US embassy cable - 05ADANA159

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000159 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 29, 2005 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August 29 
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 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        Preparations are under way in 
Diyarbakir to celebrate the September 1 World Peace Day. 
Diyarbakir's NGOs and political organizations are reportedly 
getting ready to voice their demands about resolving the Kurdish 
issue on Peace Day. (This article is from 08/27 edition.) 08/29 
edition of Ozgur Gundem calls for the people of the region to 
hit the streets on September 1 and protest the ongoing military 
operations. 
 
EVRENSEL:       The Hak-Par (Rights and Liberties Party) will emerge 
with a new political entity to establish an alternative to the 
DTH (Democratic Society Movement), which has been scheduled to 
become a political party in mid-September. (This article is from 
08/27 edition.) 
 
EVRENSEL / BOLGE:       Mass organizations and political parties in 
Adana protested the opening of the airbases and the airports to 
the U.S and NATO. (This article is from 08/27 edition.) 
 
BOLGE / ZAMAN / RADIKAL / HURRIYET:     A long sought after Turkish 
high-tech criminal, who hacked the systems of banks and finance 
institutions in 110 different countries and infected these 
institutions' systems with viruses, was caught in Adana through 
the joint efforts of the Turkish police and the FBI.  The person 
reportedly has hacked the interactive banking accounts of people 
and embezzled money, as well. (This article is from 08/27 
edition.) 
 
ZAMAN / HURRIYET:       One of three terrorists, a Syrian national, 
who escaped following a clash with the security officials in 
Trabzon's Macka district last Sunday (see press summary 08/23 
and 08/24), was caught in a rural section of Macka. (This 
article is from 08/27 edition.) 
 
ZAMAN:  Three alleged PKK terrorists have been killed in a 
clash, which has been continuing in Batman's Besiri district. 
One terrorist was reportedly caught alive.  Additional military 
units and heavy artillery has been sent to the area.  Jandarma, 
which blockaded the site of the clash, is reportedly aiming to 
catch the rest of the 19-person terrorist group, which initially 
aimed to travel from Siirt to Diyarbakir, alive.  (These 
articles are from 08/27 editions.) 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Reportedly, two thousand people set off for 
Batman, to protest the 10-day-long military operation ongoing 
there.  Security officers stopped the people's march at Besiri's 
entrance.  The 08/29 edition of the daily claims that Turkish 
Armed Forces committed "brutal" violence during their military 
operation in Batman's Besiri district.  The paper reported 
PKK/Kongra-Gel's death toll as six.  The paper further says that 
soldiers recently killed one woman terrorist, whom they wounded; 
killed another, who was hiding in the bushes, by setting the 
bush on fire; and killed a third one following his 
interrogation.  The daily draws attention to the point that, 
"despite this violence", the people of the region have been 
demanding peace. 
 
RADIKAL:        The Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate (RAD) 
reportedly did not welcome the proposal of Matt Bryza, deputy 
assistant to the Secretary of State, as to have help from RAD in 
training imams who can assist the Muslim religious communities 
in the U.S. (This article is from 08/27 edition.) 
 
RADIKAL:  High fever and diarrhea sickening 9 people in Van's 
Kevenli village alarmed the health officials in the city. 
Health officials took samples of water from the village to probe 
the cause of the disease, and delivered chlorine tablets to 
people as a measure to fend off disease. (This article is from 
08/27 edition.) 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Following the death of two people because of a 
reported diarrhea epidemic, whose cause is attributed to the 
unsanitary community water supplies' in Agri's Dogubeyazit 
district, the examination of the health officials in Erzurum the 
water coming from revealed no impurity in the water samples from 
the Dogubeyazit district. 
 
 RADIKAL:  Songul Erol Abdil, Tunceli Mayor, whose office 
reportedly had been protesting the government because the 
Ministry of Tourism underallocated Tunceli districts in 
comparison to AKP-held municipalities, reportedly has ceased 
protesting the GoT following PM Erdogan's recognition of the 
Kurdish problem. (This article is from 08/27 edition.) 
 
RADIKAL:        ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party) leader Hayri 
Kozanoglu reminded PM Erdogan that the Prime Minister, by naming 
the Kurdish problem, had assumed responsibility for finding a 
solution through greater democracy.  Kozanoglu called on the PM 
to take action soon to fulfill the pledges he had uttered. 
 
RADIKAL:        Sait Ali Albayrak, a chieftain of a clan in the 
southeastern region who has been honored as a 'peace envoy' by 
the U.N. for resovling a 150-year-old feud between his clan and 
another one, suggested that he could be a mediator in the PKK 
issue.  (This article is from 08/27 edition.) 
 
HURRIYET / RADIKAL:     The EU Secretariat has sent a letter to 
the RTUK (Supreme Board of Radio and Television) urging the 
board to issue broadcasting licenses for local and regional 
television companies before October 3, which marks the opening 
of the accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU. 
Meanwhile, RTUK officially confirmed today the board as 
soliciting information from the MIT, as reported in Friday's 
papers.  However, the authority to decide on issuing licenses 
rested with RTUK, it said. (This article is from 08/27 edition.) 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   The paper reports that two Kurds were 
allegedly killed in Iran as a result of torture.  Reportedly, 
the number of Kurds killed in Iran reached 30 in the last two 
months. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Reportedly, the police conducted a search with 
a warrant on a house in Mersin's Akdeniz township, detaining 
three people and bringing them to Mersin's Security Directorate 
Anti-Terror Branch. 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   Zaman claims that DEHAP members and the 
father of the terrorist brought the dead body of a Syrian 
national terrorist, who was killed in Trabzon's Macka district 
(see press summary 08/23 and 08/24), to Mardin's Nusaybin 
district.  Ozgur Gundem reported that 10,000 people in Nusaybin, 
as they carried the photographs of Abdullah Ocalan and the 
terrorist killed in Macka, "welcomed" and then "bid farewell" to 
the terrorist's body, which was later brought to Syria. 
 
CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / SABAH / OZGUR GUNDEM / ZAMAN:   The Ankara 
prosecutor initiated a lawsuit with the 11th Heavy Penalty Duty 
Court against eight DEHAP party executive members, including 
party chairperson Tuncer Bakirhan.  Reportedly, the lawsuit 
resulted from an investigation of a DEHAP statement, in which 
DEHAP used a (Turkish) courtesy title before the name of the 
terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan.  (This article is from 08/25 
editions.)    Bakirhan and eight DEHAP party members, barred by 
the court from going abroad, will not be able to attend a 
conference titled "Turkey-EU Relationships and the Kurds". 
 
 
 
REID