US embassy cable - 05ADANA192

UNCLAS ADANA 000192 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 20, 2005 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 20, 
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 
 
ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM:   Based on a tip, police conducted a 
military operation in Diyarbakir and detained 9 persons.  Police 
were tipped off that a car, normally used to deliver daily 
newspapers from Adana to the southeastern region, would 
allegedly transport a terrorist organization's 6 new recruits to 
Van.  The driver of the car, the recruits, and the people who 
would meet them were detained.  The police are looking into 
whether the car had been used to carry alleged recruits before. 
 
 
2.      BOLGE / EKSPRES:        Ceyhan district municipality started to 
 
deliver Turkish flags to the people of Ceyhan, who came to pay 
their water bills at the utility payment collection offices. 
Ceyhan Mayor Huseyiz Sozlu stated that people should show their 
love and care for the Republic by hanging Turkish flags at their 
homes on the 82nd anniversary of the Turkish Republic's 
foundation which will be celebrated on October 29. 
 
3.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Reportedly, Hakkari Jandarma Command 
(HJC) called Ali Erol and warned him that, if Erol planned to 
file a complaint about being kidnapped during a checkpoint 
search in Hakkari on October 12 (see press summary 10/17), he 
must say that the checkpoint was not a Jandarma, but a Police 
checkpoint.  HJC reportedly dismissed any connection with the 
kidnapping and reportedly implied that the police should answer 
the charges. 
 
4.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Two people, who were detained in 
Sanliurfa's Viransehir district on charges of recruiting new 
members to a terrorist organization, have been arrested and sent 
to Viransehir's jail.  Separately, seven people detained in 
Adana three days ago, have been arraigned. Two of them were 
later arrested on charges of "being a member of, and making 
propaganda for, a terrorist organization." 
 
5.      OZGUR GUNDEM:   Ministry of Culture and Tourism stopped 
the construction of a mosque in Diyarbakir's Kulp district 
because the mosque was intended to replace a historical Armenian 
church.  The Subgovernor of the Kulp district said that there 
were already two mosques in the village, and if another mosque 
was going to be built, there was enough room elsewhere in the 
village other than the location of the church. 
 
6.      EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        Following Diyarbakir 
Governor's Office's probe into a monument erected by the Sur 
Municipality to commemorate Ugur and Ahmet Kaymaz's killing in 
Mardin's Kiziltepe district in November 2004, the Ministry of 
Interior started an investigation against the mayor of the Sur 
Municipality on charges that the municipality's budget was 
deliberately spent "improperly" for construction of the 
monument.  Ahmet and Ugur Kaymaz are reportedly referred to as 
"terrorists" in the report of the Ministry. 
 
7.      YENI SAFAK:     Road expansion work on the road between Van 
and Hakkari has been suspended due to depleted dynamite 
supplies.  Expansion tasks will resume as soon as Van's Regional 
Directorate of Highways sends 5-tons of needed dynamite. 
 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
YENI SAFAK / BOLGE: Edwar Mum, general director of the company 
that operates Mersin's Free Trade Zone (FTZ), said that the 
volume of transactions in the FTZ in the first nine months of 
2005 has fallen behind last year's transaction volume during the 
same period.  Harmonization with EU laws brought about changes 
in the FTZ status to where it is no longer covered under tax 
exemption procedures. 
 
 
REID