US embassy cable - 03ANKARA6996

UNCLAS ANKARA 006996 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, IZ, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY 
NOVEMBER 6, 2003 
 
 
1. SUBJECT:  This is the Southeastern Turkey press 
summary for November 6, 2003.  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, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
 
2. Hurriyet, Turkiye, Milli Gazete / In Bingol, a 
group of alleged KADEK terrorists fired on the 
patrolling soldiers on November 5.  During the 
clash, two terrorists and one soldier were 
killed and 2 soldiers were wounded. Turkiye and 
Milli Gazete report that two alleged terrorists 
were also killed in Almus, Tokat province. 
 
 
3. Hurriyet, Zaman, Ozgur Gundem / The Batman 
Kurdish language Course, after complying with 
the rules of the private language schools, 
started accepting applications.  Approximately 
150 people applied for the course. 
 
 
4. Bolge / Scott Reid, the U.S. Consul in Adana, 
visited the Gaziantep Chamber of Industry (CoI) 
yesterday and met with CoI Head Nejat Kocer. 
 
 
5. Ozgur Gundem / Tarsus security chief Necdet 
Ozturk allegedly threatened DEHAP members in 
his office with cutting their heads off if 
DEHAP organized a press conference in Tarsus. 
DEHAP members wrote a complaint letter about 
the incident to the Interior Ministry. 
 
 
6. Ozgur Gundem / In the Batman M-type prison, 
prisoners applied to the officials to change 
their names.  Many people in Dogubeyazit and 
Ceyhan also applied to change their Turkish 
names into Kurdish names. 
 
 
7. Ozgur Gundem / Two Ozgur Gundem distributors in 
Siirt allegedly were threatened by the police 
and warned to stop the distribution of the 
paper. Police detained one of the distributors 
without charging the distributor with any 
crime. 
 
 
8. Turkiye / Iraq returned kerosene (approximately 
7,000 tons) exported by Petrol Ofisi and Delta 
petrol from Dortyol and Iskenderun, Hatay 
province, because the exported kerosene did not 
comply with the international standards. 
Iskenderun Petrol Association denounced the 
incident as scandalous. 
 
 
9. Turkiye / In Caldiran, Van province, jandarma 
found 13 Pakistanis who entered Turkey without 
any legal documents.  After the questioning 
officials will forward the case to the court. 
EDELMAN