US embassy cable - 05ADANA33

UNCLAS ADANA 000033 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 17, 2005 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for February 17, 
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 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL / CUMHURIYET:   The Labour 
Platform, a coalition of trade unions and NGOs, held 
demonstrations in Ankara, Istanbul, Adana, Diyarbakir and Mersin 
to protest the (Turkish) government's policy to transfer SSK 
(Social Security Authority) Hospitals to the Ministry of Health, 
closing of the Village Services Department and introduction of 
the public and social security reform package, all of which will 
reportedly damage the social justice in Turkey. 
 
RADIKAL / EVRENSEL / CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / EKSPRES: 
Ozgur Gundem claims that despite the recent amendment on 
(Turkish) regulations requiring demonstrators to obtain an 
authorization before their rallies and demonstrations, the 
police intervened when a group of people wanted to hold a 
demonstration in Mersin against Turkey's capture of Ocalan six 
years ago. (Note: Cumhuriyet paper reads that the demonstration 
was an unauthorized one. End Note.) Nineteen-year-old Umit 
Gonultas, was allegedly shot dead by the police during the 
commotion, although the police could have allegedly hospitalized 
Gonultas and saved his life, according to the witnesses. Turkish 
National Police (TNP) claimed that no police opened fire during 
the intervention. However, the family of Gonultas accused the 
TNP of killing their son. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     As debate gets heated upon the warning of European 
Commission's Report concerned with abolishing compulsory 
religious education and removing "religion" field from ID cards, 
the Yezidis, whose children are compelled to attend religious 
classes in Viransehir district of Sanliurfa, have filed a 
complaint with the Sanliurfa Human Rights Association. Although 
religious classes were not mandatory before, when the AKP 
(Justice and Development Party) began governing the country, 
attending religious classes were rendered mandatory for 43 
Yezidi students from 300 Yezidi families at various schools in 
the Viransehir district. Should the families' efforts to solve 
the issue turn out to be in vain, the families plan to apply to 
the European Court of Human Rights. 
 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Diyarbakir and Mardin Chambers of 
Commerce announced that the cotton producer subsidies are 
insufficient to cover the losses of the cotton producers. The 
weather conditions permitted the harvest of only half of the 
produce and the rest was sold at a loss later. Shortcomings of 
weather-dependent agriculture could have been remedied by the 
use of agricultural vehicles (facilitating well-timed 
harvesting), which could have been obtained had the subsidies 
been sufficient, reads the report of the Diyarbakir Chamber of 
Agriculture. 
 
 
 
 
REID