US embassy cable - 04ADANA136

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000136 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, IZ, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, OCTOBER 6, 2004 
 
 
1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 
06, 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.  ZAMAN: In Adana, police from the Anti-Smuggling and 
Organized Crime Department of Adana Security Directorate seized 
7.250 kilos of material used in making hashish. Cebbar A. was 
caught red-handed while trying to sell the material to police 
and was imprisoned. 
 
3.  ZAMAN: Former CHP Hakkari Lawmaker Mikail Ilcin said around 
40-50 million Kurds lived in the world, and asked if the world 
would come to an end if the Kurds who having been struggling for 
seventy years in Iraq founded a state. Ilcin defined himself as 
a Turkish/Kurdish nationalist of Turkey. Ilcin said a Kurdish 
state, which would hoist its flag in Northern Iraq, would not 
undermine Turkey. 
 
4.  MILLIYET: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul expressed 
his concern about the PKK/Kongra-Gel organization's presence in 
Iraq to the new Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey, Cemil Umran. 
Ambassador Umran responded that because Iraq had not fully 
installed domestic security yet, it might be impossible for the 
Iraqi administration to address its neighbor's security 
expectations. 
 
5.  CUMHURIYET: In order to abolish the "Temporary Village Guard 
System," the Interior Ministry has been working on a draft law, 
which will affect 58,400 guards currently on the payroll and 
26,967 voluntary ones. According to the draft law, the village 
guards aged 45 with 10 years of active service will be entitled 
to retirement, an annuity, and health coverage.  Village guards 
aged 45 but with less than 10 years of service will be 
compensated by severance pay. Village guards have been accused 
of assisting and harboring PKK elements, arms smuggling, drug 
trafficking, abducting girls and rape, and are seen as the 
biggest impediment to return to evacuated villages. 
 
6.  CUMHURIYET: Hakkari Governor Erdogan Gurbuz announced that 
two PKK/Kongra Gel members were arrested by the Jandarma during 
a car search on the Yuksekova-Semdinli highway. One was a Syrian 
national while the other was registered in Yuksekova. 
 
7.  CUMHURIYET/ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: The hearing of the case 
concerning Bingol HRA President Ridvan Kizgin and 125 women who 
tried to form a "Dialogue Desk for Peace" in Bingol last year 
opened at the Bingol Criminal Peace Court yesterday.  They are 
being charged with "resistance to police." The hearing, which 
more than 100 women from various parts of the country attended, 
was postponed to an unspecified date. 
 
8.  SABAH: Two children, Selam Derer and Hadi Yildiz, who live 
in the Ferhatkale Camp in Gelisen village of Semdinli, Hakkari 
province, took home a landmine they found in a field.  The mine 
exploded and Elam Derer (12), Hadi Yildiz (10), and Bahrem Aslan 
(33) were killed, and three others were wounded. 
 
9.  TURKIYE/MILLI GAZETE: Despite stringent security measures in 
Kirmitli, Osmaniye province, where two persons were killed and 
three others wounded as a result of clashes between the current 
and former mayors' families, three more persons were wounded in 
clashes yesterday. The Jandarma re-intensified security measures. 
 
10. EVRENSEL/ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: NGOs and political parties in 
Tunceli asked GOT officials to stop military operations that are 
causing fires in the forests in Tunceli. They demanded the 
government undertake steps to resolve the Kurdish issue. 
EMEP-Tunceli Provincial Chairman Huseyin Tunc said that military 
operations covered the entire region, and the resulting 
violation of the "right to life" could result in a new wave of 
migration.  Tunceli Bar Association President Huseyin Aygun 
stated that forests in the region were being burnt under the 
pretext of combating terrorism, and that people were prevented 
from extinguishing the forest fires.  Attorney Aygun said the 
perpetrators of the fires should be held accountable. Eighteen 
young Human Shield Initiative (HSI) members from Sanliurfa set 
off for Tunceli in an effort to halt operations there and to 
establish a bilateral truce. In Sanliurfa, around 200 persons 
supporting HSI members chanted, "Peace is the essence of 
humanity, and we are going to become the voice of peace." The 
crowd shouted slogans including, "No to War" and "May Hands 
Raised Against Peace Break." 
 
11. EVRENSEL/ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM:  The military operation that 
started on September 22 in the Bercelan Pasture, Hakkari 
province, is continuing.  It is claimed that chemicals were used 
in the pasture during the operation, and that many cattle were 
killed as a result. Seven pastures as well as the Kocanis 
village, where ten families had returned, have been 
re-evacuated.  An Investigation Committee to be made up of Van 
and Hakkari Goc-Der (Migration Association) and HRA offices, 
along with DEHAP will go to Bercalan Pasture in the coming days. 
 
12. EVRENSEL/ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: The International PEN General 
Secretary Terry Carlbom, accompanied by Kurdish PEN authorities, 
 
SIPDIS 
visited Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir regarding the Writers' 
2005 Meeting to be held in Diyarbakir. 
 
EDUCATION 
 
13. TERCUMAN: Diyarbakir Deputy Governor Cumali Atilla said 
there was a need for 3,000 classrooms in Diyarbakir province, 
and that 250 trillion Turkish Liras (approximately USD166.6 
million) were needed to address the gap. Atilla said there were 
eighty students per class and four students shared a desk, and 
added that because there were no schools in some villages, 
parents were unable to send their daughters to be educated. 
Deputy Governor Atilla said there were 350,000 students and 
11,000 teachers in Diyarbakir province. 
 
 
 
 
ALLISON