US embassy cable - 03ADANA121

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0121 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, IZ, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY 
          APRIL 28, 2003 
 
 
1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for April 28, 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. 
 
 
POLITICAL, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
 
2.  Sabah/Cumhuriyet/Radikal/Evrensel: Based on 
a tip that a vehicle carrying illegal fuel and 
drugs from Baskale township to Van, the teams 
affiliated to Van Jandarma Command positioned 
themselves in Kuruca pass. It is claimed as the 
driver disobeyed the "halt" warning, the jandarma 
opened fire on the car that came to the 
checkpoint after midnight. The driver, Cetin 
Kahraman, was killed at the scene as a result of 
jandarma's gunfire. Based on the investigation of 
the case, a master sergeant and a private were 
detained. Claiming neither illegal fuel nor drugs 
were found in his vehicle but that he was 
deliberately killed, Kahraman's relatives, as 
they were taking the dead body from the hospital 
and bringing it to the front of the governorate 
building, booed the soldiers and shouted slogans. 
The police opened fire in the air to disperse the 
crowd protesting the incident. 6 policemen and 
two relatives of Kahraman were wounded in the 
ensuing disorder, and about ten police cars were 
damaged. According to the papers, the police 
arrested between 7 to 15 persons involved in the 
incidents. 
 
 
3.  Sabah/Cumhuriyet/Milliyet/Hurriyet/ 
Evrensel/Radikal Turkiye/Milli Gazete: 
As a result of clashes that bursted out 
between a group PKK/KADEK militants and 
the security forces on patrol in Yeniyazi 
village of Genc (Bingol), 2 soldiers were 
killed while two others were wounded. The 
operation launched in the region is still 
continuing. 
 
 
4.  Radikal: The dead body of Siddik Kaya, 45, 
who left his home in Mus in November 2002 on the 
grounds that he was called by NCO Cemal San, was 
found last Thursday at the bank of Murat river, a 
tributary of Euphrates. Siddik Kaya's father, 
Tekdemir Kaya, said a village-guard relative of 
theirs was killed by PKK militants last year, and 
thereafter the village guards perceived his 
family as an enemy, and claimed the NCO with whom 
his son had met surrendered his son to the 
village guards for money. Five months after 
Siddik Kaya's mysterious disappearance, villagers 
near Bulanik town at the bank of Murat River 
found his dead body. Kaya's eyes and mouth were 
taped, his hands were folded in the back, and he 
had marks of strokes in the neck and bruises on 
the legs, and sandbags were tied to his back. The 
dead body was taken for autopsy to Istanbul's 
Forensic Medicine which said Kaya was killed as a 
result of brain hemorrhage caused by gunfire that 
had fragmented the skull and damaged the brain. 
Filing a petition with the Human Rights Committee 
of the National Assembly, the HRA again demanded 
for the necessary investigation and solving of 
the case. 
5.  Cumhuriyet: As the Dutch soldiers deployed in 
Batman for operating the Patriot missile systems 
expedite their departure from Turkey, they 
donated to Batman State Hospital the medical 
equipment and 200 beds they had brought for the 
field hospital they had set up for themselves. 
The Patriot missile experts announced the Batman 
State Hospital as a sister hospital of a military 
hospital in Holland, and promised to send more 
medical devices. Also, the US soldiers leaving 
the area distributed 7 tons of foodstuffs to the 
needy people in town. 
 
 
6.  Milli Gazete: It is reported by Anatolian News 
Agency that Kizilay's -Turkish Red Crescent- 
relief to Iraq, consisting of 5 trucks of material, 
4 ambulances, and 2 communication devices arrived 
Silopi of Sirnak, will leave for Mosul and Kirkuk 
tomorrow. 
 
 
ECONOMIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 
Bolge: The farmers' organizations in Adana 
welcomed the government's draft resolution that 
will provide 35 percent subsidy in diesel 
consumption by farmers. The President of Chamber 
of Agriculture, Cumali Dogru, announced that the 
draft resolution left open the farmers' hope for 
cheap diesel while the President of the Chamber 
of Agricultural Engineers warned that the records 
of the direct support program would create 
problems in the payment of the diesel subsidy. 
HOLTZ