US embassy cable - 05ADANA142

UNCLAS ADANA 000142 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 14, 2005 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 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 
 
1.      ZAMAN/RADIKAL/HURRIYET: PKK terrorists reportedly attacked 
an infantry unit with an RPG in the Digor district Kars at 11.40 
p.m. yesterday.  The rocket landed on the garden of a house a 
hundred meters away from the military unit.  Following the 
explosion, the military unit reportedly returned fire.  The 
terrorists reportedly fled. 
 
2.      RADIKAL:        An armored vehicle from the Genc Jandarma 
Command traveling on the Genc-Diyarbakir road hit a mine at 9 
a.m. yesterday.  One security officer was wounded. 
 
3.      CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN/OZGUR GUNDEM:  Following GUNSIAD 
(Southeastern Young Businessmen Association) call to put an end 
to the conflict in the southeastern region, the association's 
Chairperson said that businessmen are becoming reluctant to 
invest in GUNSIAD's education projects in the southeastern 
Turkey because of escalating terrorism acts.  This explains why 
a total of 130 million dollars worth of investments have 
reportedly been suspended, according to the Chairperson. 
Reportedly the Sirnak Chamber of Commerce and Industry 
Chairperson expressed its worries about the disruption of peace, 
which has been able to persist for five or six years. 
 
4.      SABAH/ZAMAN/HURRIYET/YENI SAFAK:        These dailies report 
that the U.S. is extending support to Turkey's military 
operations carried out within Turkey's borders against the PKK, 
which the U.S. clearly characterizes as a terrorist 
organization. 
 
5.      EVRENSEL/RADIKAL/SABAH/ZAMAN/OZGUR GUNDEM/HURRIYET/YENI 
SAFAK/CUMHURIYET:       The terrorist organization PKK announced that 
Private Coskun Kirandi, whom PKK terrorists kidnapped on Monday 
(see press summary 07/12 and 07/13), is in a safe place in 
healthy condition.  PKK/Kongra-Gel announced on an inernet site 
(www.kurdishinfo.com) that Kirandi was being treated in 
compliance with the international law of war.   The Human Rights 
Association (HRA) called on the PKK to release Private Kirandi. 
The HRA Diyarbakir Chairperson said that kidnapping a person and 
jeopardizing his security and his life was unacceptable. 
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces are conducting military operations 
in the region to find Private Kirandi. 
 
6.      HURRIYET(CUKUROVA)/BOLGE/EKSPRES:       The terrorist 
organization PKK/Kongra-Gel and the TAK (Kurdistan Freedom 
Hawks) reportedly independently claimed responsibility for the 
explosion which occurred in a fertilizer company in Mersin (see 
press summary 07/13.)  Meanwhile, the Mersin Security Director 
reportedly said that no evidence has been found proving a 
connection to any terrorist organization. 
7.      BOLGE/EKSPRES:  Adana Governor Cahit Kirac said that 
Agricultural Organized Industrial Zone of Adana, which will be a 
center for organic agricultural production, was nearing 
completion. 
 
8.      EVRENSEL/OZGUR GUNDEM:  The Bingol Governor's Office 
reportedly rejected the application of the provincial DEHAP for 
authorization of a campaign to collect signatures in support of 
the people's right to have education in their own language.  The 
paper draws attention to the fact that similar applications to 
Governors' Offices in several provinces were accepted, but not 
in the Tatvan district in Van and in the Bitlis province. 
 
9.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Two hundred people who gathered in front 
of the DEHAP district party premise in Diyarbakir's Silvan 
district staged a protest to call for an end to the "isolation" 
of the terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan in jail and an end to 
the military operations. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   The GOT reportedly will provide 
subsidies for farmers who will to stop producing tobacco and 
start producing alternative products in the eastern and 
southeastern Turkey. 
 
 
REID