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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ADANA 000103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 04-08 
 
 
¶1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 
04-08, 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.      HURRIYET: A remote-controlled PKK mine went off 13 
kilometers before Yuksekova district of Hakkari as a convoy of 
50 military vehicles was transporting soldiers from Hakkari to 
Yuksekova. No casualties have been reported because part of the 
convoy had already passed and the other part had not arrived at 
the scene of explosion when the mine went off. 3 children, who 
were running away from the scene, have been arrested as 
witnesses to the incident. 
 
¶3.      HURRIYET/GUNDEM/CUMHURIYET/YENI 
SAFAK/RADIKAL/EVRENSEL/BOLGE/SABAH/ZAMAN: 40 PKK militants have 
been cornered in the Kinzir Woods in Hozat district of Tunceli. 
The militants have been trying to break the security cordon 
around them and to escape to Alibogazi. 5,000 troops have been 
participating in the operations. Helicopters are constantly 
bombing the wooded hideouts of the militants, and special 
airborne jandarma teams have been deployed to the region. Fierce 
clashes have been taking place between militants and GOT forces 
in the Munzur Mountains, Mercan, Cambulak and Ahpanos valleys. 
It is reported that three soldiers were killed and 8 others were 
wounded and that 8 militants, including one female, have been 
killed in the ensuing clashes. Two soldiers, Ziya Berkir and 
Semih Hatay, were wounded in a mine explosion and clashes in the 
rural Hozat, Ovacik and Cemisgezek districts of Tunceli. Two 
M-16 rifles were seized on a killed PKK militant, AKA "Medeni," 
who is alleged to have commanded the militants in Tunceli, 
Sivas, Erzincan, and the Black Sea regions. Gundem newspaper 
reported that 4 soldiers had been killed in the clashes in 
Mardin and Agri provinces. 
 
¶4.      GUNDEM: An Italian delegation of ten persons, who are 
members of various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 
Italy, visited the PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan's (APO) family in 
his native village of Amara (Omerli) in Halfeti district of 
Sanliurfa. After the jandarma checked their IDs they were 
allowed into the village where they got information about 
Ocalan's health and living conditions in the prison at Imrali 
Island. APO's brother, Mehmet Ocalan, told the delegation that 
his brother was isolated in the prison and that he had been 
deprived of the rights other prisoners enjoyed, and added that 
APO had been punished to 20 days of solitary confinement for his 
pro-peace and democracy statements. The delegation left with 
APO's family a white flag on which "Pace" (peace) was written. 
Police in disguise kept the Italian delegation under close 
surveillance during their tour in Sanliurfa. 
 
¶5.      EVRENSEL/CUMHURIYET/BOLGE/SABAH/HURRIYET: The press organ 
of the Kurdish Patriotic Union, PUK-media, [Iraqi President 
Celal Talabani's party] claimed that Turkish troops had bombed, 
shelled, and launched rockets to the mountainous Haftanin and 
Sidekan regions in Diyana district of Hewler (Erbil) and 
positioned a jandarma unit of 350 commandos in the Sere Seve 
region yesterday. Neither the Turkish General Staff nor the 
Foreign Ministry denied the allegations. 
 
¶6.      CUMHURIYET/YENI SAFAK/GUNDEM/HURRIYET: The Iraqi 
Government Speaker, Ali Debbag, who delivered a message to 
Ankara one day prior the Iraqi Primer Nuri El Maliki's visit to 
Turkey, stated that Iraq considered the PKK to be a terrorist 
organization and has been trying to take various measures 
against it, and added that Iraq opposed any cross-border 
operations by Turkey. Debbag stressed that a unilateral 
incursion by Turkey would cast a shadow on the bilateral 
relations. Turkey is expecting concrete steps from Nuri El 
Maliki's visit in combating terrorism. Turkey delivered a 
demarche to the Iraqi Government in April accusing it of not 
taking sufficient measures against PKK militants infiltrating 
into Turkey from Northern Iraq. Observers allege that this will 
be Turkey's final warning to Iraq on taking action against PKK 
militants; if this does not meet with satisfactory GoI action, 
Turkey may launch an operation into Iraq. 
 
