US embassy cable - 05ADANA146

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000146 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 22, 2005 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 22, 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.      SABAH (GUNEY):  Turk Telekom (Turkish Communication 
Company) workers in Antakya did not attend work for an 
(unspecified) length of time to stage a protest against the 
company's privatization. 
 
2.      SABAH (GUNEY):  Valeh Haciyev, a deputy minister from 
Azerbaijan currently visiting the Ceyhan district, said that 
Azerbaijan's petroleum would arrive at Ceyhan on October 30. 
 
3.      ZAMAN / RADIKAL / SABAH / HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET / OZGUR 
GUNDEM: PKK terrorists reportedly opened fire yesterday at 7 
a.m. on Jandarma teams patrolling the Akinkoy rural section of 
Van's Ercis district.  One soldier died and two terrorists were 
killed in the clash.  Ozgur Gundem reports another terrorist 
attack on a military unit in Sirnak, allegedly killing three 
soldiers. 
 
4.      CUMHURIYET:     The paper reports that some circles describe 
the murder of Hikmet Fidan (see press summary 07/07 and 07/20) 
as the "Susurluk Case of the Kurdish politics."  The daily notes 
that political parties, finding themselves in a heated debate 
after the murder, have been firing criticisms against each 
other. Some reportedly claim that Fidan was killed because of 
his dissenting views with the PKK, reports the daily. 
Cumhuriyet quotes one of Ozgur Gundem's journalists as saying, 
"Kurdish political institutions were made to bear the blame for 
Fidan's murder." 
 
5.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   The father of Private Kirandi applied to 
the Human Rights Association (HRA) to seek its assistance in 
securing his son's release. The members of HRA's National 
Headquarters and its 34 chapters will not sleep tonight, and 
will light candles outside their premises to mark the kidnapping 
incident.  The HRA Chairperson said that they were ready to do 
whatever they could to secure Kirandi's release. 
 
6.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   The soldiers are reportedly conducting 
raids on houses in Tunceli under a one-month general search 
permission issued by a court.  Lawyers on the other hand are 
reportedly claiming that this practice is unlawful and one 
violates the New Penal Code. 
 
7.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Following the anthrax cases in Bingol, 
Elazig, Malatya and Diyarbakir, anthrax has been diagnosed in 
five people in Hakkari's Yuksekova district. 
 
8.      HURRIYET / RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM:      Two shepherds grazing 
separate flocks on a mountain in the Baskale district of Van 
were reportedly kidnapped by four unidentified four persons. 
 
9.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Ahmet Faruk Unsal, an AKP deputy from 
Adiyaman and the deputy chairperson of the Turkish Parliament's 
Human Rights Commission (TPHRC), pointed out that it was an 
infelicitous decision to move the place of the court from Mardin 
to Eskisehir in the case of the killing of Ahmet and Ugur Kaymaz 
in Mardin.  During the court session held a day before, 
ultra-nationalists reportedly attacked the people who had come 
from Kiziltepe, and wounded five of them.  Reportedly, the TPHRC 
members did not attend the court session despite having vowed 
before that they would monitor the case. 
 
10.     RADIKAL / ZAMAN:        Minister of Interior Abdulkadir Aksu 
announced that nine Middle East countries would sign a protocol. 
 The protocol reportedly aims to provide cooperation between the 
countries in preventing the PKK and other terrorist 
organizations in Iraq from crossing borders and leaking into the 
other countries. 
 
11.     BOLGE:  "The EU Seminar for Regional Journalists" will 
be held in Ankara between June 25 and August 5 for journalists 
coming from twelve Turkish cities, including Diyarbakir, Van, 
Adana and Gaziantep. 
 
12.     BOLGE / EKSPRES:        A Nationalist Workers' Association 
announced that a statue of genocide would be opened today at 
Martyr's Forest in Adana to commemorate the Turks who died in 
Armenian massacres. 
 
13.     HURRIYET:       The damage assessment study launched after the 
four earthquakes, which have hit Bingol's Karliova district, 
have not been completed, causing a heated public debate.  An AKP 
Bingol deputy, who came to the Karliova district, reprimanded 
the district subgovernor because of the study's delay in front 
of the Governor, other deputies and the headmen. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Officials took action following 
farmers' protests against the lack of irrigation water in 
Hatay's Amik Plain (see press summary 07/18).  The governor's 
office paid the amount required by the Irrigation Office to 
enable release of water to the Amik Plain from the Yarseli Dam. 
 
 
2.      SABAH (GUNEY):  Gaziantep Governor, Gaziantep's 
deputies, Municipality, Chambers, Commodity Exchange and the 
Southeastern Exporters' Union set up a special team which will 
work to advertise Gaziantep's pistachio in Turkey and abroad. 
 
 
 
 
REID