VZCZCXRO2908
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0024/01 0521010
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211010Z FEB 07
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4440
INFO RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1043
RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0986
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0849
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000024 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 20, 2007 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 
20, 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.      EVRENSEL / GUNDEM / ZAMAN:      Preparations for 2007 Newroz 
celebrations have begun in Diyarbakir, according to the Newroz 
committee that was newly set up in Diyarbakir in a press 
announcement.  DTP Diyarbakir provincial chairperson Hilmi 
Aydogdu said that they would be celebrating this year's Newroz 
with activities held over a one week period and they were aiming 
to draw one million people to this year's celebrations.  Aydogdu 
further commented that 2007 Newroz would play an important role 
in determining the fate of the cease-fire declared by the PKK. 
The committee will reportedly send Newroz invitations to 
President Sezer, PM Erdogan, Talabani and Barzani. 
 
¶3.      GUNDEM: The daily reported the anger of the Yuksekova 
people, when, a jeweler named Cevher Balin, who allegedly 
wounded the son of the DTP district chairperson on February 15, 
as the protests in Hakkari's Yuksekova district marking the 
anniversary of Abdullah Ocalan's arrest eight years ago were 
going on (see press summary for February 16), was recently 
released by the police.  The mainstream newspapers reported then 
that the jeweler opened fire when a group of DTP members 
attempted to put pressure on him to close his business. 
However, pro-Kurdish daily Gundem claims that those news stories 
were reportedly misleading and DTP members did not engage in a 
conflict with any people on that day. 
 
¶4.      ZAMAN:  Van police conducted a raid on the provincial 
party premises of DTP in Van when police received information 
that 10 people they were searching for on charges of shouting 
slogans and hanging banners in support for PKK, would attend the 
DTP youth branches' meeting at Van DTP.  Police seized many 
documents containing illegal symbols and brochures describing 
the terrorists as "martyrs."  Police detained 20 people 
including the provincial party leader Ibrahim Sunkur. 
 
¶5.      ZAMAN:  National Security Directorate, following the 
meeting held in Anakra together with security directors of 81 
provinces in Turkey, will hold a separate security meeting in 
Diyarbakir tomorrow with 12 security directors in the eastern 
and southeastern region to discuss security issues there. 
 
¶6.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Abdulkadir Aksu, Minister of 
Interior, who paid a visit to Adana (see press summary for 
February 19), attended a meeting held with 13 district 
subgovernors in Adana.  Aksu announced to the subgovernors that 
30 million YTL has been allocated for the use of subgovernors to 
realize infrastructural projects for the villages. 
 
¶7.      EKSPRES / BOLGE The dailies report that the bitter 
strife between Adana Mayor Aytac Durak and Seyhan District Mayor 
Azim Ozturk has become apparent once again.  Regarding the 
remarks Seyhan Mayor Ozturk made during the groundbreaking 
ceremony of a cultural center in Adana where he said that he was 
talking on behalf of one million Seyhan people, Durak asked, 
"Whose Mayor do you think I am? I would like to extend a warning 
to Mr. Mayor. He should be careful about his remarks." Ozturk's 
response to Durak's warning was: "I was wrong in my first 
calculation; I actually represent 1,200,000 Seyhan people and 
speak on behalf of them, not 1,000,000." 
 
¶8.      EKSPRES / BOLGE:        Street vendors once again held a protest 
in front of the Seyhan Municipality in Adana and complained that 
the six venues the municipality constructed and assigned to them 
for their use have now been assigned to others (see press 
summary for February 14). 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶9.      EKSPRES:        An explosion took place in a cinema venue in 
Adana the previous day [Sunday] around 11 p.m.  No casualties, 
but material damage was reported. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶10.     HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / GUNDEM:   Chairperson of Bee Farmers 
in Hakkari said that all of the honey products of Hakkari were 
exported to the European countries in 2006. 
 
¶11.     SABAH (GUNEY):  Sabah Guney daily, which has launched a 
campaign to encourage consumption of citrus fruit in the 
Cukurova region, made a call to authorities to hold a citrus 
fruit festival annually, similar to the one held in France's 
seaside town Menton, to stimulate consumption. 
 
ADANA 00000024  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶12.     SABAH (GUNEY):  The daily reports that the amount of 
snow and rainfall in January in the eastern and southeastern 
region pleased the farmers.  If weather conditions continue to 
bring rain, the cereal yield in those regions will be very high, 
said the chairperson of Diyarbakir's Chamber of Agriculture. 
 
¶13.     SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE / ZAMAN:  Fatih Acar, 
Chairperson of Adana Tax Office, announced the start of Tax Week 
which will be celebrated between February 19 and 25.  Acar said 
that they were placing great importance on educational campaigns 
to raise awareness of people about the practice of paying taxes. 
 Adana Mayor Aytac Durak, who received Acar and tax authorities 
at his municipal office, pointed out that only when citizens pay 
their taxes in a fair and equal fashion, inequality could be 
eliminated. 
 
¶14.     GUNDEM: Mus, which remained the only province in the 
country that has not been able to conduct any export activities 
for the past 14 years, carried out export transactions with 
northern Iraq and Syria amounting to 2,036,000 USD in 2006. 
 
 
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶15.     HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Police found 37,880 packets of 
smuggled cigarettes hidden in sections of a truck in Hatay's 
Reyhanli district.  The driver of the truck and a person 
traveling with him were detained. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
¶16.     SABAH (GUNEY):  Spouses of nearly 180 municipality 
workers in Hatay's Belen district, who claimed that their 
husbands were not able to get their salaries from the 
municipality, held a protest and marched towards the 
municipality building.  Spouses accused the mayor of paying the 
salaries of the workers he hired when his term started without 
cessation, but neglecting those workers who were hired during 
terms of previous mayors.  The mayor (from AKP), for his part, 
claims that there were too many workers employed at the 
municipality because of the wrong policies pursued by the former 
administrations. 
 
¶17.     EVRENSEL:       A delegation from EMEP (Party of Labor) paid 
visits to the villages in Adana's Tufanbeyli district to raise 
villagers' environmental awareness against coal-powered plant 
that a company called EnerjiSa was envisaging to build in 
Adana's Tufanbeyli district. 
 
¶18.     GUNDEM: The blood samples taken from three brothers in 
Van, who were suspected to have contracted bird flu, proved 
negative. 
 
¶19.     EVRENSEL / GUNDEM:      According to results of research 
by the Social Services Directorate in Diyarbakir covering the 
Surici, Sehitlik and Baglar quarters in the province, 3302 
children are working in the streets there.  Eighty four percent 
of those children are giving the money they earn in the streets 
to their families.  2742 children are attending school as they 
continue to earn their livelihoods. 
GREEN