US embassy cable - 04ADANA108

UNCLAS ADANA 000108 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, IZ, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY AUGUST 19, 2004 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 19, 
2004. 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 
ZAMAN, CUMHURIYET, RADIKAL, EVRENSEL, HURRIYET, SABAH, TERCUMAN, 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: Many DEHAP supporters from neighboring 
provinces went to Pazarcik and Narli townships, Kahramanmaras 
province, to attend the opening ceremony of a monument-like tomb 
for high-ranking PKK militant Engin Sincer, who had been killed 
last year in the Kandil Mountains, Northern Iraq, as a result of 
an internal dispute. The Jandarma did not allow DEHAP supporters 
to go to Seyrantepe village, where the monument has been 
erected, on the grounds that all kinds of meetings in 
Kahramanmaras, Turkoglu, and Pazarcik, between August 17-18, had 
been banned. DEHAP supporters, who formed a ten kilometer long 
queue of vehicles, closed the Gaziantep-Narli highway to traffic 
for some time. GOT forces detained two persons. Sincer's family 
announced that they were going to have a burial commemoration 
according to the traditions of the Alevi sect, and that they did 
not have any political objectives. 
MILLIYET: The inspectors from the Interior Ministry did not find 
the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, who visited the family of a 
PKK/Kongra Gel militant to express his condolences, guilty. 
Inspectors determined that Mayor Baydemir's visit to the family 
in an official vehicle was not contrary to the law. 
CUMHURIYET: In Van province, the Anti-smuggling and Organized 
Crimes Teams from Baskale Security Directorate seized 51.344 
kilos of heroin in the secret compartments found in a vehicle 
traveling from Hakkari to Van. The court imprisoned two persons 
having connections with drugs. 
EVRENSEL, ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: In Bismil township, Diyarbakir 
province, a six-person committee delivered a petition signed by 
11,541 persons demanding recognition of Kurdish rights, 
reintegration of guerillas in the political life, and advocating 
Abdullah Ocalan's release. Around 300 people gathered in front 
of the Bismil's DEHAP office before the petition was delivered. 
Police frisked the demonstrators and filmed their I.D. cards. In 
Diyarbakir, 14 of the 17 persons who had been detained after 
delivering petitions signed by 30,600 to the Governor's Office, 
were released. 
EVRENSEL: The Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor pressed charges 
against the Diyarbakir "Kurdish Pen" for having visited the 
European Commission's Office in Ankara. The Diyarbakir Kurdish 
Pen is accused of "receiving a foreign delegation without 
permission." 
 
 
REID