US embassy cable - 05ADANA49

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000049 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR MARCH 14, 2005 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for March 14, 
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 
 
EVRENSEL / CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM:   NGOs and 
environmentalist groups held demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara 
and Tunceli to protest upcoming dam projects on the Munzur river 
and a gold-mining project that reportedly will be using cyanide 
to extract gold from ore in Ovacik district of Tunceli. Five 
hundred protestors in Tunceli marched chanting the following 
slogans: "Mining corporations, get out of Tunceli," "We won't 
allow extracting of gold with cyanide". 
 
TERCUMAN / TURKIYE / OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL:   People in the 
Karliova district of Bingol stayed outside all night in freezing 
temperatures because of an earthquake (measuring 5.7 on the 
Richter scale) that shook Bingol the day before. Although there 
was no loss of life, a great deal of damage was done to homes. 
At present, authorities are unable to get information from 
fifteen villages that are cut off by snow. To date the Ministers 
of Health, Interior and Public Works/Resettlement have paid 
visits to the area. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The so-called "78'ers Initative" in Mersin 
organized a meeting to demand that the fifteenth item of the 
Turkish Constitution be abolished so that those who have 
perpetrated coups in the past (i.e. military leaders) could be 
prosecuted. (Note:  The fifteenth article of the Constitution 
allows for freedoms to be partially or entirely suspended during 
times of martial law or state of emergency.  In a separate note, 
the 78'ers is a term referring to the generation that was 
engaged in protest in the 1970's, many of whom were killed or 
jailed during that decade.  End note.) 
 
EVRENSEL:       Rabia Kurnaz, mother of Murat Kurnaz (23) -- who was 
allegedly imprisoned in Guantanamo for 3.5 years -- expressed 
her hope that her son might have been sent back to Turkey after 
hearing rumors that the U.S. will be sending back Guantanamo 
arrestees to their homelands. Kurnaz, who lives in Hamburg, 
Germany, thinks her son may have been brought to Incirlik 
Airbase in Turkey. 
 
CUKUROVA'DA GERCEK:     Prof. Alper Akinoglu, President of 
Cukurova University, condemned statements made by Turkish author 
Orhan Pamuk to a Swiss newspaper.  Akinoglu stated that the 
views of Orhan Pamuk, as expressed to a Swiss newspaper, on the 
Armenian genocide allegations are baseless and inaccurate. 
 
CUKUROVA'DA GERCEK:     During the First Economic Cooperation 
Forum, held on February 18 in Adana, PM Erdogan had Adana AKP MP 
Omer Celik on one side and Aytac Durak, AKP Mayor of Adana, on 
the other. Erdogan, stating that Adana has "two bosses" 
(referring to Celik and Durak), added that his government would 
"cut off the heads" of those who become involved in corruption, 
"even if they are people we have appointed to office." 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Six thousand apartment buildings were 
built after the 1998 earthquake in Adana to provide safer 
shelter for the earthquake victims. However, seven blocks worth 
of housing, comprising 70 flats, were left vacant and have been 
looted and plundered since then. The headman of the district 
complained that the vacant flats are now in wretched condition, 
and burglars and inhalant addicts inhabit them now. 
 
EKSPRES:        The city council in Mardin has convened to discuss 
the strategic plan for Mardin's local development. The Mayor of 
Mardin presided over the meeting and representatives of various 
NGOs participated in the event. The main point of interest 
during the meeting was how to prepare Mardin for the upcoming 
tourism season. 
 
MILLI GAZETE:   TOBB (Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity 
Exchanges) is undertaking the task of modernizing the Habur 
Border Gate by means of a Build-Operate-Transfer Project. The 
physical and technical infrastructure of the Habur Border Gate 
will be renovated and the gate's security will be strengthened. 
The project will reportedly begin in April and will cost 18 
trillion Turkish lira ($14,2 million). 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      BOLGE:  The volume of transactions in Adana Commodity 
Exchange has reached a record-breaking figure of 
1,712,592,491,425,944 Turkish lira ($1,3 billion) in 2004. This 
increase over 2003's figures is attributed to an abundance of 
products and price increases since last year. 
 
 
 
REID