US embassy cable - 05ADANA76

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000076 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR APRIL 7, 2005 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for April 7, 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 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / EVRENSEL / BOLGE / EKSPRES:     Public finance 
officers, after going on a two-day strike of withdrawing from 
their work, gathered at a rally in front of the two Tax Office 
Branches and marched towards the AKP (Justice and Development 
Party) Provincial Headquarters in Adana. Public office workers' 
unions organized the rally to try to force the withdrawal of the 
new Income Administration Draft Law prepared by the Turkish 
Parliament. The new law reportedly envisages poor solutions to 
problems of income administration. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   During a meeting with DEHAP (Democratic 
People's Party) Provincial Chairmen, Tuncer Bakirhan, DEHAP 
National Chairman, pointed out that a nationalist tide has been 
at work Turkey after the Newruz celebrations. According to 
Bakirhan, this nationalist tide was not only against the Kurds, 
but also against the EU supporters and the liberal circles in 
Turkey. Moreover, Bakirhan criticized the Turkish governors for 
remaining silent when an official of the state expressed last 
week that the noted writer Orhan Pamuk's books should be burnt. 
 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The paper shows a photo of three children in 
Koprubasi hamlet of Dicle district in Diyarbakir, crossing the 
Dicle River on a very small and simple boat. The lack of a 
viable road (note: and presumably, bridge) requires the children 
of Koprubasi to cross the river on a feeble boat to reach their 
schools. It is reported that the neighboring villagers do not 
welcome the idea of a road construction, since any road to be 
built would have to cross over their fields. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        While the "human shields" were 
being arrested, military operations in the Cudi and Gabar 
Mountains reportedly intensified and the extent of the 
operations widened. Among the security forces increasingly 
deployed in the region were military personnel allegedly 
disguised in "guerilla" clothes. It is also noted that the Bolu 
Commando Brigade, which allegedly was responsible for the 
disappearance of a detained group of villagers during the 
operations conducted in 1993-1994, was reportedly deployed at 
Cukurca in Hakkari province. 
 
ZAMAN:     Zaman reports that the military operations conducted 
in Sirnak and Hakkari (Cudi and Gabar Mountains) covered the 
border area with Iraq as well. The warplanes and helicopters 
were being used to uncover the terrorists' shelters. Osman 
Gunes, Sirnak Governor, said that no information was shared with 
him about the details of the operations. 
 
BOLGE / EKSPRES:         Another moderate earthquake with a magnitude 
of 3.2 on the Richter scale shook Adana yesterday at 8.59 a.m. 
The Chamber of Geophysical Engineers Adana Chairperson said that 
people felt the shake more strongly because the epicenters of 
the recent earthquakes were deep under the ground. However, it 
was not known whether these quakes were predecessors of a bigger 
one. 
 
EKSPRES / BOLGE:        Mitsuhiro Toyama, Cultural Attachi of the 
Japanese Embassy, paid a visit to Cahit Kirac, Adana Governor. 
Toyama will be visiting Aytac Durak, Adana Mayor, and Chambers 
of Commerce and Industry, as well. 
 
EVRENSEL:       Yuksekova District Jandarma Command held a meeting 
on April 2 with the relatives of the "guerillas" (note: read 
PKK), who engage in conflicts with the Turkish military in the 
mountains. Sixty people reportedly attended the meeting. A 
Jandarma Command official reportedly said that nobody wanted any 
more shedding of blood and solicited help from the families to 
convince their children to stop fighting. Reportedly, all the 
families rejected this request and demanded that a general 
amnesty be granted to the people. 
 
EKSPRES / BOLGE:        The IP (Labour Party) launched a campaign in 
Adana's Inonu Park to call for the end to the U.S. presence in 
Incirlik Airbase. Sedat Memili, the Provincial Chairperson of 
IP, said that the Turkish Military should exercise full control 
of the Incirlik Base and that the U.S. should be prevented from 
using Incirlik Airbase in military operations against both the 
countries in the (middle eastern) region and Turkey. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Mehmet Aslan, Gaziantep Chamber of 
Commerce, praised Hulusi Kilic, Turkey's Consul to Aleppo, as 
being one of the "heroes" of the strengthening relationship 
between Gaziantep (in Turkey) and Aleppo (in Syria). 
 
YENI SAFAK / RADIKAL / EVRENSEL:        The November 21 killing of 
12-year-old Ugur and his father Ahmet Kaymaz in Kiziltepe 
district of Mardin was (see press summary 11/30) featured in 
article in The Independent, a British newspaper, entitled 
"Bullet-riddled body of child casts shadow over Turkey's EU 
aspirations". 
 
RADIKAL / ZAMAN:        It was reportedly discovered that twenty tons 
of plane fuel was stolen from the NATO oil pipeline in Osmaniye. 
Two people allegedly dug a tunnel to the pipeline from the 
basement of the house they rented twenty days ago. When the 
authorities noticed that pressure in the pipeline decreased, 
they conducted a raid to a house they suspected and discovered a 
tanker truck full of plane fuel parked outside. 
 
 
REID