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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 000102 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 01 -03, 2007 
 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 
01-03, 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.      GUNDEM: The DTP-supported parliamentarian 
      candidate from Hakkari, Sabahattin Suvagci, who had 
applied to the High Election Board of Hakkari to  annul the 
election in Hakkari for fraud, is taking his case to the 
European Human Rights Court. 
 
¶3.      ZAMAN/EKSPRES/SABAH GUNEY: The Adana American Consul, Eric 
¶F. Green, who visited the Justice and Development Party (AKP) 
Provincial Chair to congratulate him for the success his party 
achieved in the July 22 General Elections, said that AKP got 2 
or 3 points above his guesses. The Adana AKP Provincial 
Chairman, Mustafa Attaroglu, said that almost 50 percent of 
voters cast their votes in favor of them, and that his party 
produced 6 deputies from Adana, which was traditionally known as 
the leftists' and the National Movement Party's (MHP)stronghold. 
Attaroglu said that everybody should be respectful to the 
results of the election and pointed out that the AKP 
government's priorities would be to fight unemployment and 
terrorism. Attaroglu added that per capita income had increased 
from 2,500 US dollars to approximately 6,000 US dollars and that 
his party aimed to increase it to 10.000 US dollars. Attaroglu 
said when we achieve this target, most of the problems that 
Turkey is faced with today would diminish. 
 
¶4.      EVRENSEL/GUNDEM: Regarding the charges and cases brought 
against the mayor of Sur district of Diyarbakir, Abdullah 
Demirbas, for introducing multilingualism and multiculturalism 
in municipal services, the famed Kurdish writer, Mehmet Uzun, 
said pressing such charges was a humanitarian crime and had 
nothing to do with judiciary and commented that it was a 
continuation of the state's traditional assimilation policy 
towards Kurds. Writer Uzun said that language was the honor of 
people, and encouraged all Kurds to use Kurdish in all walks of 
life and to protect and promote their culture. Uzun emphasized 
that Kurds should take such antidemocratic decisions and 
applications to the European Union and to the Justice Council of 
the European Parliament. 
 
¶5.      SABAH: The Turkish Railway Administration, (TCDD), 
received bids for selling 850 acres (3,400,000 square meters) of 
coastal land on the Mediterranean Dortyol district in Hatay 
province. Kurdish origin President of the Gaziantep Soccer Team 
and owner of the Kizil Group Company [provides oil for the 
coalition forces in Iraq], Ibrahim Kizil, offered the highest 
bid: 125,250,000 US dollars for the land on April 12. Based on 
rumors that Kizil had given the bid on behalf of the Leader of 
Kurds in Northern Iraq, Mesoud Barzani, and assessment of the 
issue by other state organs as to the sensitivity of that 
region, TCDD suspended the tender. 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶6.      GUNDEM: Police arrested 8 persons in Sirnak on charges of 
shouting illegal slogans during the June 30 funeral ceremony in 
Cizre of the former Kurdish politician, Orhan Dogan, who died as 
a result of a stroke. The detainees are being held at the Cizre 
Security Directorate. The police raiding the  houses and 
businesses that belonged to the Democratic Society Party (DTP) 
supporters in Antalya detained 4 persons, including the 
provincial accountant of DTP. 
 
¶7.      GUNDEM: 14 PKK defendants in the E-Type Indoor Prison of 
Malatya, who had sent petitions to the Justice Ministry and used 
the honorific title "Mr. Ocalan," in order to draw attention to 
his health condition, have been given 2 months of imprisonment. 
The inmates' attorney, Hasan Dogan, said that they would appeal 
the decision. It is also reported that the prison administration 
has not been delivering the Kurdish-language daily newspaper 
"Azadiya Welat" on the grounds that the administration does not 
have a translator and that the inmates would be given the 
newspaper if they paid for the translator's fee. 
 
¶8.      CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN/YENI SAFAK/HURRIYET/SABAH: As a result of 
clashes between GOT forces and PKK militants in the rural 
Cemisgezek and Hozat districts of Tunceli one soldier who had 
been wounded was taken to the Military Hospital in Elazig by a 
helicopter. The Zaman newspaper reported that PKK had a group of 
 
ADANA 00000102  002 OF 003 
 
 
250 militants who were constantly on the move to change their 
locations. Hurriyet and Sabah newspapers reported that 3 
soldiers and 5 militants were killed while 1 soldier was wounded. 
 
¶9.      RADIKAL: The National President of the Human Rights 
Association of Turkey, Reyhan Yalcindag, said yesterday that 
inmates at the H-type prison in Erzurum were subjected to 
inhumane treatment. Yalcindag said that when Erdal Ozdemir was 
taken to the hearing at the Erzurum Criminial Court he was 
insulted and cursed at by judicial employees and that when he 
complained about it to the prison commander he was beaten for 
hours by two soldiers. Ozdemir was taken to his ward without 
being taken to a doctor. Yalcindag said that the HRA had 
undertaken action to initiate judicial and administrative 
investigations. 
 
¶10.     GUNDEM: Police arrested nine youth in Uludere district of 
Sirnak for shouting illegal slogans during the opening of the 
DTP-supported parliamentary candidates' election office on July 
¶14. 
 
¶11.     GUNDEM: After their arraignment in Baskale district of 
Van, Ayhan Seven and Ozgur Turan have been imprisoned for making 
propaganda of an illegal organization. Seven and Turan were 
interrogated by police for chanting illegal slogans during the 
independent candidates' meeting in Baskale. 
 
