US embassy cable - 03ADANA45

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 0045 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, TU, IZ, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY 
FEBRUARY 7, 2003 
 
1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for February 7, 2003.  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.  ERDOGAN AK PARTY'S FIRST-LISTED CANDIDATE IN 
SIIRT 
(Tercuman/Dunya/Cumhuriyet/Turkiye)  AK Party 
informed the Higher Election Council (YSK) that 
its first-listed candidate in the March 9 Siirt 
elections will be AK Party leader Recep Tayyip 
Erdogan.  Necati Cetinkaya of the AK Party 
submitted documents regarding Erdogan's candidacy 
to YSK on February 6.  Mervan Gul, AK Party's 
first-listed candidate from Siirt in the November 
3 Parliamentary elections, had withdrawn from the 
March 9 elections for Erdogan. 
 
 
3.  TURKEY'S MISSILE SHIELD INSUFFICIENT 
(Tercuman)  Turkish Military Electronics Industry 
(ASELSAN) Secretary General (ret.) Colonel Serdar 
Erdurmaz, in his book entitled "Weapons of Mass 
Destruction in the Middle East, Weapons Control, 
and Turkey," has written that Turkey's defenses 
against nuclear, biological, and chemical warhead 
attacks are inadequate.  However, Erdurmaz 
pointed to two trump cards Turkey has:  its air 
force and the deployment of anti-ballistic 
missile systems in eastern and southeastern 
Turkey, under the U.S. National Missile Defense 
System. 
 
 
4.  ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATIONS 
(Evrensel)  A cockfight was held in Elazig to 
highlight protest against a possible U.S. attack 
against Iraq.  Two roosters named "Saddam" and 
"Bush" were made to fight, which ended with the 
victory of "Saddam."  Also, a group of youths 
issued an anti-war press release in front of 
Elazig's Post Office.  Regarding a possible U.S.- 
led war in Iraq, they said that remaining silent 
in such a situation meant being involved in the 
massacre of thousands of people in Iraq.  In 
addition, the Tunceli Anti-War Platform decided 
to stage new anti-war demonstrations on February 
5.  Under the new decision, the Platform will 
form "a peace chain against war" in the 
provincial capital on Saturday.  The Platform 
will also ask local merchants to close their 
places of business for an hour. 
 
 
5.  BOMB HOAX ON DIYARBAKIR PLANE 
(Cumhuriyet/Turkiye/Diyarbakir)  A telephone call 
that there was a bomb on Turkish Airlines' (THY) 
mid-February 6 Diyarbakir-Ankara plane caused 
panic.  Shortly after take-off, the plane 
returned to the airport and the passengers were 
evacuated under intense security measures.  Bomb 
experts searched the plane, but could not find 
anything suspicious.  The plane took off again an 
hour later, with its 99 passengers and crew. 
Former State of Emergency (OHAL) Gokhan Aydiner, 
who has been appointed the new Security Director 
General, and former Diyarbakir Governor Cemil 
Serhadli, were also on the plane. 
 
 
6.  CONTINUED PRO-OCALAN DEMONSTRATIONS IN THE 
SOUTHEAST 
(Evrensel)  Hunger strikes launched in protest of 
the isolation of jailed KADEK/PKK leader Abdullah 
Ocalan continue in the Southeastern provinces of 
Batman, Hakkari, Van, and Gaziantep.  Illegal 
pro-Ocalan demonstrations were also held in those 
provinces.  In Adana, ten women arrested for 
staging a pro-Ocalan sit-down demonstration in 
front of the Adana chapter of the AK Party were 
released.  In addition, the HADEP Mayor of 
Adana's Kucukdikili district, Mehmet Yasik, 
called for support from all sectors so Turkey's 
internal peace is not disrupted.  Yasik claimed 
Ocalan's isolation and a possible U.S. attack 
against Iraq were related. 
 
 
7.  DIVORCED WOMAN KILLED FOR "WALKING AROUND 
WITH MEN" 
(Sabah)  In Diyarbakir, two brothers strangled 
their 19-year-old sister, Gulseren T. on January 
27, 2002, due to rumors that she was meeting with 
men.  Gulseren had gotten divorced two years ago. 
After killing Gulseren, they melted nylon on her 
face in an attempt to make her body 
unidentifiable and threw the body near a local 
school.  The next day, teachers and students 
found the body and informed the police, who 
interrogated Gulserens's parents, who revealed 
that Gulseren's two brothers had murdered her. 
 
 
8.  PULUMUR EARTHQUAKE 
(Evrensel)  A delegation of professors from 
Elazig's Firat University Geology Department 
prepared a report regarding the January 27 
earthquake in Tunceli's Pulumur district.  The 
report attributed most damage to the district's 
public buildings to their construction on a slope 
on an active fault line and their being multi- 
storey structures. 
 
 
ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
 
9.  SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY FOCUSED ON DEVELOPMENT 
(Dunya/Radikal/Evrensel)  The Turkish Garment 
Industrialists Association (TGSD) and the 
Southeastern Anatolia Industrialists and 
Businessmen's Association (GUNSIAD) jointly 
organized a meeting entitled "Effects of A 
Possible War on the Turkish and Regional Economy" 
in Diyarbakir.  Participants focused on ways of 
getting out of a possible war with the least 
loss.  Industrialists called for a regional 
development plan.  TGSD President Umut Oran 
pointed to the vital significance of qualified 
industrial zones under the law number 4325, which 
he wanted implemented as soon as possible. 
 
 
10.  NEW CLA SIGNED IN MALATYA MUNICIPALITY 
(Evrensel)  The Malatya Municipality has signed a 
new collective labor agreement (CLA) covering its 
500 employees.  CLA foresees a 15% increase in 
the employees' salaries within the first six 
months and a 10% increase within the second six 
months.  In addition, Adana's Agricultural 
Complex (Cukobirlik) has paid its workers a total 
of TL 1.5 trillion (approx. USD 900,000) under a 
recent CLA signed between Cukobirlik and a labor 
union. 
 
 
11.  COURT REVERSES WATER PRICE HIKE 
(Hurriyet)  The Adana Metropolitan Municipality's 
Water and Sewage Administration (ASKI) "secretly" 
increased the price of its drinking water, as 
well as wastewater discharged from homes and 
places of business, by 360% in 2002.  Three 
Municipal Council members petitioned the Adana 
Administrative Court to reverse the price hike. 
The court reached a verdict reversing the price 
hike.  Also, the Council of State upheld the 
verdict.  Now, ASKI is expected to repay the 
amount collected unjustly. 
HOLTZ