US embassy cable - 05ADANA124

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000124 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JUNE 10, 2005 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for June 10, 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 
 
RADIKAL/ZAMAN / EVRENSEL:       Leakage from BOTAS's (Petroleum 
Pipeline Corporation) Batman-Yumurtalik Pipeline that occured in 
April (see press summary 4/18 and 4/20) had reportedly polluted 
sections of land in the area.  BOTAS plan to clean a 200-truck 
amount of earth within one year, and also announced that it was 
examining the complaints of the villagers on site and would 
compensate for the losses of the villagers soon. 
 
ZAMAN:  A professor of the Sociology department at the 
Middle East Technical University claims that 42,976 people have 
died in Turkey as a result of terror related activities between 
1979-2004.  Terrorist activities, he said, began after the 
adoption of the 1961 Constitution and intensified between 
1971-1980.  After providing some other figures, the professor 
reported that Turkey has spent a total of 100-120 billion USD to 
fight terrorism, a figure equal to the total debt of Turkey. 
 
CUMHURIYET/YENI SAFAK:  Solidarity Association for the Mothers 
of the Martyrs filed a complaint against the terrorist 
organisation PKK's leader, Abdullah Ocalan, for "attempting to 
separate certain territory of the state in order to eliminate 
the state's rule there." 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   An investigation has reportedly been opened in 
Tunceli against Tunceli Mayor Songul Erol Abdil and other DEHAP 
members on the grounds that these people celebrated an event on 
April 4 and and sliced a cake that allegedly featured a flag 
related to "democratic confederalism."  A DEHAP member said that 
they were questioned (by unspecified person/authority) about the 
purpose of the festitivity and whether they ate the cake or not. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   One of the leaders of the terrorist 
organisation PKK, Murat Karayilan,  reportedly suggested that 
the Ocalan retrial issue be turned into a case that aims to 
solve the Kurdish issue.  Karayilan claims that the PKK was 
ready to form a Kurdish-Turkish alliance to solve the issue and 
bring Kurds and Turks together to promote solidarity among 
people. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The newly elected chairperson of Van's Goc-Der 
(Immigrants' Social Solidarity and Culture Association), 
Caroline Camgoz, is reportedly of Armenian origin and says her 
family was directly affected by events of 1915. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Tension persists in the Municipality of Van 
among AKP and SHP members of the municipality assembly (see 
press summary 06/08), despite the fact that AKP officials 
reportedly visited the SHP members at their homes to apologize. 
Mayor Burhan Yenigun dismissed the SHP members' corruption 
allegations in 2004 Municipality tenders. 
 
EVRENSEL:       The paper reports that Aytac Durak's remarks 
yesterday about Incirlik Airbase were in response to a question 
asked by Greenpeace members visiting him (see press summary 
06/09). 
 
EVRENSEL/OZGUR GUNDEM:  Soldiers raided a village in Cukurca 
district of Hakkari (reportedly opening fire with cannons in the 
operation) and villagers escaped to caves in the region.  Houses 
of those who fled were reportedly searched and villagers' 
identities were checked. Villagers brought this issue and their 
complaints to the Cukurca Subgovernor. 
 
RADIKAL/OZGUR GUNDEM:   Diyarbakir's Human Rights Association 
announced that human rights violations in eastern and 
southeastern Turkey have increased extraordinarily in the last 
three months.  (Ozgur Gundem claims that areas where violations 
have increased include alleged extrajudicial killings, 
mistreatment, illegal detentions.)  At the same time, the 
Association noted a decrease in the occurence of torture 
incidences. 
 
YENI SAFAK:     President of the Turkish Parliamant, Bulent Arinc, 
currently attending the Ararat Mountain Culture and Arts 
Festival, paid a visit to Dogubeyazit Subgovernor Rauf Ulusoy 
and Dogubeyazit Mayor Mukaddes Kubilay.  Arinc said during his 
visit, "It is an honor and a pleasure to visit a Mayor from 
DEHAP...Ethnical difference is a richness of a society." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
REID