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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000080 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 12, 2007 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 12, 
¶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.      SABAH (GUNEY):  The local daily reports on its front 
page that the family of a truck driver has not been able to hear 
any news about the truck driver and his son who were reportedly 
detained in the northern Iraq by the U.S. soldiers twenty days 
ago on alleged grounds that they were aiding and abetting 
insurgents. 
 
¶3.      BOLGE:  Minister of Interior will come to Adana today 
to attend the 23rd National Parliamentary Elections Regional 
Security Meeting and to conduct some local studies. 
 
¶4.      BOLGE:  CHP Adana provincial party organization will 
hold a meeting today, in which party's district chairmen will 
also take part, to assess the current situation in the run 
towards the election.  A second meeting will be held in the 
afternoon to include CHP's candidates who will run for 
parliamentary seats and a program concerning the election 
campaign will be prepared. 
 
¶5.      GUNDEM: DTP's independent candidates gathered at a 
meeting in Diyarbakir ahead of July 22 parliamentary elections. 
The meeting reportedly aimed to discuss the work plan and 
election strategies.  At the end of the meeting, a declaration 
about the election will be generated. (Note: DTP calls its 
independent candidates as "Independent Candidates of A Thousand 
Hopes." End Note.) (This summary is from June 10 edition.) 
 
¶6.      GUNDEM: Courts issued 30 months of prison sentence 
against each of 15 DTP members, including DTP Sirnak provincial 
chairman, for three different cases brought against them.  The 
defendants are convicted on charges of making three press 
announcements: one that marked the anniversary of Abdullah 
Ocalan's arrest, another that marked the anniversary of an 
alleged massacre the daily refers to as "August 18 massacre." 
The third case was brought on charges of making a press 
announcement to draw attention to Ocalan's health condition in 
prison. 
 
¶7.      GUNDEM: Adana Prosecutor's Office brought a lawsuit 
against the Adana Newroz Committee which organized Newroz 
celebrations in Adana on March 21 where people reportedly 
carried posters of Abdullah Ocalan and flags of the PKK then. 
 
¶8.      CUMHURIYET:     The daily claims that the U.S. started having 
Kurds settle in areas bordering the Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan 
pipeline in a region located between Russian Federation, Armenia 
and Azarbaijan. 
 
¶9.      RADIKAL:        There is a lot of activity going on at 
Turkey's borders with Iran and Iraq, reports the daily.  While 
Iranians started evacuating the Kurdish villages near its 
border, Iraqis started establishing 6 Kurdish military posts at 
their border. 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶10.     ZAMAN / GUNDEM / CUMHURIYET:    A corporal was killed in a 
conflict that erupted between security forces and terrorists 
during a military operation going on in Erzincan's Kemah 
district.  A non-commissioned officer was reported as wounded. 
Separately, Gundem daily claims that PKK terrorists attacked a 
military vehicle that was carrying special team members on a 
road between Erzincan and Erzurum, but the paper has no further 
information on the number of casualties, if there is any. 
Cumhuriyet daily reports that one private was killed in Sirnak 
yesterday.  Zaman daily reports that 3 terrorists were killed in 
a conflict that erupted in a section of Diyarbakir province. 
Separately, Gundem daily alleges that the death toll was 
actually ten soldiers, not three as announced by the 
authorities, during the attack PKK carried out on a military 
vehicle in Sirnak's Guclukonak district on June 9 (see press 
summary for June 11). 
 
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶11.     ZAMAN:  Local jandarma cracked down on a criminal ring 
comprised of five members who stole 40 tons of crude oil from 
 
ADANA 00000080  002 OF 002 
 
 
Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan pipeline's Mustafabeyli section in Adana's 
Ceyhan district. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶12.     BOLGE / ZAMAN:  Adana Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. 
Consulate in Adana will hold a talk on non-immigrant visa issues 
with an aim to give information and provide answers to questions 
of local businessmen about visa procedures of the U.S.  Roger 
Rigaud, Vice-Consul in the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, will be 
holding the talk. 
 
¶13.     ZAMAN:  Truck drivers started expressing their 
complaints about the long truck lines formed at the gate of the 
port of Mersin because of the slow bureaucratic procedures that 
make the drivers wait 3 to 4 hours. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
¶14.     BOLGE:  War veteran Murat Caner, who was disabled 
during a military operation in northern Iraq on an unspecified 
date in the past, and a few members of the Association for 
Families of Martyrs and Disabled Veterans in Adana, held a 
protest in front of the mayor's office against escalating 
terrorism in the country.  Caner said that Turkey should not 
conduct a cross-border operation and should deal with the 
problems within the country in the first place; otherwise the 
number of people dying will increase even more, according to 
Caner. 
 
¶15.     CUMHURIYET:     Adana Governor made an announcement about the 
measures and prohibited actions that the people should heed in 
the province during the June 17 Nationwide University Entrance 
Examination which is a very critically important test that all 
high school graduates must take to be eligible for university 
access in Turkey.  The Governor made a call to people to be 
careful about the noise level not to disturb the students taking 
the exam in the province. 
 
¶16.     GUNDEM: Ten people in Erzurum were found out to 
contract Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.  The doctors said that 
the health conditions of the patients, who are under treatment, 
are well. 
 
¶17.     GUNDEM: Despite the promises given by the prime 
minister and agricultural minister to remedy the material losses 
of the farmers in Diyarbakir's Cinar and Bismil districts 
following the November 2006 flood disaster, no tangible steps 
have been taken so far in line with the promises, reports the 
daily. 
GREEN