¶7.      CUMHURIYET: The soldiers who were killed by PKK mines and 
in clashes with PKK militants in the rural Dicle district of 
Diyarbakir were buried in Adana and Kayseri. The citizens 
attending the funeral ceremonies shouted "Damn the PKK. Our 
soldiers are being killed, but the separatists are in the 
 
ADANA 00000103  002 OF 004 
 
 
Assembly [TBMM]." 
 
¶8.      CUKUROVA HURRIYET/YENI SAFAK: A Patriot Missile victim, 
Murat Genc, from the Incirlik Air Base, Adana province, sent a 
letter to the US Consulate in Adana saying "Respectable George 
Bush, I express my condolences for the recent bridge disaster 
and wish God's mercy for those who died. I am a 24 year old 
Turkish young man. A Patriot Missile launched from your 
country's air base in Incirlik by mistake destroyed itself in 
the air in the 1991 Gulf War. At that time, I was 7 years old 
and playing "hide and seek" with my friends in the Serinevler 
neighborhood. One of the fragments of the missile hit me in the 
head. I was operated in various parts of my body ten times and 
had brain surgery twice since then. The Consul took care of my 
operation at the beginning. I am in 45 percent disabled 
position. My face has been deformed and I have difficulty in 
walking. I did not lose my resolute and finished the Cukurova 
Industrial Vocation School and enrolled in a higher education 
school but I did not complete my education because of my 
sufferance. My sufferance is becoming bigger as I am growing. My 
sufferance from your father's tenure is still continuing. Dear 
Sir, I also would like to establish a business, just like my 
teenagers, and get married and have a family. I am expecting 
support from our noble-hearted alley, the United States. I 
express my best regards to the Bush family and all Americans." 
 
¶9.      HURRIYET/SABAH/GUNDEM/YENI SAFAK/RADIKAL/ZAMAN: The Iraqi 
Prime Minister Nuri El Maliki and Foreign Minister Hosyar 
Zebari, who arrived at Ankara yesterday, agreed during 
negotiations with their Turkish counterparts that the PKK is a 
terrorist organization and that its militants would be 
extradited to Turkey when they were arrested. A Memorandum of 
Understanding has been signed between Turkey and Iraq on 
"Anti-terror Cooperation Agreement" and "Cooperation between 
Interior Ministries in Combating Terrorism-related and Organized 
Crimes." 
 
¶10.     GUNDEM: It is claimed that the Turkish Military has been 
using cluster bombs in the buffer zone between Turkey and Iraq 
and has been shelling targets in Northern Iraq from the Cukurca 
district of Hakkari. 20 houses in Cukurca have been damaged by 
shelling, and many residents have applied to the sub-governor's 
office for compensation. The nomadic Batuyan Tribe members, 
consisting of 43 families, were not allowed to take provisions 
and medicine to high pastures in Pervari district of Siirt on 
the grounds that they were being delivered to the PKK militants. 
 
SECURITY 
 
¶11.     GUNDEM: Charges had been pressed against 18 persons in 
Semdinli district of Hakkari for "damaging state property" 
during the incidents that broke out after the November 9, 2005 
bombing of Umut Bookstore in town. The 4th Felony Court of Van 
adjourned the hearing to December 01 because some documents were 
not complete. 
 
¶12.     GUNDEM: The Criminal Court of First Instance in Cizre, 
Sirnak province, imprisoned seven of the eight persons who had 
been detained on charges of "shouting illegal slogans" during 
the funeral ceremonies of the late Kurdish politician, Orhan 
Dogan, on June 30. One inmate was released due to his young age. 
 
¶13.     SABAH/SABAH/BOLGE/ZAMAN: PKK terrorists, who raided the 
Gecitvermez hamlet at the Turkish Iranian border of Kizilca 
village in Baskale district of Van, kidnapped 8 persons, 
including 3 children. It is reported that the villagers had 
refused to provide food and other provisions to the militants, 
who had also tried to extort money from them. Two terrorists, 
who had allegedly been trained as bomb makers and were preparing 
to bomb specific targets, were arrested in Diyarbakir. The 
terrorists were imprisoned following their arraignment. 
 
