US embassy cable - 05ADANA172

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000172 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER 26, 2005 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for September 26, 
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 
 
BOLGE / EKSPRES / SABAH (GUNEY):        PM Tayyip Erdogan, who came 
to Adana to change planes for his trip to Hatay, briefly 
addressed a 1000-person crowd, which gathered to meet him at the 
airport.  In order to attend a number of opening events, Erdogan 
will reportedly return to Adana following his participation in 
the First Meeting of Civilizations in the Hatay province. 
 
SABAH / HURRIYET / RADIKAL / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / ZAMAN: 
First Meeting of Civilizations event, among whose sponsors is 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commenced in Hatay on Sunday. 
Security officers in Hatay have been on high alert and measures 
in this regard have been intensified in the province.  The Chief 
Rabbi of the Jews in Turkey, Syriac Metropolitan, Armenian 
Patriarch, Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch, four senior figures 
from Roman Catholic Church, and the head of Turkish Religious 
Affairs Directorate are among the participants of the five-day 
event. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        DTH (Democratic Society Movement) 
Coordination Council member Selim Sadak called for all party 
members to attend a party meeting to be held in Diyarbakir on 
October 3.  Founding members of the party will convene on 
October 4 in Ankara to decide whether the movement will shake 
hands with Celal Dogan, former Gaziantep mayor, in forming a new 
party. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        Esendere Border Gate in Hakkari is 
closed allegedly because of military operations going on in 
Hakkari's Yuksekova district.  However, according to officials 
at the gate, the gate was closed because of a computer system 
failure. 
 
YENI SAFAK / ZAMAN / CUMHURIYET / RADIKAL / SABAH / OZGUR GUNDEM 
/ HURRIYET:     Two soldiers were reportedly wounded by a mine blast 
in Batman's Sason district.  Separately, Mardin Governor's 
Office announced that security officers found an RPG-7 
(rocket-propelled grenade launcher) and 4 rockets in the trunk 
of a passenger bus during a military operation in Mardin. 
Separately, Jandarma teams, noticing explosives placed on the 
railroad between Erzurum and Erzincan provinces, immediately 
took action and prevented a terrorist bomb attack that 
reportedly targeted a 180-passenger train. Twenty-five kilograms 
of C-4 explosives were found on the spot. 
 
SABAH:  An alleged PKK terrorist attack on a military unit 
on Sirnak-Hakkari road killed two village guards. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Reportedly, Ministry Of Domestic Affairs 
brought action against the families of three terrorists, who 
died in a clash with police officers in April 2004 in Hatay's 
Erzin district, to make compensation for a security officer 
whose left eye was wounded in the same clash. 
 
HURRIYET:       The daily reported that a Swedish Radio station 
decided to suspend Turkish-language broadcasts on the grounds 
that they could negatiely affect Syriacs and Kurds living in 
Sweden. 
SABAH:  Subgovernor's Office in Diyarbakir's Erani district 
disallowed the use of Kurdish wordsto be used for the name of a 
women's solidarity asociation. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
1.      EKSPRES / ZAMAN:        According to AKP Adana Provincial 
Chairperson Abdullah Dogru, followers of the former prime 
minister and president Suleyman Demirel's agricultural policies 
devastated the agricultural sector in Turkey. 
 
2.      SABAH (GUNEY) / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA / BOLGE / EKSPRES / 
ZAMAN:  Third Cukurova Industry and Commerce Fair will open 
today at 11 a.m.  Reportedly, the fair will bring a yield of 1 
million dollars to Adana's economy.  It is expected that the 
fair will gain an international status next year. 
 
3.      BOLGE / EVRENSEL:       Farmers in the Cukurova region have 
become more interested in olive tree cultivation in the course 
of time than corn and wheat cultivation. 
 
4.      EVRENSEL:       Chamber of Mechanical Engineers organized a 
congress on GAP (Southeastern Anatolia Project) and industry 
issues in the region.  According to the Chamber, the development 
prospects of the GAP project failed, and the region's provinces 
remained economically stagnant. 
 
 
 
REID