US embassy cable - 05ADANA161

UNCLAS ADANA 000161 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for September 12, 
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 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    A seventeen-person work group comprised 
of members from five different countries came to Hatay for the 
"First Meeting of Civilizations", an event that will be held 
between September 25-30, 2005.  The group paid a visit to the 
Hatay Governor, Abdulkadir Sari. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    The family of Fevzi 
Dogan, a mayor in Mersin, who was killed in late May with a 
bomb, greeted DYP (True Path Party) Leader Mehmet Agar with a 
photo of Dogan in Mersin's Silifke district and demanded that 
the murderers be found. 
 
EKSPRES:        Adana CHP provincial Chairman Serdar Seyhan has been 
reelected to office in the party congress held in a hotel in 
Adana.  The intra party opposition group "Grassroots' 
Initiative" did not emerge as an opposing voice in the congress. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  A forest fire in three separate spots in 
Adana's Feke district allegedly was caused by terrorists' 
deliberate attempt to set the forest on fire. Nearly 62 acres of 
forest was burned. 
 
BOLGE / SABAH (GUNEY) / OZGUR GUNDEM:   An association called 
78ers' Association, as well as some mass organizations and 
political parties held a public meeting in Mersin to protest the 
anniversary of the 1980 coup in Turkey.  Nearly 1,000 
demonstrators demanded that the perpetrators of the coup be 
prosecuted. 
 
BOLGE / ZAMAN:  Five soldiers were killed in a clash between 
security officers and terrorists in Sirnak and Bingol.  Three 
soldiers were reportedly wounded in the clash. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Walter Scott Reid, U.S. Consul to Adana, and 
an accompanying delegation met with the DTH (Democratic Society 
Movement) members in Batman.  The purpose of this visit turned 
out that the U.S. aimed to distance the Kurds from the PKK and 
[the terrorist leader] Abdullah Ocalan.  The headline in the 
front cover said, "The U.S. threatening the Kurds." 
 
HURRIYET:       Nancy McEldowney, U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in 
Ankara, said that the U.S. saw no difference between Osama Bin 
Laden and Abdullah Ocalan. According to the article, Eldowney 
further added that the PKK was a network of murder.  Eldowney 
expressed strong cooperative effort to eradicate these terrorist 
elements. 
 
ZAMAN:  A Turkish journal with left-leaning tendencies 
claimed in an article it published that Alawi's strengthened the 
Kurdish movements in Turkey. The daily claims that the article 
sets both the Alawi's and Kurds as vulnerable to hostile 
intentions. The article reportedly urged Turks to shop from the 
Turkish merchants. The article further mandates the Turks to 
speak only Turkish to evade the influences of the Kurdish 
language on Turkish. 
 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Land Survey studies and site 
examinations for the Organized Agricultural Zone project have 
been completed in Mersin's Tarsus district. 
 
 
 
REID