¶14.     CUMHURIYET: Abdullah Ocalan has been sent to solitary 
confinement for the fifth time for "giving instructions to an 
armed organization" through his lawyers. Most recently, Ocalan 
met with his lawyers four days ago. 
 
¶15.     YENI SAFAK/ZAMAN/SABAH/HURRIYET/GUNDEM/CUMHURIYET: 3 
soldiers were killed and another was wounded by a 
remote-controlled PKK mine near Balaban village of Dicle 
district in Diyarbakir yesterday. Additional troops have been 
dispatched to the region. 
 
¶16.     GUNDEM: Semdin Kaya, whose house in the Bagarasi village 
 
ADANA 00000103  003 OF 004 
 
 
of Derik district in Mardin province was burnt by soldiers in 
1993 and who moved to Osmaniye thereafter, applied to the Mardin 
Governor's office for compensation in 2005. The Damage Committee 
decided to give 406 Turkish Liras, approximately 312 US dollars, 
to Kaya. Kaya said that he would apply to the Human Rights Court 
in Europe after exhausting all the legal venues in Turkey. 
 
¶17.     EVRENSEL: As a result of clashes between the PKK militants 
and GOT forces in the rural Caldiran district of Van province 
yesterday, one soldier was wounded. A large-scale operation has 
been continuing in the region. 
 
¶18.     ZAMAN/HURRIYET: The Van Governorate announced that a group 
of PKK militants killed Ikram Oner (55) in Cepkenli village of 
Gurpinar district of Van the previous day. Oner had refused to 
give them food and other materials. It is claimed that Oner had 
been killed because of his influence in persuading voters in the 
surrounding villages to support the AKP instead of 
DTP-affiliated candidates in the July 22 general election. 
 
¶19.     HURRIYET: As a result of clashes that broke out between 
GOT forces and a group of PKK militants, who did not yield to 
"halt" warnings in the rural Sirnak province, one militant was 
killed. 
 
¶20.     YENI SAFAK: Orhan Kaya, the jandarma private who had been 
wounded by a PKK mine in the rural Uludere district of Sirnak on 
August 01 and hospitalized at the GATA Military Hospital in 
Ankara, died and will be buried in Dogansehir district of 
Malatya. 
 
¶21.     YENI SAFAK/ZAMAN: A Jandarma Corporal, Semih Aydin, and a 
private, Ziya Onder, were wounded by a PKK mine in the rural 
Hozat district of Tunceli. The wounded soldiers were taken to 
the Elazig Military Hospital by a helicopter. 
 
¶22.     YENI SAFAK/SABAH/ZAMAN: 9 persons, including 4 children, 
kidnapped by PKK militants in Baskale district of Van on July 
31, have been released. Officials said they would understand the 
reason for the kidnapping after they took statements from the 
kidnapped individuals. 
 
¶23.     YENI SAFAK/GUNDEM/HURRIYET/ZAMAN: The dead body of a high 
ranking PKK militant, Nesih Ozcan, who was killed by GOT forces 
in clashes in the rural Ovacik district of Tunceli on August 1, 
was sent to his hometown of Guroymak in Bitlis province by the 
ambulance that belonged to the Tunceli Municipality. While 8 PKK 
militants have been killed in the past week's operations, 3 
soldiers were martyred and 10 others were wounded. Ismail Gul, 
who was arrested in connection with the June 4 raid on the 
Kocatepe Jandarma Outpost in Pulumur district of Tunceli, has 
been imprisoned on charges of abetting and harboring PKK 
militants. 7 soldiers had been killed and 7 others had been 
wounded in the raid. 
 
¶24.     CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN: First Lieutenant Caglar Canbaz was 
killed and two village guards were wounded when a military 
vehicle on patrol hit a PKK mine in the Daglica region of 
Yuksekova district of Hakkari. The wounded village guards were 
dispatched to the Military Hospital in Hakkari and the dead body 
of the soldier was sent to Istanbul for burial. 
 
