US embassy cable - 03ADANA157

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0157 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, IZ, Press Summaries, ADANA 
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY 
JUNE 11, 2003 
 
 
1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for June 11, 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.  Turkiye: The Security Director of Mersin, 
Suleyman Ekizer, said at a press conference that 
there had been a nineteen percent decrease in 
theft cases and a twenty percent decrease in 
pick-pocketing over the past five months. Ekizer 
said four kilos of hash and sixty-four kilos of 
heroin were seized during the same period. The 
security director stated that fifteen gang 
members were arrested and ordered held by the 
court. Ekizer also mentioned that twenty-three of 
one hundred and one PKK members arrested were 
imprisoned. He said the court ordered twenty-one 
of thirty-four arrested Hizbollah members to be 
held, and one DHKP-C militants. 
 
 
3.  Turkiye: Based on a tip, the teams from Anti- 
Smuggling and Organized Crimes Department of 
Tarsus Security Directorate, found three and a 
half kilos of hash and two hundred roots of hemp 
during their searches at a house in Tarsus. The 
hemp roots were rooted out and burnt while M. E., 
the owner, was arrested. Police have begun an 
investigation. 
 
 
4.  Evrensel: Around three thousand people, who 
were forced to evacuate their villages in various 
parts of Southeast about eight years ago, have 
been working as seasonal farm-workers near Adana. 
The villagers said they were evicted from their 
villages because they refused to become village 
guards, and expressed that they wanted to return. 
It is reported that only ten children are 
attending school because they do not have any 
schools where they are living. 
 
 
5.  Evrensel: A Kurd has been selected as the 
Governor of Kirkuk. Star Newspaper in Turkey used 
the heading "KerKurt Governor" when it reported 
the result of the election in Kirkuk. 
(Interpreter's note: In Kurdish Ker means donkey, 
thus, "KerKurt" Governor means "Governor for 
Donkey-Kurds") Haber-Sen Union's Executive Board 
condemned and protested the Star paper. A 
campaign has been launched in Caldiran for people 
not to buy the paper. 
 
 
6.  Hurriyet/Turkiye: Yildirim Arikan, Mayor of 
Yuregir district of Adana, transferred to the 
Republican Peoples Party (CHP). Arikan was 
elected to the office on the ticket of Former 
Prime Minister Ecevit's DSP, Democratic Leftist 
Party, and had joined the New Party of Turkey 
prior the General Election in November 2002. 
 
 
7.  Hurriyet: The merchants in Incirlik are very 
anxious because of the rumors that the US will 
close down its airbase in Incirlik. Around five 
hundred shopkeepers, mainly gift shops, jewelers, 
and bars and restaurants suffered an economic 
crises when one thousand four hundred US troops 
left the base following the operation in Iraq. 
Currently, around four thousand Americans are 
staying at the base. The President of Incirlik 
Merchants' Solidarity Association, Mujdat 
Akcinar, said around five thousand people were 
employed on the base and in the district, and 
closing down of the base would leave twenty 
thousand people hungry and cause an annual loss 
of six hundred million USD. Akcinar urged the 
government not to remain indifferent to closing 
down of the airbase. 
 
 
8.  Milliyet/Hurriyet/Bolge: Mehmet Agar, the 
National Chair of DYP, Right Path Party, visited 
Adana for two days and met with farmers at 
Yuregir Chamber of Agriculture. Agar paid visits 
to chambers of commerce, industry, and commodity 
exchange, and he expressed that his party favored 
the liberal market policy that opened the path 
for the private sector and entrepreneurs. Agar 
added that the bureaucrats should not see the 
private sector as rivals, and that his party was 
working on a new program and charter, and claimed 
that his party would come to power after the 
first general election. 
HOLTZ