US embassy cable - 03ADANA167

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 0167 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PINS, PGOV, PHUM, TU, IZ, ADANA, Press Summaries 
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY, 
          JUNE 27, 2003 
 
 
1.  This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary 
for June 27, 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, Bolge, / Prime Minister Erdogan is 
visiting Adana on June 29.  He will be 
attending his party's annual convention. 
Mr. Abdullah Dogru seems to be the 
strongest candidate for the head of AK 
Party Adana Branch heading into the 
convention. 
 
 
3. Bolge, / Thirty children in Sanliurfa have 
been trained as assistant tourist guides by 
the government and security forces to help 
the tourists in the area. The tourists 
welcome the action. 
 
 
4. Hurriyet, / The 13-year-old girl from 
Mardin who was regularly raped by 28 people 
(some of these were government officials) 
during a 7-month time period wrote a letter 
to the Minister of Justice and asked for 
justice.  All but one of the government 
officials had been found "not guilty" and 
returned to their jobs.  The girl is in 
Istanbul now, under the supervision of 
psychologists and social workers. 
 
 
5. Milliyet, / In Ceyhan, about 2000 people 
still live in houses which were damaged 
after the 1998 earthquake. Governor Kemal 
Onal said these houses would be evacuated 
by force, if necessary.  The people do not 
want to leave their homes. 
 
 
6. Evrensel, / Seventy graduates from the 
German Language Teaching Department of 
Cukurova University insisted upon their 
rights. They visited the local branch of 
CHP and gave them a complaint letter.  This 
year graduates of this department are not 
being appointed as German teachers by the 
government. (Editor's comment: Graduates of 
the language teaching departments get 
appointed to their teaching jobs every 
September.) 
 
 
 
 
7. Evrensel, / In Batman, A man was not 
allowed to give the name "Lorina Dila" to 
his little girl.  It means "The Lullaby of 
the Soul" in Kurdish. 
 
 
8. Milli Gazete, / A five-month-old baby died 
at Adana Numune Hospital. The father claims 
it was the fault of the doctor who refused 
to treat his baby at the hospital because 
the family did not pay him money by going 
to his private clinic. The doctor denies 
the charges. 
 
 
 
 
ECONOMIC 
 
 
9. Dunya, / The first four-star hotel in 
Elazig "The Marathon Hotel" is opening in 
August.  Five million dollars have been 
spent in the building of the hotel. 
 
 
10. Dunya, / Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce is 
organizing an "information day" for local 
investors on July 3.  Turkish and foreign 
specialists will inform the investors about 
marketing, business capital and human 
resources. 
HOLTZ