US embassy cable - 04ADANA140

UNCLAS ADANA 000140 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, IZ, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, OCTOBER 13, 2004 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 13, 
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/MILLIYET/CUMHURIYET/RADIKAL/TERCUMAN/TU RKIYE/ 
EVRENSEL: One soldier was killed and two others were wounded 
when a mine exploded in Ovacik, Tunceli province.  The mine had 
been placed on the main road where the Jandarma from the Ovacik 
Jandarma Command jog in the mornings.  A military operation with 
air support has been launched in the region. 
 
ZAMAN/MILLIYET: The Adana Traffic Teams arrested 41 refugees, 22 
Sudanese and 19 Somalis, who had come to Adana illegally. The 
refugees said that they came to Hatay by boat and that they only 
intended to stay in Istanbul for a week. The refugees will be 
deported after the court has taken a statement from them. 
 
YENI SAFAK: The Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir said that he had 
prepared projects for the establishment of a "regional 
metropolis." Mayor Baydemir said he wants Diyarbakir to become 
the center of the Southeast, and a metropolis in the Middle 
East. Baydemir claimed that his project would prevent migration 
to other big towns. Baydemir, who met with Prime Minister 
Erdogan at the "Local Administrations and EU" meeting in Ankara, 
invited the Prime Minister to Diyarbakir for the opening 
ceremonies of the city's Waste Water Treatment Plant. 
 
BOLGE/EKSPRES: Eleven Adana HRA members went to the US Consulate 
by bus, read an anti-American and anti-Israeli announcement, and 
left a black wreath at the Consulate. The group chanted, 
"Everywhere is Palestine; we are all Palestinians; US Out of the 
Middle East."  The Adana HRA Secretary Ethem Acikalin, who read 
the announcement, said that Israel was massacring in Palestine 
and the US was massacring in Iraq, and that the right to life 
and freedoms of the people in those countries were being 
obstructed. 
 
TERCUMAN: In Malatya, acting on a tip, police from the Malatya 
Security Directorate seized five kilograms of hashish in Ramazan 
G.'s house in Yesilyur township. 
Ramazan G. has been detained, and the investigation has 
intensified. 
 
EVRENSEL: The Malatya Security Directorate circulated a letter 
to 17 radio stationsand five local TV channels (Gunes-TV, Er-TV, 
TV-M, Ufuk-TV, and CNM-TV) saying that legal action would be 
taken against stations broadcasting in Kurdish and other 
languages. The letter stated that the broadcasts from those 
institutions were observed round-the-clock, and claimed that 
some of them had aired in Kurdish.  HRA and Mazlum-Der objected 
to the letter. 
 
 
REID