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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000089 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 26, 2007 
 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 26, 
¶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) / BOLGE:  Kursat Tuzmen, state minister and 
Mersin's candidate from AKP met with businessmen engaged in 
transportation business in Mersin.  He called them hidden heroes 
of society, and said he understood very well the problems and 
hardships involved in the transportation business and the risks 
undertaken in foreign countries by shippers.  Meanwhile, Bolge 
daily reports Adana people's angesr over Kursat Tuzmen's and 
Omer Celik's (AKP's second ranking candidate in Adana) alliance 
to endorse the plan to move the airport in Adana to the Tarsus 
district of Mersin.  The daily wonders how Adana Mayor Aytac 
Durak would respond to this new development since he has always 
stood firm against past moves to change the location of the 
airport. 
 
¶3.      HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET / GUNDEM: Orhan Dogan, former 
DEP deputy, had a heart attack on stage as he was delivering a 
speech at an art and culture event in Agri's Dogubeyazit 
district the previous day.  The health condition of Dogan is 
severe, he is currently unconscious and doctors said that he had 
gone into a cardiological shock because of his late arrival at 
the hospital.  Dogan's family, former DEP deputies Leyla Zana, 
Sirri Sakik, Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak, Diyarbakir Mayor Osman 
Baydemir, some other district mayors and local party chairmen 
from DTP have been waiting anxiously at the Van Centennial 
University hospital. 
 
¶4.      GUNDEM: The daily alleges that in a sharp contrast 
with the rallies of independent candidates held in other 
sections of Diyarbakir which attracted large crowds into 
squares, the Prime Minister's political rally in Diyarbakir the 
previous day did not attract much public attention.   Aysel 
Tugluk, the independent Diyarbakir candidate running in the 
first constituency in Diyarbakir, opened one of her campaign 
offices in Baglar district and the ceremony held was reportedly 
attended by nearly 10,000 people.  Meanwhile, Nazmi Gur's, the 
fourth ranking independent candidate in Adana, election campaign 
is reportedly at full speed and Gur has been opening his 
campaign offices in Denizli, Ova and Onur quarters of the 
province.  The daily provides reports on other campaign offices 
opened by the independent candidates of Tunceli, Mersin, 
Hakkari, Sanliurfa and Mardin provinces. 
 
¶5.      GUNDEM: The daily talks with people in Sirnak, a 
province located within the area where the Turkish Chief of 
Staff declared a "Security Zone," and asks them their political 
inclinations.  The total number of seats that can be won from 
Sirnak is three.  It is almost definite, reports the daily, that 
two independent candidates endorsed by DTP, namely Sevahir 
Bayindir, a female candidate, and Attorney Hasip Kaplan, will 
win seats.  The daily further reports that AKP's first ranking 
candidate, Veli Seyda, is no longer as popular as he used to be 
in Sirnak. 
 
¶6.      HURRIYET:       A columnist draws attention to the bitter 
election competition in Igdir province where a total of 60,000 
votes will be divided between two dominant groups in the 
province: Azeris and Kurds.  Igdir is one of the two provinces 
where AKP was not able to win any seats in the last elections. 
(The other one was Tunceli.)  Therefore, AKP is working hard in 
its campaign run in Igdir.  The columnist also points out that 
the independent candidate in Igdir, Pervin Buldan, who is 
endorsed by DTP, is not very welcome in the province, since she 
is an outsider who comes from Hakkari.  After Erdogan's rally 
held in Igdir on June 19, CHP Leader Deniz Baykal will also hold 
a rally there on June 3rd.  Since votes for MHP in Igdir are 
weak, it is not yet definite whether MHP leader will pay a visit 
to the province. 
 
¶7.      GUNDEM: The daily observes that Prime Minister Erdogan 
toughened his stance against DTP in the days that followed his 
meeting with Yasar Buyukanit, the head of the Turkish Chief of 
Staff, and he started branding DTP as a "racist party," a phrase 
which Buyukanit reportedly formerly used against DTP. 
 
¶8.      EKSPRES / BOLGE:        The family of the the oil tanker truck 
driver, with whose truck terrorists carried out a suicide bomb 
attack at a jandarma station in Tunceli over the weekend (see 
 
ADANA 00000089  002 OF 002 
 
 
press summary for June 25), were in grief in Adana over the sad 
news about how the driver was victimized by the terrorists' 
attack, reports the daily.  Bolge daily reports that the driver, 
as the terrorist forced him to drive towards the jandarma 
station, was able to warn the security personnel at the station 
through signaling the vehicles lights. 
 
¶9.      GUNDEM: Yusuf Alatas, the chairperson of Human Rights 
Association (HRA), resigned from office due to his health 
problems.  Reyhan Yalcindag, the deputy chairperson, has been 
appointed as the new chairperson of the asssociation. 
 
¶10.     GUNDEM: The daily claims that JITEM (Jandarma 
Intelligence) members are offering villagers in the southeastern 
region 10,000 YTL bounty on the head of the terrorists. 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶11.     GUNDEM: Fire broke out in a section of the Gabar 
Mountain in Sirnak allegedly following the military opeartion 
Turkish Armed Forces conducted in the area.  Three teams of 
firefighters have not been able to extinguish the fire yet. 
 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶12.     BOLGE:  A 5-kilometer truck line has been formed in 
front of the Cilvegozu Border Gate with Syria in Hatay because 
of efforts undertaken to renovate the border gate facilities. 
The construction activities will reportedly end around 
September. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
¶13.     GUNDEM: There has been a heated dispute going on in 
Adana's Security Directorate between administration and the 
staff over how the administration will spend 400,000 YTL a local 
bank branch gave to have the directorate deposit the salaries of 
the personnel in their bank.  While the administration is opting 
for buying new police cars for the office, the staff wants the 
money distributed as a bonus to the personnel. 
 
¶14.     GUNDEM: A 17-year-old girl hanged herself and 
committed suicide in Siirt's Kurtalan district. 
 
¶15.     YENI SAFAK:     The businessmen in Sirnak's Cizre district are 
closing their shops between 12.00 and 4 p.m. because of the 
intense heat reaching to 50 degree Celsius. (122 degree 
Fahrenheit) 
GREEN