US embassy cable - 05ADANA197

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000197 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, ADANA 
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 25, 2005 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 25, 
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 / SABAH / RADIKAL / OZGUR GUNDEM / HURRIYET / 
EVRENSEL:       During the second court hearing of Ugur and Ahmet 
Kaymaz case, which was held yesterday in Eskisehir (see press 
summary 10/18), the police intervened in a 40-person group, 
which gathered in front of the Court Hall to attend the court 
hearing, and 12 people were detained during the skirmish. Twenty 
people, including attorneys for the Kaymaz family and some NGO 
representatives, protested the police's refusal to admit people 
into the court and demanded that the court sessions be held in 
Mardin province. Also, attorneys left the courtroom in protest. 
Four of the 10 defendants in the case and their attorneys were 
present at the court and action was brought against them on 
charges that their "actions transgressed reasonable limits of 
self-defense and caused the death of people in a way that made 
the identification of the individual perpetrator impossible." 
The defendants' attorneys reportedly claimed that Ugur Kaymaz 
was actually older than what his census registration showed; he 
was 15 or 16 years old, not 12.  The attorneys further claimed 
that Kaymaz used guns during the incident and a PKK member was 
caught at their house (at an unspecified time) before the 
incident.  The court session was adjourned until December 19. 
 
 
ZAMAN / SABAH / OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL:        Police officer Hakan 
Acil was kidnapped by the PKK on October 9 (see press summary 
10/11-12 and 10/21). Acil's father, who lives in Eskisehir, 
reportedly requested help from the Human Rights Association 
(HRA) Chairperson Yusuf Alatas, when Alatas came to Eskisehir to 
watch the Kaymaz case. Reportedly, the HRA called on the PKK to 
release Acil and will send a delegation to the southeastern 
region for his release. 
 
SABAH:  Three people, who disguised themselves in police 
uniforms, stopped a passenger bus coming from Igdir yesterday in 
Erzincan and stole 450,000 dollars and 2 kilograms of gold, 
which belonged to an exchange office and which was being 
transported in a safe in the luggage trunk of the bus.  The 
daily compares the way the thieves disguised themselves in 
police uniforms to the way the alleged PKK members kidnapped 
police officer Hakan Acil while disguised as police officers. 
 
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / SABAH / EVRENSEL:   DTH (Democratic 
Society Movement) held its second round of its two-day meeting 
today (see press summary 10/24) in Ankara. DTH aims to complete 
its political formation process through determining the party's 
name, its program and charter, its co-chairpersons, its board 
members and its national leader. Selim Sadak, former DEP 
(Democracy Party) deputy and current DTH Preparatory Commission 
Chairperson, reportedly called on the EU not to proceed with its 
discussion process with Turkey without handling the Kurdish 
issue first. 
 
CUMHURIYET / HURRIYET / ZAMAN:  Three of six alleged former 
PKK members, who were caught and detained in connection with the 
Hikmet Fidan murder in Diyarbakir (see press summary 10/24), 
were arrested.  Two of the arrestees face charges related to the 
murder and have reportedly admitted their involvement in the 
case; however, the third one is reportedly only accused of being 
a PKK member.  The other detainees were released and will stand 
trial later.  Hurriyet daily claimed that friends of Hikmet 
Fidan from PWD, which is an opposition group that reportedly 
severed its ties with the PKK, had themselves sold out Fidan to 
an alleged PKK assassin, because they were threatened and would 
be killed if they had not done so. 
 
DICLE NEWS AGENCY (ONLINE):     Walter Scott Reid, U.S. Consul in 
Adana, paid separate visits to Mustafa Erkal, the Governor of 
Tunceli, and Songul Erol Abdil, the Tunceli Mayor.  Press was 
not allowed to the consul's visit in the Municipality and 
Mr.Reid did not make any announcements about the purpose of his 
visits. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     To envigorate tourism potential for Diyarbakir 
province, Diyarbakir Municipality published 45,000 pocket maps 
in five different languages including Turkish, English, Kurdish, 
Armenian and Syriac languages. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     An alleged PKK member surrendered himself to the 
Jandarma station in Mardin's Mazidagi district and made 
confessions about his 24-year-long involvement in the activities 
of the PKK. 
 
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / HURRIYET:   Shortly after a muhtar 
(headman) of one of the quarters of Van province killed two 
people with his gun in the street for an unknown reason, a 
relative(s) of the victim killed the muhtar with the same gun. 
 
CUMHURIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM / EVRENSEL:   Twenty people were 
reportedly fined 100 New Turkish liras each for using the banned 
letter "w" in banners hung during the 2004 Newruz celebrations 
in Siirt. 
 
CUMHURIYET:     A survey study conducted by the Dicle University in 
Diyarbakir and the surrounding areas showed that, despite strict 
laws against honor killings, they were still widely justified as 
valid norms in the (southeastern) region.  The percentage of the 
people who regard honor killings as justifiable acts was 37.4%, 
according to the survey.  Reportedly, the survey covered a total 
of 430 people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, 
such as Kurds, Arabs, Zaza and Alevis. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   Bozova First Stage Irrigation Project, which 
was launched 2.5 years ago in Sanliurfa's Bozova plain under GAP 
(Southeastern Anatolia Project), will be opened by PM Tayyip 
Erdogan during the weekend.  Irrigation will start on 21,400 
acres of land in Bozova following the opening. 
 
RADIKAL:        A 35-year-old inmate allegedly burned himself 
yesterday in his jail cell in Izmir.  The inmate was convicted 
of being a PKK member and of being involved PKK activities. 
 
ZAMAN:  UN High Commission for Refugees established an air 
corridor from Incirlik airbase in Adana to Pakistan and sent 
117,000 units of relief aid including tents, blankets and 
heaters, which the UN collected from its storage area located in 
Hatay's Iskenderun district.  Two C-130 Turkish military 
aircraft and two U.S. Boeing 747 aircraft will also be used 
during the aid's transportation. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Sir Peter Westmacott, U.K.'s Ambassador in 
Ankara, came to Gaziantep and paid a visit to the province's 
Governor Lutfullah Bilgin.  Westmacott later visited the Mosaic 
Museum in Gaziantep. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELEOPMENTS 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  A World Bank Turkish Desk delegation came to 
Mersin's Tarsus district to see progress on the businesses 
founded in Tarsus under Turkey's first ISGEM (Business 
Development Center).  ISGEM in Tarsus was founded by the joint 
efforts of World Bank and the Turkish Privatization Authority. 
 
REID