VZCZCXRO5334
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DE RUEHDA #0081/01 1651427
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141427Z JUN 07
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RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1088
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0940
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
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RHMFIUU/AFOSI DET 522 INCIRLIK AB TU
RUETIAA/DIRNSA FT MEADE MD
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1146

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000081 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 14, 2007 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 14, 
¶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 / EKSPRES / ZAMAN:        Osman Gunes, Minister of 
Interior, attended the Regional Election Security Meeting in 
Adana together with governors of Gaziantep, Osmaniye, Adana, 
Kahramanmaras, Mersin, Hatay, Adiyaman, Nigde, Antalya and 
Karaman (see press summary for June 12).  The Minister said they 
would take all necessary measures for the security of the 
elections, and, they will discuss and find out in the meeting 
with the governors whatever additional measures they should 
take.  Journalists were mostly interested in the following 
questions: whether 123 special teams would be dispatched to the 
southeastern region, and, whether investigations would be opened 
against eight people who shouted anti-government slogans during 
funerals of the martyrs.  Minister Gunes later paid visits to 
the Adana Jandarma Regional Commander and the Deputy Security 
Director. 
 
¶3.      CUMHURIYET / GUNDEM / RADIKAL:  Diyarbakir's Sur 
District Municipality distributed 3000 brochures about organ 
donation which read in two languages, namely Turkish and 
Kurdish, in the title of the brochure's text.  Ministry of 
Interior started an investigation against the municipality under 
the Law on Inauguration of the Turkish Alphabet and Its Use. 
 
¶4.      CUMHURIYET:     The daily reports that clans in Van province, 
which generally tend to cast bloc votes for one party during 
elections, are reportedly undecided about which party they are 
going to cast votes for.  Most of the clans, which supported AKP 
in the last elections, were reportedly frustrated that some 
influential figures of the clans were not listed in AKP's 
election tickets. 
 
¶5.      CUMHURIYET:     The daily claims that there is a strange 
coincidence in the recent similar approaches of the U.S. and AKP 
in the face of a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq and the 
cease-fire the PKK has recently declared. 
 
¶6.      CUMHURIYET:     Turkish Armed Forces have been continuing to 
amass tanks and long-range cannons in Hakkari and Siirt around 
the border area with northern Iraq.  Separately, amidst heated 
debated in Turkey about a possible incursion into northern Iraq, 
the daily notes that the Kurdish Regional Authority decided to 
use the flag of Iraq at the peshmerga posts which can be seen 
from the Turkish side of the border, despite Massoud Barzani's 
order nearly three weeks ago to use the flag of Kurdistan at the 
public offices. 
 
¶7.      GUNDEM: Tunceli Mayor Songul Erol Abdil has been 
acquitted from the lawsuit which was brought against her on 
charges of making propaganda for the PKK during a speech she 
delivered in June 2006.  Separately, Ahmet Turk, former national 
chairperson of DTP and independent candidate from Mardin 
province, gave his statement within the scope of an 
investigation brought against him on charges of meeting PKK 
administrators during his visit to northern Iraq on May 1. 
Meanwhile, seven of the nine DTP members, who were detained on 
an unspecified date in Gaziantep for making a pro-Ocalan press 
announcement on March 11, have been released. 
 
¶8.      ZAMAN / GUNDEM: Irfan Dundar, one of the attorneys of 
Abdullah Ocalan, has been sentenced to 3 years and 9 months of 
prison on charges of attending a meeting of the Kongra-Gel and 
exchanging information between Ocalan and the PKK. 
 
¶9.      ZAMAN:  Alevis, displeased with the weak 
representation of Alevis in CHP's election tickets, will most 
likely cast their votes for the independent candidates, reports 
the daily. 
 
¶10.     ZAMAN:  DP's first ranking candidate in Mersin 
withdrew his candidacy and resigned. A DP district chairperson 
in Mersin had already resigned from office following the 
collapse of DYP-Motherland Party merger. 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶11.     GUNDEM: The daily reports complaints of the local 
people in Sirnak's Uludere district because of an alleged "food 
 
ADANA 00000081  002 OF 002 
 
 
embargo" soldiers imposed on villagers.  Reportedly, security 
authorities are not allowing the villagers to store large 
amounts of food in their houses.  A person from Andac village 
reportedly told the Gundem reporter that they were not allowed 
to go further than ten kilometers away from their village.  The 
daily compares the pressure on the local people to the state of 
emergency rule of 1990s. 
 
¶12.     GUNDEM: Jandarma started an investigation against 24 
village guards who are unwilling to join the ongoing military 
operations in Van's Baskale district.  The daily separately 
claims that a conflict broke out between security forces and 
soldiers in a village of Sirnak's Uludere district.  Three 
village guards were allegedly killed. 
 
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶13.     HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Jandarma teams caught 98 illegal 
migrants in Van's Baskale, Caldiran and Muradiye districts.  The 
migrants are from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and 
Bangladesh. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶14.     GUNDEM: A group of women in Sanliurfa applied to 
governor's office to found a Woman Entrepreneurs Association in 
Sanliurfa.  The association will support women in business. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
¶15.     HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    The International Music Festival 
of Mersin has been granted membership to the European Festivals 
Association. 
GREEN