been cut off, have been covering long 
distances to get water from clean sources.  Because of the 
spill, large numbers of fish and birds also died in and around a 
lake where fish were being cultivated. 
GREEN