US embassy cable - 05ADANA154

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000154 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 22, 2005 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 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 
 
CUMHURIYET / BOLGE / OZGUR GUNDEM:    A group of women 
protestors, calling themselves Working Women's Association 
staged a demonstration in Adana and demanded that the U.S. 
withdraw from the Middle East and the Incirlik Airbase.  The 
group demanded that a women's shelter house be built instead of 
the airbase. 
 
BOLGE:  A group of people calling themselves Peoples and 
Liberties Front staged a demonstration in Adana, and demanded 
that Incirlik Airbase be shut down.  The group announced that 
people would be marching to Adana from various cities to gather 
in front of the Airbase on August 28 for a protest action. 
(This article is from 08/21 edition.) 
 
CUMHURIYET / BOLGE / EKSPRES:   Sedat Memili, provincial 
chairperson of IP (Labor Party) in Adana, made a press statement 
at the party building declaring, "The U.S. has been occupying 
our country and the government has been serving to that end." 
 
BOLGE:  A quarantine, which was imposed on a highland area 
in Mersin's Bozyazi distict, where a woman and her goats 
suddenly died, was removed when no trace of anthrax disease was 
found. (This article is from 08/21 and 08/22 editions.) 
 
HURRIYET / SCUMHURIYET: Deniz Baykal, leader of CHP (Republican 
People's Party), criticized PM Erdogan for creating 
vulnerabilities in (Turkey's) struggle against terrorism and for 
politicizing the ethnicity issue (in Turkey) through the 
statements he made about the Kurdish issue (in Diyarbakir). 
Baykal labeled the PKK's declaration of ceasefire as a move 
directly taking orders from Abdullah Ocalan.) 
 
CUMHURIYET:     MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) Leader Devlet 
Bahceli, in his address to party members in Eskisehir, sharply 
criticized PM Erdogan for statements Erdogan made about the 
Kurdish issue.  For Bahceli, Erdogan's statements endangered the 
unitary state structure of Turkey. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Veterinaries, complaining about insufficient 
vaccination practices, said that the figures provided by the 
Ministry of Agriculture on the number of animal diseases in 
Turkey were misleading.  Contradicting data from the Ministry, 
animal diseases such as anthrax, brucellosis, etc., have been 
reportedly on the increase in the first half of 2005 compared to 
the previous years. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Preparations are under way in the Hatay 
province for a 25-30 September event named "Meeting of 
Civilizations."  The governor of Hatay said that the Pope 
Benedictus XVI and many other religious figures were invited to 
attend the event. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Rains causing flooding in many hamlets of 
Van's Baskale district, damaged crops and killed many farm 
animals. 
 
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / HURRIYET:   DTH (Democratic 
Society Movement), which reportedly decided to form a political 
party in September, embarked upon efforts to end an ongoing 
blood feud among members of four families in Kars's Digor and 
Susuz districts.  Separately, the paper reported that DTH was 
considering unification with a political figure, Celal Dogan, 
former mayor of Gaziantep province, and his accompanying 
delegation. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Terrorist organization PKK/Kongra-Gel 
announced an unconditional ceasefire for a period of one month 
(August 20-September 20). (This article is from 08/20 edition.) 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM / CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET:   On the first day of 
the terrorist organization PKK's cessation of terrorist 
activities for one month, the governor of Tunceli announced that 
two PKK members were killed during a military operation in 
Tunceli's Pulumur district.  Hurriyet reported that the 
terrorists opened fire when the security official's called them 
to surrender. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A 100-person group gathered in front of the 
Gaziantep's Court of Justice to give support to PKK's decision 
to cease its activities for one month.  The group, which chanted 
slogans in favor of the terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan, called 
on the government to end the military operations. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Murat Karayalcin, Chairperson of SHP (Social 
Democratic People's Party), said that [the government's] 
recognition of the Kurdish reality would, by itself, not be 
satisfactory.  According to Karayalcin, the Kurds on their part, 
should acknowledge the unitary state structure of Turkey, as 
well. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Villagers in Van's Ozalp district protested 
the soldiers' alleged killing of a 17-year-old boy, Ersin 
Ozince, in a village of Ozalp district by leaving their identity 
cards at the spot where the boy's body had lain. (see press 
summary 08/18). (This article is from 08/20 edition.) 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A 13-year-old child, grazing his flock in 
Sirnak's Guclukonak district, died when the explosive he found 
on the ground exploded.  It was claimed that the explosive was 
military ammunition. (This article is from 08/20 edition.) 
 
HURRIYET:       National Security Directorate warned all the 
security offices in Turkey against the threat of a suicide 
bomber; a 22-year-old woman called Fatma Gocer. The Directorate 
distributed the human bomb's photographs to the security offices 
in all of Turkey's provinces. 
 
SABAH / HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET:  PM Erdogan said that the 
Kurdish issue and the PKK terrorism were two separate matters 
that should not be mixed with each other. 
 
SABAH / HURRIYET / CUMHURIYET:  Selim Sadak, member of the 
DHT Coordination Council, who attended the ground-breaking 
ceremony for a facility in Mardin's Nusaybin district, 
congratulated PM Erdogan for acknowledging the Kurdish issue. 
Sadak further said, "Abdullah Ocalan is a sensitive issue for 
the Kurdish people...Ocalan should be regarded as a counterpart 
in the Kurdish issue and his isolation (in prison) should be 
ended." 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      BOLGE:  The daily reports that the purpose of U.S. 
Embassy Charge d'Affaires Nancy McEldowney's visit last week to 
Turkey's Agricultural Ministry was to pressure Turkey on its 
recent decision to restrict rice imports from the U.S. in order 
to prevent material injury to Turkish rice producers.  The U.S. 
sees the restriction as a violation of the World Trade 
Organization's codes.  (This article is from 08/20 edition.) 
 
2.      BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES: 
The government has reportedly become a target of criticism at 
"TOBB's (Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges) 
Mediterranean Regional Meeting" (see press summary 08/18) in 
Adana.  Rifat Hisarciklioglu, chairperson of TOBB, said that if 
an economic crisis struck the (Turkish) economy, everyone would 
suffer from its aftereffects. Hisarciklioglu further said, 
"firstly the agricultural issues and secondly the closing down 
of some of the industrial premises were the most pressing 
problems of the Mediterranean region." Umit Ozgumus, chairperson 
of Adana Chamber of Industry, reportdly depicted gloomy economic 
prospects for Adana's and Turkey's economies. (This article is 
from 08/20 editons.) 
 
3.      SABAH (GUNEY):  Edvar Mum, general director of the 
Mersin Free Trade Zone's (FTZ) operating company, said that, 
compared to the previous year, the trade volume of the FTZ has 
decreased by 30 percent in the first seven months of 2005 
following the termination of tax exemption practice for the 
companies in the FTZ. 
 
4.      SABAH (GUNEY):  Ali Kavak, chairperson of the 
Mediterranean Vegetable and Fruit Exporters' Union, said that, 
because of negligence on the part of some farmers who did not 
spray their products in a timely manner, exporters were now 
hesitant to buy citrus fruit products from the farmers due to a 
possible Mediterranean fruit fly infestation.  This fruit pest 
caused a crisis at the end of May between Russia and Turkey, and 
Russia had decided to stop buying fruit from Turkey then.  (This 
article is from 08/21 editon.) 
 
5.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   The paper reported that applications 
from Eastern Turkey's municipalities to benefit from EU funds 
under the "Eastern Anatolia Development Project" were rejected 
by the project coordinating office in Van on the grounds that 
these municipalities were indebted. 
 
 
MANSON