CRIME & LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶25.     CUMHURIYET: Teams from the Diyarbakir Provincial Jandarma 
Command seized 2,227,000 roots of hemp in the fields of the 
Hazro district of Diyarbakir and detained 10 persons. 
 
¶26.     BOLGE: The teams from the Anti-Smuggling and Organized 
Crime Branch of the Gaziantep Security Directorate seized 4,440 
bottles of smuggled whiskey in a truck on the Silk Road in 
Sehitkamil district of Gaziantep. Officials stated that an 
investigation is underway. 
 
¶27.     ZAMAN/BOLGE/YENI SAFAK/HURRIYET: In Mersin, the Mersin 
Security Directorate announced that teams from the Anti-terror 
Department seized 6 big back-pack radios and accessories, 6 
hand-held radios and accessories, 60 body warmers, and medical 
equipment materials in a truck that had come from Europe and was 
bound for PKK militants in the rural area. The trucker has been 
detained and his truck has been impounded. 
 
¶28.     ZAMAN: A jandarma patrol arrested 20 Palestinian and 
Somali nationals who had entered Turkey illegally via the 
 
ADANA 00000103  004 OF 004 
 
 
Gorentas village of Yayladagi district in Hatay province. The 
detainees were sent to court following their interrogation. 
 
¶29.     ZAMAN: Security forces seized 3.35 kilos of heroin and 120 
roots of hemp in the Tarsus township of Mersin. One person was 
imprisoned by the court for involvement with the drugs. 
 
¶30.     GUNDEM/BOLGE/SABAH/ZAMAN/SABAH GUNEY: In a synchronized 
jandarma operation in the Erdemli, Silifke and Tarsus districts 
of Mersin, 41 illegal organization members involved in 
extortion, drug production, and trafficking in person were 
arrested. While 5 of them have been released following their 
interrogation, 35 remain in detention. 
 
¶31.     SABAH/ZAMAN: Mustafa Onen, who had brought 8 children aged 
between 9 and 14 years from Mardin to Istanbul and had forced 
them to sell paper towels and stuffed mussels in Istanbul, was 
arrested at his home based on a complaint filed by one of the 
children. Onen had allegedly made a deal with the families of 
the children to bring them to Istanbul. Authorities found 
approximately 30,000 US dollars in Onen's bank account. Legal 
action will be taken against Onen for trafficking in persons and 
forced labor. 
 
¶32.     EVRENSEL: Many citizens from Southeastern Turkey who went 
to the Black Sea region to collect hazelnuts are not being 
allowed to go to the city center of Ordu. Workers are kept on 
the trailers of the trucks under jandarma blockade. The families 
allowed to set up their tents in river beds are living under 
miserable conditions. 
 
ECONOMY 
 
¶33.     EKSPRES/CUKUROVA HURRIYET/BOLGE: Around 2,000 residents of 
the Akdeniz neighborhood in Adana claimed that the waste-water 
treatment plant that belonged to the Greater Municipality of 
Adana spread a bad smell in their neighborhood and, in protest 
against the municipality, closed the Karatas-Adana highway to 
traffic for some time yesterday. Many policemen were dispatched 
to scene. 
 
¶34.     RADIKAL: 10 NGOs, foremost among them the Greater 
Municipality of Diyarbakir, formed an organization called "The 
Association for Development and the Struggle against Poverty," 
aimed at investigating and preparing a "poverty map" of the 
people who had migrated from villages to urban centers. 
According to research in Diyarbakir, 20,000 families have been 
living at below subsistence level and need food assistance. The 
general secretary of the association, Serif Camci, said that 
they interviewed 5,780 families [38,000 people] and formed a 
data bank and a "Food Bank," which aimed to give food to the 
needy people. Camci said that some families' average annual 
income was only 350 US dollars and that the percentage of 
children who were at the school age but did not attend a school 
was 58 percent. 
 
¶35.     CUKUROVA HURRIYET: The Istanbul-based Akdeniz Gemi Insa 
Sirketi (Ship Building Company) will build a 30 million US 
dollar shipyard by 2008 on a plot of 80,000 square meters in the 
Yumurtalik Free Trade Zone in Adana province. 
GREEN