VZCZCXRO2906
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0023/01 0521010
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211010Z FEB 07
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4438
INFO RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1041
RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0984
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0847
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000023 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 19, 2006 
 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 
19, 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 / SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / 
SABAH / RADIKAL / ZAMAN:        Abdulkadir Aksu, Ministry of 
Interior, attended groundbreaking ceremonies of two facilities: 
a private hospital and a cultural center in Adana.  Aksu 
congratulated Seyhan Mayor Azim Ozturk for undertaking such 
projects.  Aksu also attended the opening ceremony of Kizilay's 
Mediterranean Center for Disaster Logistics and Relief in Adana. 
 Aksu further attended TOKI's (Mass Housing Administration) 
lottery drawn to determine the owners of 558 houses built in 
Adana's Yuregir district.  Aksu also paid a visit to BTC 
(Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan) facilities in Ceyhan.  Sulayman Onatca, 
Chairperson of Adana Businessmen and Industrialists Association, 
met with the minister at Ceyhan told him that BTC should provide 
employment opportunities.  (This summary is from February 19 
editions.) 
 
¶3.      EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN:        Tension erupted 
between police and a group of people who attempted to hold a 
march in Mardin's Kiziltepe district against capturing of 
Abdullah Ocalan eight years ago on February 15.  Police did not 
allow the group to march in the main street of the district or 
wave banners in support for Ocalan.  DTP Mardin Provincial 
Chairperson and provincial administrators extended support for 
the protest.   Meanwhile, hundreds of people reportedly 
continued to protest Ocalan's capture in Sirnak's Silopi 
district.  Silopi Mayor, DTP Sirnak provincial chairperson, DTP 
Silopi provincial chairperson, and municipality members from DTP 
extended support to the protest.  Twelve of the people who were 
detained during February 15 protests in Mersin and Hakkari's 
Yuksekova district, have been arraigned and arrested for holding 
activities in the name of the terrorist organization, reports 
Ozgur Gundem daily.  Zaman daily reported that five of the six 
people arrested in Yuksekova were arrested for damaging public 
property, preventing freedom of working to provide support for 
terrorism, and inflicting fear and panic among people. 
 
¶4.      HURRIYET:       Ibrahim Polat, a PKK member and driver of 
Osman Ocalan, who surrendered to Turkish authorities three 
months ago at the Habur Border Gate in Sirnak, reportedly 
confessed that the senior U.S. military officials were paying 
regular monthly visits to Murat Karayilan, the PKK leader, at 
the Mountain Qandil in the northern Iraq.  Polat further told 
authorities that Kurdish groups in the northern Iraq were 
providing arms and explosives to the members of the PKK. 
 
¶5.      SABAH / GUNDEM: Two people, who were being prosecuted 
for shouting slogans that praised Abdullah Ocalan during an 
October 2006 press announcement held in front of the DTP party 
premises in Agri, were recently sentenced to 10 months in prison 
for making such statements.  Prosecutor's Office heeded the 
video records of the police shot during the aforementioned event 
in 2006. 
 
¶6.      HURRIYET:       The daily reports that Abdullah Ocalan's 
attorneys helped Ocalan to take his prison writings abroad and 
publish them in the U.K. under "Prison Writings: The Roots of 
Civilization".  The book was reportedly promoted by Ken 
Livingstone, the Mayor of London, on January 20.  The daily 
further reports that a total 50 indictments have been prepared 
to date by prosecutor's offices in Istanbul's Beyoglu and Eyup 
districts and in Adana against 20 attorneys of Abdullah Ocalan 
in the last three years.  Nine attorneys were dismissed from 
their positions.  21 lawsuits were opened against Ocalan's 
attorneys for leaking the information about their visits to 
their client and their client's political views to the press. 
 
¶7.      HURRIYET:       DTP Chairperson Ahmet Turk criticized Turkish 
authorities' recent remarks about Talabani and Barzani, and 
further said that the hostile approach of Turkish authorities 
towards the administration in northern Iraq would do harm to 
Turkey's societal texture. 
 
¶8.      RADIKAL:        A heavy penalty court in Adana is specially 
authorized to carry out the prosecution process of 37 Al-Qaeda 
defendants who were caught as a result of simultaneous 
operations carried out in seven provinces of Turkey on January 
¶29.  The files of defendants have recently been sent to Adana. 
The police are still examining the CDs and computers seized 
during the operations. 
 
¶9.      GUNDEM: The daily reported that no progress has been 
achieved in the investigation process into the killing of a 
 
ADANA 00000023  002 OF 002 
 
 
15-year-old boy in Adana on August 2006.  The daily alleges that 
police officers killed the boy as they opened fire at close 
range (for unspecified reasons) at the boy as the boy was 
walking in the street while returning to his home.  The daily 
criticizes authorities for initiating a lawsuit with the Adana 
Seventh Heavy Penalty Court against the secretary of Adana 
Chapter of the Human Rights Association for claiming after the 
incident that the killing of the boy was an 'extrajudicial 
execution.' 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶10.     BOLGE:  Fethi Coskuntuncel, Chairperson of Adana's 
Commodity Exchange said that transactions amounting to 
2,134,482,439 YTL were carried out at the Commodity Exchange 
last year in Adana.  Coskuntuncel said that all of Adana's 
agricultural outputs were registered at the Commodity Exchange, 
and that the Commodity Exchange had become a very vital tool in 
Turkey in registering the economic activities carried out in the 
country. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
¶11.     GUNDEM: Provincial party organizations of DTP and DYP 
held a dinner in Diyarbakir for members of two families to 
amicably settle the 40-year-old blood feud that was going on 
between the families. 
 
¶12.     GUNDEM: Civil society organizations in Tunceli's 
Ovacik district held a fundraising night to meet the medical 
needs of the Ovacik State Hospital.  Over 1000 people, including 
the Mayor of Ovacik and Mayor of Istanbul's Sisli district, 
attended the event. 
 
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶13.     BOLGE / EKSPRES / ZAMAN:        Members of a clan called 
'Cono' in Adana attacked the owner of a shop and his son with 
sticks, knives and stones after the shop owner had beaten three 
clan-member boys whom he accused of stealing items from his 
shop.  The police had difficulty in quelling the unrest that 
broke out between the clan members and the dwellers of the 
quarter where the shop was located. 
GREEN