¶12.     RADIKAL/SABAH/YENI SAFAK/CUMHURIYET/EKSPRES/BOLGE 
HURRIYET/ZAMAN: PKK militants killed 3 soldiers and wounded 7 
soldiers in an ambush in the rural Tunceli. The wounded soldiers 
have been taken to the military hospital in Elazig for 
treatment. 6 PKK militants have been killed in the ensuing 
clashes. It is claimed that the US make M-16 weapons were found 
on the militants. The GOT forces launched an operation with 
5,000 soldiers in the Tunceli, Ovacik, Hozat, and Cemisgezek 
rectangular. 
 
¶13.     SABAH: As a result of explosion of a remote-controlled PKK 
mine, 1 soldier was wounded in Uludere of Sirnak. The Turkish 
General Staff announced on its web site that one PKK militant 
was found dead during the GOT forces' search in the rural Bitlis. 
 
¶14.     YENI SAFAK/EKSPRES/BOLGE: Hatice Arat, the PKK's suicide 
bomber, who was arrested in Adana with 9.750 kilos of 
explosives, two hand grenades and 14 electric fuses on April 12 
has been sentenced to 39.5 years of imprisonment by the 8th 
Felony Court of Adana on charges of "membership to an illegal 
organization, possessing dangerous materials without permission, 
and forgery." 
 
¶15.     GUNDEM: Eyup Dogan, who was trying to go from Kiziltepe 
district of Mardin to his home in Viransehir district of 
Sanliurfa stopped a minibus for a ride. 10 policemen in 
disguise, who got out of the minibus, started cursing and 
beating Mr. Dogan. Dogan was kept under observation at the 
Kiziltepe State Hospital and was issued a medical report 
indicating that he had suffered from strokes in the head and 
stomach and had bruises. Dogan reported the incident to the 
Mardin Chapter of the Human Rigts Association and filed charges 
with the Chief Public Prosecutor of Kiziltepe. 
 
¶16.     GUNDEM: Despite 6 months have passed over detention of the 
Democratic Society Party's (DTP) Van Provincial Chairman, 
Ibrahim Sungar, and Abdulvahap Turhan, the speaker of DTP's 
Youth Organization, the public prosecutor has not prepared the 
indictment yet. Sungar and Turhan had been detained by police on 
February 19 and are charged with membership to an illegal 
organization. 
 
¶17.     CUMHURIYET: The Dogu Haber Ajansi (DHA) [Eastern news 
Agency] reporters from Diyarbakir, Ramazan Yavuz and Ramazan 
Imrag, who had gone to Cizre district in Sirnak province to 
cover the demonstrations protesting dismissal from his post and 
arrest of the Cizre Mayor Aydin Budak three months ago are 
facing three years of imprisonment on charges of "opposing the 
anti-terror law" for citing some of the slogans chanted by 
demonstrators, such as: "Cizre will become a graveyard for the 
prosecutor; Greetings, greetings, thousands of greetings to 
Imrali [where Abdullah Ocalan is imprisoned]." The hearing of 
the Dicle News Agency's reporters from Sirnak, Faysal Tunc and 
Behdin Tunc, and the deliverer of the Gundem newspaper, Sabri 
Adanir, who are accused of "assisting an illegal organization 
willingly and deliberately," was adjourned to another date by 
the 5th Felony Court of Diyarbakir yesterday. 
 
ADANA 00000102  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
CRIME & LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶18.     CUKUROVA HURRYET: Jandarma arrested 3,900 kilos of sugar 
in Albayrak village of Baskale district of Van. It is believed 
that the sugar had been smuggled from Iran. 
 
¶19.     CUKUROVA HURRIYET/SABAH GUNEY: GOT forces seized a total 
of 45 kilos of hashish and 160 hemp roots in Diyarbakir during 
the operations in the last week. 7 of 12 persons detained for 
connections with drugs were imprisoned. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶20.     GUNDEM: Bayram Kara, the Batman Regional Director of the 
Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO), said that TPAO had drilled 25 
wells along the Turkish-Syrian border since 2005 and produced 
2,500 barrels of oil from 21 wells daily. Kara said that TPAO 
aimed to drill 40 wells and added that it produced 20,000 
barrels from 570 wells in Batman region daily. 
 
¶21.     CUMHURIYET/EVRENSEL: A delegation of ten Italians, who are 
members of various non-governmental organizations in Italy, 
visited the historic Hasankeyf site in Batman province. The 
delegation also paid a visit to the Mayor of Hasankeyf, 
Abdulvahap Kusen, to find out what could be done to rescue the 
town which will submerge under the reservoir of the Ilisu Dam 
that will be built over Tigris river. 
 
¶22.     CUMHURIYET/SABAH GUNEY: In Tarsus district of Mersin, the 
Mersin Governor Huseyin Aksoy said at a meeting attended by the 
sub-governor of Tarsus, the Provincial Tourism Director and 
presidents of many non-governmental organizations that Vatican 
and the Pope had declared the year 2008 as the "Saint Paul's 
Year" and that he therefore expected thousands of tourists to 
visit St. Paul's birthplace in Tarsus. 
 
¶23.     EVRENSEL: In order to protest the plan to construct a dam 
over the Munzur River -a tributary of the Euphrates- in Tunceli, 
20 domestic and international cyclists will ride their bikes 
from Ankara to Tunceli on August 9, covering 950 kilometers. The 
bikers will set off with the "We are cycling to Munzur to drink 
a cup of water from Munzur." The cyclists will participate in 
the 7th Munzur Nature and Culture Festival starting on August 9 
in Tunceli. 
GREEN