US embassy cable - 05ADANA19

UNCLAS ADANA 000019 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 26, 2005 
 
1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 
26, 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 
 
2.      RADIKAL / CUMHURIYET / MILLI GAZETE:    Feyzullah 
Arslan, Security Director of Gaziantep, previously appealed to 
the Administrative Court regarding the "demotion" he had been 
subjected to through his latest appointment as Security Director 
of Gaziantep.  Arslan has recently regained the right to his 
former title as the Deputy Security Director and Spokesman of 
the Chief Security Directorship in Ankara, and has now been 
returned to his former office. 
 
3.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Twenty-four people detained in 
yesterday's uprising in Siirt were released after their 
statements were taken. Six of the detainees were sentenced in 
Siirt's (E-Type) Prison and they will be subject to subsequent 
litigation on the grounds that they "damaged public property and 
showed resistance to the police officers." The families of the 
two female (alleged) terrorists claim they were killed 
extrajudicially; their dead bodies were forcibly seized by the 
soldiers from them and the burial procedures were conducted 
without the families' consent, and without observing burial 
rites and practices. 
 
4.      EVRENSEL:       Yusuf Alatas, Chairperson of the Human Rights 
Association, called on the Turkish Parliament to take action 
against the killing of five people during the operation 
conducted in Sirnak on January 20. Alatas claimed that the 
soldiers could have caught the five people that were killed 
alive. Alatas also claimed that the families of the people 
killed have the right to know in detail why and how their 
children were killed. Alatas, critical of the way the burial 
procedures of the dead were conducted, claimed that the public 
officers (involved in the incident) should be held accountable 
for the way they handled the burial procedures. 
 
5.      MILLI GAZETE / MILLIYET / SABAH:        Twenty-four people 
were wounded and two people died during the eight earthquakes 
that hit Hakkari yesterday. The quake with the highest magnitude 
measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale caused great panic in the 
province. Another quake, which shook Adana with a moderate 
magnitude of 4.1 on the Richter scale, caused no damage or loss 
of lives. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      RADIKAL / MILLI GAZETE / YENI SAFAK:    In order to 
remove the strain of electricity debts farmers incurred through 
irrigation, PM Erdogan had introduced the 
payment-by-installments method on January 18. However, Sami 
Guclu, Minister of Agriculture, announced today that they are 
trying to find additional resources to fund the other 
agricultural subsidies (such as the tax reductions on 
agricultural inputs like fertilizers and diesel oil) announced 
by the PM. 
 
2.      SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES / MILLIYET / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / 
EVRENSEL / BOLGE / VAKIT /:     Angry producers and farmers held a 
demonstration to protest the GoT's lack of incentive policies to 
boost Turkey's citrus fruit exports. The demonstrators 
complained about the inadequacy of governmental subsidies, as 
well. During the demonstration, in Hadirli village of Adana, as 
citrus fruit producers and the farmers threw parcels of fruit on 
the ground and stepped on them, they shouted slogans calling on 
the GoT to resign.