US embassy cable - 05ADANA140

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000140 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 13, 2005 
 
1.      This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 13, 
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 
 
1.      BOLGE/EKSPRES:  Abdullah Caliskan, Adana deputy from 
AKP, said that the AKP government, which had become the single 
party in power in Turkey, has not had its own economic program 
to date.  "As the governing party, we have been continuing to 
implement what former finance minister Kemal Dervis put into 
effect," said Caliskan.  According to Caliskan, AKP's only merit 
was to bring political stability to the country. 
 
2.      BOLGE/EKSPRES:  The seasonal agricultural workers who 
arrived in the Cukurova plain to work in the fields are living 
in poor conditions, such as staying in makeshift tents and 
lacking material goods. 
 
3.      SABAH/CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN/OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL/RADIKAL:   A 
large-scale military operation was launched to save Private 
Coskun Kirandi, who was kidnapped on the Tunceli-Pulumur road on 
Monday by alleged PKK terrorists (see press summary 07/12). 
Meanwhile, Ozgur Gundem reports that the PKK members only 
conducted identity checks in the 60 cars they stopped, made 
propaganda about the outlawed organization, and "brought a 
soldier along with them." 
 
4.      ZAMAN:  Abdullah Keskin, Adana Provincial Agriculture 
Director, said that cultivating dwarf fruit trees might be more 
cost effective, produce better quality products and provide 
better yield in the Cukurova plain. 
 
5.      RADIKAL/ZAMAN/OZGUR GUNDEM/EVRENSEL:    Doctors 
diagnosed anthrax in eights persons suspected of having 
contracted anthrax in a village of the Dogansehir district of 
Malatya. The suspects were hospitalized for observation 
purposes. A state of quarantine has been imposed in the village, 
sheep and goats were vaccinated, and a team of health officials 
in the district examined people. 
 
6.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA/OZGUR GUNDEM:        An explosion occurred 
in the ammonia filling line of a company in Mersin, causing a 
crack in the line from which gas leaked to the nearby Mersin 
Free Trade zone, where 40 workers in an atelier, including three 
police officers were poisoned.  (Note: Ozgur Gundem reports that 
60 people were poisoned. End Note).  The police suspect that the 
attack was sabotage. 
 
7.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Nearly 500 workers protested 
Privatization Authority for including Mersin Port in its 
privatization program. 
 
8.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    AKP Adana deputy Vahit Kirisci 
dismissed the claims that Adana deputies showed a lack of 
concern for the issues and problems coming up in Adana and have 
not tried to address them in the Turkish Parliament. 
 
9.      CUMHURIYET/SABAH:       Nihat Ali Ozcan, an expert on terrorism 
 
issues, said that the PKK has shifted to more cost effective 
terrorist activity, such as laying mines and organizing suicide 
bomb attacks, rather than engaging in armed conflicts. 
 
10.     SABAH/CUMHURIYET/EVRENSEL:      The Diyarbakir court which 
is trying Kurd-Der (Kurdish Association) reportedly has decided 
that the activities of the association be suspended until the 
court gives its final verdict on the charges that the 
association's charter included concerns about "one's right to 
education in one's native language".  Meanwhile, the executives 
of the Association demanded that translators be assigned in the 
court to translate their statements from Kurdish into Turkish. 
 
11.     OZGUR GUNDEM:   The Court initially gave a 6 month of 
prison sentence to HADEP's (People's Democracy Party) former 
District Chairperson and its executive members, who reportedly 
allowed people to play Kurdish songs and chant Kurdish slogans 
at a congress of the party held on June 2002 in Diyarbakir's 
Certik district.  The Court cut the sentence to five months 
because of credit for good behavior during the court sessions 
and converted the sentence to fines for each person. 
 
12.     OZGUR GUNDEM:   The Bingol Human Rights Association 
(HRA) Chairperson Ridvan Kizgin pointed out that, despite the 
fact that terrorists can be caught alive or wounded, they are 
always being killed instead.  The fact that human rights 
violations in the first half of 2005 have increased compared to 
the previous years justified our earlier expressed worries, said 
Kizgin. 
 
13.     OZGUR GUNDEM:   Five thousand children are living in the 
streets in Adana, according to the Governor Cahit Kirac.  To 
alleviate the problem of street children in Adana, Kirac said 
that his office would establish a first aid center and two 
mobile rehabilitation centers. 
 
14.     OZGUR GUNDEM:   TRT, the state-run television company, 
is preparing to launch the "unprecedented" step of allowing 
national private broadcasting companies to use TRT's stations to 
enhance their broadcasting capabilities.  This practice 
allegedly aims to counteract the widening impact of the Kurdish 
channels, like Roj TV, in the southeastern Turkey, according to 
the daily. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      EKSPRES:        Exports from GAP provinces to the free trade 
zones increased six percent in the first half of 2005. 
 
2.      SABAH (GUNEY)/CUMHURIYET:       Mersin business chambers 
composed a joint effort to bid on the Privatization Authority's 
tender set for August 4, which aims to transfer the "right to 
operate Mersin port" for a period of 36 years to private 
companies.