US embassy cable - 05ADANA8

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000008 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 4, 2005 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 4, 
2005.  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 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The first hearing for the charges concerning 
Ugur and Ahmet Kaymaz's killing will be held on February 12. The 
statement of charges against the four (Turkish National Police) 
special operations team members reads, "special operations team 
members transgressed the rules of necessary self-defence and 
caused the two killings whose actual perpetrator cannot be 
traced or discovered." DEHAP and Free Party members protested 
the statement in Malatya and demanded that the perpetrators be 
arrested. The court rejected the appeal of Kaymaz Family for the 
accused special operations team members to remain under arrest 
while on trial. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Four people, including the DEHAP District 
Chairperson, Cafer Simsek, are (allegedly) taken into custody by 
the Mersin Security Directorate as a result of raids that (TNP) 
Anti-Terror Branch carried out at houses and shops in Mersin. 
 
 
EVRENSEL:       Sinan Yerlikaya, a CHP (Republican People's Party) 
MP from Tunceli, claimed that Unal Erkan, Governor of the State 
of Emergency Region in 1994, (allegedly) discouraged the Human 
Rights Commission of the Turkish Parliament which wanted to 
investigate the disappearance of 13 villagers (allegedly) in 
security forces custody during the September 17, 1994 operations 
carried out in Tunceli's Mirik, on the grounds that the 
operations are continuing and the region is not safe. According 
to Yerlikaya, although delegations from Germany, the democratic 
mass organizations and he himself visited the scene then, the 
Human Rights Commission did not pay a visit to Mirik district. 
 
EVRENSEL:       Political parties and mass organizations in Tunceli 
demanded that a commission be set up to investigate people who 
disappeared in Mirik, Tunceli. Huseyin Tunc, the Provincial 
Chairperson of EMEP (The Labour Party), said that many 
mysterious killings were committed and many people were exposed 
to physical and psychological tortures during 1990s. Huseyin 
Tunc says, "This situation has not changed much today. Very 
recently, a member of the army threatened and insulted the 
headmen of (several) villages and accused villagers of being 
accomplices to the illegal activities committed in the region." 
Tunc demanded that people not be oppressed and frightened, and 
that these oppressive attitudes be abandoned. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     Because Syria does not open its borders to trucks 
carrying goods to Americans in Iraq and since the tanker drivers 
carrying fuel oil had been on a strike due to low transportation 
prices for twenty days, twenty thousand trucks are waiting in 70 
kilometer-long queues at Habur border gate. Despite the fact 
that the strike has ended recently, the congestion created by 
the number of trucks has not been diminished yet. 
 
ZAMAN:     Rauf Denktas, President of the Turkish Republic 
of Northern Cyprus is going to pay a visit to Adana tomorrow at 
4.30 p.m. Rauf Denktas will be visiting the Governor of Adana, 
the Army Corps Commander and the mayor of Adana. The next day, 
Denktas will be visiting the Governor of Osmaniye at the 
Osmaniye province. 
 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      MILLIYET / EKSPRES / BOLGE / TURKIYE:    Umit Ozgumus, 
President of the Adana Chamber of Industry, is going to meet 
President Erdogan for the second time on January 5, and will 
mainly discuss the new Incentive Law. Umit Ozgumus, who is 
selected as the representative of the East Mediterranean region 
that is comprised of Adana, Mersin, Hatay and Kahramanmaras and 
Osmaniye provinces, will speak with the PM about the problems of 
the region on behalf of the provinces at the "TOBB (Turkish 
Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges) Regional and 
Sector-Based Consultation" meeting. 
 
2.      BOLGE / TURKIYE:        Aytac Durak, the Mayor of Adana, 
criticized the way the government handles the distribution of 
the incentives. Durak said that it is a mistake to allocate the 
incentives by simply assessing dollar based per capita income of 
the provinces since there are multiple factors that determine 
the per capita income. It should be noted that the income is 
distributed unevenly within Adana province because of the fact 
that a significant amount of the population constantly arrives 
in the city due to terror-related and/or economic difficulties. 
 
 
3.      EKSPRES / BOLGE / EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM / MILLIYET: 
A group of angry Mersin farmers stopped the engines of their 
trucks and chained the trucks' steering wheels to protest GoT 
agricultural policies of the government in Mersin. Due to the 
ineffective policies of the government, the farmers say that 
they are not able to sell their products and are deeply 
discouraged about further producing vegetables and fruits. 
 
4.      ZAMAN:  The amount of citrus fruit harvested in Adana 
has increased by a hundred percent as compared to the previous 
year; however, the incentives for exporting the citrus fruit are 
very low. Because of the current laws on the fruit-and-vegetable 
market, the prices in domestic markets are not falling as well. 
Producers are desperately seeking ways to sell their produce. 
 
5.      BOLGE:  It is estimated that the total area of the 
fields devoted to cotton planting will decrease next season 
because of the frustration that cotton farmers are experiencing 
with the low level of the incentive premiums and the low prices 
in the world markets. 
 
 
 
REID