US embassy cable - 05ADANA122

UNCLAS ADANA 000122 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 9, 2005 
 
Consulate Adana is providing this press scan for June 9.  Please 
note that Turkish press reports often contain errors or 
exaggerations; AmConsulate Adana does not vouch for the accuracy 
of the reports summarized here. 
 
1-SABAH (GUNEY):Ceyhan Municipality and some NGOs will 
reportedly be holding a conference on the "Armenian Issues and 
Missionary Activities" in Ceyhan district of Adana on June 11th. 
 
2- SABAH (GUNEY):Osmaniye Governor Isa Kucuk launched a project 
to erect a statue of the famed archeologist Prof. Halet Cambel 
in the Karatepe historical site of Osmaniye. 
 
3-BOLGE/: The Mayor of Greater City of Adana Aytac Durak 
condemned the attack against the Deputy Metropolitan Mayor Prof. 
Ali Goren (see press summ 6/8) and said that mafia and groups 
seeking interests committed the act.  Durak's comments about 
various topics on the agenda also included concern about the 
Incirlik Airbase. Durak reportedly responded to a question 
saying, "The presence of a military base in Incirlik district 
disturbs me and if there are nuclear weapons in the base, as a 
citizen and a human being, I am disturbed about that fact. I am 
defending non-proliferation." 
 
4-OZGUR GUNDEM: Police officers from Batman Police Station 
allegedly raided the house of a family and searched the house 
without a warrant. The members of the family claimed that they 
were threatened and badly treated. 
 
5-OZGUR GUNDEM:  Village guards in Yanikcay village of Gevas in 
Van have allegedly begun implementing rules similar to the 
"state of emergency" in the village outskirts to be able to 
control the village. The guards formed a roadway checkpoint to 
contol the exit from and entrance to the village. Villagers are 
worried about this practice which reminds them of past measures. 
 
 
6-RADIKAL/OZGUR GUNDEM/ EVRENSEL: Greenpeace activists staged a 
protest in front of the Office of the Prime Minister against the 
alleged presence of nuclear weapons in the Incirlik Airbase and 
PM's latest visit to the US President. Four protestors were 
detained briefly. 
7-OZGUR GUNDEM:KADER (Association for Support and Training of 
Women Candidates) will hold the third of the "Meetings with 
Women Leaders of Turkey" in Tunceli, a province with reportedly 
the only female mayor in the provincial capital. 
8-ZAMAN/EVRENSEL/OZGUR GUNDEM:The lawyers of jailed PKK leader 
Abdullah Ocalan said that if officials did not provide "fair and 
just conditions" for their client, they would not continue 
holding meetings with Ocalan. Two lawyers of Ocalan, Dogan Erbas 
and Firat Aydinkaya claimed that the current conditions were not 
suitable for the retrial of their client. The lawyers will apply 
to European Council of Ministers to press for opening the doors 
for fair circumstances of retrial. 
 
9-EVRENSEL:Private Kurdish language courses in Istanbul, Batman, 
Van, Urfa, Adana and Diyarbakir are reportedly closing their 
businesses. The director of the Kurdish language course in Van 
said that they will be evaluating the situation throughout June 
and will make a press announcement then. In the meantime, they 
will be sending petitions to the Turkish Parliament and to the 
EU to press for the right to learn one's mother tongue in the 
state schools. 
 
10-ZAMAN:A person in Adana protested a group of DEHAP members 
who were making a press announcement in Inonu Park with the 
posters of the terrorist leader. The protestor opened a Turkish 
flag and shouted "This land is Turkey." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
REID