US embassy cable - 02ADANA401

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0401 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, IZ, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY 
NOVEMBER 25, 2002 
 
1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for November 25, 2002.  Please note that Turkish 
press reports often contain errors or 
exaggerations; AmConsulate Adana does not vouch 
for the accuracy of the reports summarized here. 
 
 
POLITICS, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
2.  VILLAGE RETURN FIGURES 
(Radikal)  Official figures say 380,000 people 
migrated from Southeastern villages beginning in 
1991, when clashes intensified and when village 
evacuations and burnings became a common 
practice, due to alleged logistical support to 
the PKK.  According to human rights 
organizations, as many as three million people 
may have migrated from their villages, with over 
4,000 villages emptied.  Villagers who agreed to 
become village guards were allowed to stay in 
their villages.  According to the Interior 
Ministry, 51,152 evacuees have returned to 9,082 
homes in eleven State of Emergency (OHAL) and 
adjacent provinces over the past two years under 
the Village Return Project.  However, in a recent 
Istanbul meeting, Human Rights Watch Turkey 
Officer Jonathan Sugden indicated the project was 
far from solving evacuees' problems.  Attorneys 
from the Working Group formed by the Diyarbakir 
Bar Association petitioned the administrative 
courts in provinces where evacuees faced 
difficulties, to initiate prosecution (against 
local authorities), claiming evacuees' property 
rights were ignored. 
 
 
3.  MOBILE COMMAND VEHICLE 
(Turkiye)  The Health Ministry sent a TL 156 
billion (approx. USD 100,000) Mobile Command 
Vehicle to the Diyarbakir Health Directorate to 
be used under war conditions.  Increased 
activities continue in Diyarbakir due to the 
possible U.S. operation against Iraq.  The 
vehicle, which includes a digital camera system, 
30,000-kilometer wireless system, automatic 
satellite antenna and telephones, will be sent to 
the border during such an operation. 
 
 
4.  ANTI-YOK AND ANTI-U.S. PROTESTS 
(Evrensel)  A group called "the Gaziantep 
University Democrat Students" held a press 
conference during which they protested the Higher 
Education Council (YOK) and the U.S.  Several 
labor unions and political parties supported the 
protest.  The protest ended after the group 
shouted such slogans as "No to YOK and war," "We 
want a budget for education, not war" and "We 
want mother-tongue education." 
Similar demonstrations were held by the Adana and 
Tunceli chapters of the Teachers Union Egitim-Sen 
to protest pressures and exiles facing teachers, 
war and the IMF. 
 
 
5.  CONTINUED PRO-OCALAN PROTESTS 
(Evrensel)  Hundreds of Siirt youths staged a 
demonstration to Protest PKK leader Abdullah 
Ocalan's isolation by pouring gasoline and 
burning streets, closing roads to traffic, and 
shouting pro-Ocalan slogans.  Following the 
demonstration, police took tight security 
measures.  In Bostanici (Van), a group of youths 
staged a demonstration to mark the anniversary of 
the founding of the PKK.  They marched, shouting 
the "Freedom to Ocalan" slogan.  They then 
dispersed when police arrived. 
ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS 
-------------------------------------- 
6.  BUSINESS WORLD OPTIMISTIC ABOUT GOVERNMENT 
PROGRAM 
(Dunya)  Business leaders, including Gaziantep 
Organized Industrial Zone President Akif Ekici, 
Gaziantep Commodity Exchange President Omer 
Celik, Southeastern Anatolia Exporters' Union 
President Abdulkadir Cikmaz, Gaziantep Young 
Businessmen's Association (GAGIAD) board member 
Turgut Ercan, Gaziantep Free Zone Corporation 
President Mehmet Ozmen and Mersin Chamber of 
Commerce and Industry President Kadri Saman, 
reacted positively to the new government's 
program announced at the Parliament. 
HOLTZ