VZCZCXRO1401
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0063/01 1201700
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301700Z APR 07
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4508
INFO RUEUITH/AFOSI DET 521 ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1054
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0909
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 1111

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000063 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR APRIL 27, 2007 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for April 27, 
¶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 / GUNDEM:      Twenty-eight women, who were detained on 
March 8 (World Women's Day) on grounds that they held an 
unauthorized demonstration in Sirnak's Cizre district, stood 
trial yesterday in the first hearing of the lawsuit.  The women, 
who are facing two years of prison sentence, were released after 
the hearing ended.  Aysel Tugluk, Deputy Chairperson of DTP; 
Selim Sadak, former DEP deputy; and the Mayor of Sirnak (from 
DTP) came to the hearing to extend support to the women.  Tugluk 
addressed a 100-person group in front of the court hall and 
criticized the arrest of the women and the arrest of Ayhan 
Budak, Cizre Mayor (from DTP), on Newroz Day because of a speech 
he delivered. 
 
GUNDEM: DTP's agenda in early May will prioritize the 
unilateral cease-fire the PKK declared on October 1, 2006.  DTP 
will be holding extensive meetings with mayors, its provincial 
chairmen and party assembly to discuss and evaluate the issue. 
Meanwhile, Batman Democracy Platform, made a call to the 
authorities to respond to the PKK's call for ceasefire. 
 
EVRENSEL / BOLGE / EKSPRES:     The leftist-oriented Evrensel 
paper reports that preparations are under way in the 
southeastern region to celebrate the May 1 Labor Day.  Labor Day 
committees are applying to governor's offices to get permission 
for celebration programs in Diyarbakir, Tunceli, Batman, and 
Hakkari.  Preparations in Adana have almost been finalized, 
report the dailies. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Karatas District Subgovernor's Office in Adana 
issued a decree for Metin Catalbas, the Mayor of Karatas, who 
assumed office (after the former mayor was killed in a murder in 
2006) despite the fact that his municipality assembly membership 
was disputed, to resign from office.  Catalbas finally resigned 
from the mayor's office and the elections will be renewed on May 
¶2. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE / EKSPRES:        DYP Adana Provincial 
Chairperson and DYP Seyhan District Chairperson toured the 
construction site of Seyhan Municipality's new cultural center 
in Adana together with the Seyhan District Mayor Azim Ozturk 
(from AKP).  DYP officials, after seeing the construction site 
and activities, told journalists that they saw that they were 
misinformed by the media about the construction process going on 
there and DYP members further affirmed that the project, as they 
saw it, was going on very successfully. 
 
SECURITY: 
 
HURRIYET / CNN ONLINE / GUNDEM / ZAMAN:         The Sirnak 
Governor's Office announced that a mine blast killed a soldier 
in Sirnak on April 24. The coffin of the soldier will be sent to 
a village of Hakkari for the funeral ceremony.  Separately, a 
36-year-old sergeant major was killed in a blast caused by a 
mine planted by the PKK members in a rural section of Bitlis. 
The coffin of the soldier will be sent to Elazig for the 
funeral.  The Governor's Office also announced that a terrorist, 
who was involved in the killing of a second lieutenant in the 
Kupeli Mounain of Sirnak on April 23 (see press summary for 
April 25), was caught alive yesterday. 
 
GUNDEM: A gun attack has been carried at DTP's Iskenderun 
chapter in Hatay the previous night.  Shot guns were used during 
the attack, the building was fired at, and, nobody was hurt 
since it was not during working hours.  DTP National 
Headquarters condemned the attack. 
 
ECONOMY: 
 
GUNDEM: A foundation called HISKAV (Hakkari Science, Health, 
Culture and Research Foundation) trained 60 women in Hakkari on 
"Cultivating Organic Vegetables" under an EU funded project. 
 
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
HURRIYET:       Sirnak Governor's Office announced that jandarma 
launched a crackdown on an illegal network of human traffickers 
in Sirnak's Cizre district, caught 22 snakeheads, and 
 
ADANA 00000063  002 OF 002 
 
 
apprehended them.  Reportedly, the members of the network were 
assisting Iraqi people to enter Turkey illegally during their 
journey to Europe via Istanbul. 
 
HURRIYET / ZAMAN:       'Berdel' is a type of marriage practice, 
mostly seen among Kurds, in which a family offers a bride from 
their own family in compensation for the required bride-price 
they would pay to the other family whose daughter they will get 
as a bride for their son.  Three people died in a village of 
Malatya's Yazihan district because of a conflict that arose 
between two families when their 'berdel' deal was broken. The 
Kati family initially decided that their 14-year-old daughter 
should marry the son of Tay Family because the Tay Family wanted 
to get her in exchange for their 18-year-old girl whose marriage 
with the son of Kati family was already arranged.  When the Kati 
family decided later that their daughter was too young to marry 
and she preferred attend school instead of a getting married, 
the family settled with Tay Family to pay the bride-price 
instead of doing a berdel.  Violence ensued when the Tay Family 
still insisted to get the 14-year-old girl as a bride for their 
son, despite that they had reportedly already taken 5000 YTL 
bride-price for their own daughter.  Three people from the Tay 
Family opened fire on four members of the Kati Family yesterday 
morning, killed three people and wounded the other.  Jandarma 
detained the father of the Tay family and is now searching for 
the two other kin who were accomplices.  The girl has been given 
to her uncle for protection since her father died in the attack. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    A "Chorus of Faiths" was established in 
Hatay and they performed for the first time during the visit of 
the Tourism Minister last week in Hatay as he paid a visit to 
the city to mark the Tourism Week (see press summary for April 
25). Chorus members are comprised of followers of diverse 
faiths, and, members from the Armenian community.  Faiths and 
sects include people from Sunni Muslims, Alevis, Catholics, 
Orthodox and Jewish people.  The idea for such a chorus was 
reportedly initiated by Hatay's Provincial Cultural and Tourism 
Director. 
 
HURRIYET:       Abdulkadir Aksu, Minister of Interior, and, Mehdi 
Eker, Minister of Agriculture and Village Works, whose hometowns 
are both in Diyarbakir, attended an event held in southern 
Antalya province which was held by a branch of the Solidarity 
Foundation for Promoting Diyarbakir and its Culture. Mr. Eker 
reportedly sang a song in Kurdish when a singer extended the 
microphone to the minister to join the singing.  The bodyguards 
of the minister prevented the journalists from taking footage as 
the minister was singing the song. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Mehdi Eker paid a visit to Mersin, 
conducted local studies there, and heard the issues and problems 
the citrus fruit growers had been experiencing.  Eker said they 
were trying to solve the citrus fruit marketing problems by 
increasing the amount of the yield per year. 
 
GUNDEM: The mass grave that allegedly buried Armenians and 
that was found by villagers on October 17, 2006 in a village of 
Mardin's Nusaybin district has been examined by a delegation 
comprised of members of Turkish History Authority and Swedish 
scholars.  The daily claimed that the examination frustrated the 
Swedish Professor David Gaunt, because the grave was reportedly 
destroyed and a scientific research could no longer be conducted 
there. Gaunt claimed that the photographs taken when the grave 
was first found showed many skulls, but their team found only a 
few bone remnants at the grave site. 
 
BOLGE / EKSPRES:        Adana Governor Ilhan Atis paid a visit to the 
Adana Chamber of Commerce. 
 
ZAMAN:  Van Centennial University Rector Yucel Askin's term 
of office ended. 
GREEN