US embassy cable - 04ADANA134

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 000134 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, IZ, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, OCTOBER 2-4, 2004 
 
1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 
02-04, 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 
 
2.  MILLIYET/ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: Iran launched a military 
operation against PKK/Kongra Gel militants, in coordination with 
Ankara.  The operation targeted Partiya Jiyana Azadiya Kurdan's 
(PJAK-Free Living Party of Kurdistan) camps which were founded 
by the PKK in an effort to organize Kurds in Iran and Syria. 
Syria had already surrendered many PKK militants to Turkish 
authorities prior to this operation by Iran against PJAK. 
 
3.  ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: The Diyarbakir HRA Chapter will file 
charges with the Siirt Public Prosecutor against GOT forces who 
dragged Fatma Idem, an HPG guerilla killed in Siirt on September 
6, behind their armored personnel carrier. 
 
4.  SABAH: The New York Times commented in an article that 
PKK/Kongra Gel's resuming terrorist attacks in Turkey would 
damage Kurds' recent economic and cultural gains.  The paper 
wrote that Kurds in the region were cautious about the 
organization and questioned the PKK/Kongra Gel's tactics, timing 
and targets, and attributed what has been going on to Abdullah 
Ocalan. 
 
5.  YENI SAFAK/GOZCU: A group of PKK/Kongra Gel militants opened 
fire on GOT forces on patrol near Ergin village of Lice, 
Diyarbakir province, wounding three soldiers. 
 
6.  YENI SAFAK/GOZCU/BOLGE: Fahri Yuce opened fire on inmates' 
families who were gathered at the Diyarbakir Municipality's 
theater hall. Four persons were wounded.  The crowd tried to 
detain the assailant, who also ended up being wounded with his 
own weapon. 
 
7.  MILLI GAZETE:  In Batman province, Sason Sub-governor Hayati 
Tasdan announced that there were 85 schools and 9,500 students 
in his district, and that schools in 30 villages were closed due 
to a lack of teachers. Tasdan said his district had only 220 
teachers instead of 550. Twenty-nine village headmen from 
Sason's villages sent faxes to the National Education Ministry, 
requesting that teachers be appointed to their villages. 
 
8.  MILLIYET/ZAMAN/HURRIYET/RADIKAL: Ekrem Temes, a 
nine-year-old assisting his family with trash collecting in 
Yuksekova, Hakkari province, found a 2.5 kilogram C-4 explosive 
which had been placed 100 meters from the Sub-governor's office. 
After showing the time bomb, which he thought was a clock, to 
his older brother, he took the parcel to the police who 
detonated it. No damages or casualties were reported. 
 
9.  MILLIYET/SABAH/HURRIYET/EVRENSEL/CUMHURIYET/Y ENI SAFAK: 
Former Batman Governor Salih Sarman has been imprisoned in 
Ankara for receiving a Mercedes in exchange for awarding a 
construction contract for an indoor car park complex in Batman. 
The court banned Sarman from public service permanently.  Sarman 
was also accused of forming special units without authorization 
and purchasing weapons, some of which were reported missing, for 
the units under the pretext of combating the PKK during his 
tenure in Batman. 
 
10. SABAH/TERCUMAN/HURRIYET/TURKIYE/YENI SAFAK/VAKIT: Teams from 
the Van Security Directorate seized 47 kilos of C-4 explosives, 
169 offensive hand-grenades, and 3,103 Kalashnikov bullets in a 
truck, which reportedly belonged to the PKK/Kongra Gel.  An 
unidentified truck driver was also detained. 
 
11. SABAH/ZAMAN/HURRIYET/TURKIYE/EVRENSEL: GOT forces launched 
an operation in the Kutuderesi region of Tunceli.  As a result 
of ensuing clashes one soldier was killed and three others were 
wounded. The operations in the region are still continuing. 
 
12. ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: DEHAP National Chairman Tuncer Bakirhan 
and thousands of people attended the Viransehir Cultural and Art 
Festival in Sanliurfa province. Bakirhan said military 
operations were conducted against peace, democracy and 
brotherhood, and added that the Justice and Development Party 
(AKP) pretended as though the Kurdish problem did not exist. 
Bakirhan said Turkey could not become a member of the EU unless 
it solved the Kurdish and poverty issues. The crowd displayed 
Abdullah Ocalan posters and chanted pro-Ocalan slogans while 
they condemned Osman Ocalan and his followers for separating 
from the PKK/Kongra Gel. 
 
13. ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: The Swedish Foreign Minister Laila 
Freivalds will visit Ankara on October 5. She will visit 
Diyarbakir to meet with the Women Center (KAMER) to get 
information about honor killings, as well as with other NGO 
officials, after concluding talks with her Turkish counterparts 
in Ankara. She is expected to invite leaders of women NGOs in 
the region to the October 6-7 International Women Conference in 
Stockholm. 
 
14. ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: The Private Adana Kurdish Language 
School started classes with 15 students. The students will 
attend the courses for three months and be given a certificate 
after the completion of the course. 
15. ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: In Van province, Esenyamac 
villagers who have been smuggling oil from Iran were confronted 
by soldiers at the Iranian border who asked them to halt.  They 
ran away, leaving 21 horses unattended. The villagers claimed 
later that the soldiers killed 10 of the horses that had been 
used in smuggling. 
 
16. ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL: The Istanbul and Siirt "Human 
Shield Initiative" members, who were harassed and prevented by 
GOT forces from going to Cirav Mountain where military 
operations are being conducted, set off for the same location 
again. Approximately 500 persons, who gathered in front of the 
DEHAP Provincial Office in Siirt, saw them off with "Long Live 
Peace; We Don't Want to Kill or To Be Killed" slogans.  Necdet 
Ulker, a "Human Shield Initiative" member from Istanbul said 
that GOT forces tried to intimidate them by giving them a fine, 
damaging their cars with metal pieces, and seizing the license 
of the restaurant they dined at. 
 
17. EVRENSEL: The Diyarbakir Bar Association members distributed 
Turkish/Kurdish handouts they had prepared as part of the 
"Justice for Everybody Project."  The Project's General 
Coordinator Attorney Cihan Aydin said the "Justice for Everybody 
Project," initiated in February 2004, was also supported by the 
European Commission. 
 
18. EVRENSEL: Three thousand two hundred students from 60 
villages of Kiziltepe, Mardin province, are unable to attend 
their schools due to lack of transportation.  Students' parents 
applied to the Kiziltepe Teachers Union in order to find a 
solution. The Kiziltepe National Education Director Mehmet Aksoy 
said the transportation of the students was put to tender before 
the academic year started two weeks ago, but the company that 
was awarded the bid terminated the contract on the grounds that 
it could not provide regular transportation for 3,200 students. 
 
19. HURRIYET/TURKIYE: During the GOT forces' land operations 
that was supported by air strikes against PKK/Kongra Gel 
holdouts in the Kutuderesi region of Tunceli yesterday, one 
militant was killed and some materials were seized. One of the 
sergeants who had been seriously wounded in previous clashes 
also died. 
 
20. TURKIYE: Teams from the Diyarbakir Provincial Jandarma 
Command seized 51.650 kilograms of material used in making hash 
in Kusluk village of Silvan, Diyarbakir province. Five persons, 
including the Gormez village headman, were arrested for having 
connections with drugs. 
 
21. HURRIYET: The volume of transportation to Iraq from the 
Cilvegozu, Hatay province, border gate with Syria increased 
after the Transportation Minister announced that it was safer to 
transit goods to Iraq through Syria.  Turkish truck drivers are 
often being attacked and have also been taken hostage by 
insurgents in Iraq. 
 
22. MILLIYET: In Osmaniye province, as a result of a fight that 
broke out between the former DYP Kirmikli Mayor Erdal Unlu and 
the Current CHP Mayor Ali Murtaza Dogan, both former Mayor Unlu 
as well as Mayor Dogan's father were killed, and two others were 
wounded. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
23. CUKUROVA HURRIYET/ZAMAN: The Second Cukurova Industry and 
Trade Fair expected to enliven Adana's economy was opened with a 
ceremony attended by the Minister of Industry and Trade. The 
fair will be open until October 10. One hundred thousand people 
visited the fair in two days.  Transportation to the fairground 
is provided free of charge by public buses. 
 
ALLISON