Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary,

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 0232

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU IZ ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY,
SEPTEMBER 03, 2003

1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary
for September 03, 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. Milliyet: The Interior Ministry alerted all the
security directorates against possible attacks
by PKK/KADEK organization which refused to
benefit from the Reintegration Law. The
Interior Ministry's decree stated that
PKK/KADEK militants who had congregated in Iran
had founded a new party called "Democratic
Uprising Party (DUP)." There has been an
increase in the number of attacks launched
against security units in East and Southeast
Turkey since the proclamation of the
Reintegration Law. Mustafa Karasu, a member of
KADEK's Presidential Committee, has been
assigned as the person in charge of thirteen-
person Executive Board of the new party. It is
speculated that DUP will attack public
employees and buildings in retaliation to
security forces' operations.

3. Milliyet/Zaman/Tercuman/Hurriyet: PKK/KADEK
announced that it lifted the so-called truce it
had unilaterally declared in 1999. In response
to BBC's questions, Mizgin Sen, one of the
spokesman for the organization, claimed that
the Turkish government did not give any
affirmative answers to their suggestions for a
solution. Sen said the government did not pass
a general amnesty and reciprocated with
increased operations to their calls. Sen
claimed that no improvement was made in
Abdullah Ocalan's health condition. On the
other hand, Mustafa Karasu, a Presidential
Committee member, announced on Med-TV that the
truce would not work unilaterally. He added
that the state should undertake steps for
resolving the Kurdish issue as well.

4. Milliyet: Two female PKK/KADEK members who
applied to benefit from the Reintegration Law
were surrendered to the Turkish security
officials at Esendere Border Gate, Hakkari
province, by the Iranian security forces.
Another militant surrendered to the security
officials at Habur Border Gate in Sirnak
province. The interrogation of the three
militants is still continuing, the officials
said.

5. Turkiye: As a result of operations since
September 1, the security forces in Bingol
arrested five persons allegedly harboring and
providing shelter and logistic support for
PKK/KADEK members. The suspects were put in
prison by the court.

6. Turkiye/Milli Gazete: Based on a tip, the
security teams in Sanliurfa seized sixteen
kilos of heroin in a car in Sanliurfa. The
security forces also found twenty-six pistols
and assorted bullets and clips in the suspect's
house. Four persons were arrested in connection
with drug trafficking and smuggling of weapons.
The security officials searching a car which
was going to leave for Syria from Cilvegozu
border gate, Hatay province, found 234 thousand
Captagon tablets in the secret compartment of
the car. The market value of the Captagon
tablets is estimated to be around USD 2.150
million.

7. Turkiye: The security officials seized eleven
Kalashnikov weapons and thirty assorted pistols
in a minibus in Uludere, Sirnak province. The
driver of the minibus was detained in
connection with weapons.

8. Evrensel: A group of one hundred women from
various political parties with leftist
tendencies formed "The Labor, Peace and
Democracy Block" in Adana. They flew balloons
for peace under September 1 World Peace Day
celebrations. The spokeswoman for the block,
Nurten Coskun, said the imperialist system that
has convicted the world to violence and war had
to be interrogated once more. The group shouted
Turkish and Kurdish slogans such as: "Long live
peace, Life, Free Life. Murder US, get out of
the Middle East. Long Live Peoples' Fraternity.
Don't remain silent, cry out that peoples are
brothers."

9. Evrensel: Based on a tip, jandarma arrested
four persons in a cemetery in Cemisgezek,
Tunceli province, on August 31 on the grounds
that they had written "They died, but they were
not defeated" on the grave stones of DHKP-C
(Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party-Front)
militants killed in the clashes and buried
there. They were imprisoned by the court on the
charges of disseminating propaganda of an
outlawed organization.

10. Evrensel: Around forty thousand people
attended "Peace Will Win" Diyarbakir meeting
held within the framework of September 1 World
Peace Day. DEHAP's Chair, Tuncer Bakirhan,
accused AK Party of spoiling the peace
atmosphere and leaving the Kurdish issue
unsolved. DEHAP's Chairman said AK Party
pretended to be democratic but the ban on
Kurdish language rights, and changing the
Kurdish names of the villages still continued.

11. Evrensel: The Human Rights Association's
Diyarbakir Chapter condemned the attack at the
Security Directorate in Silvan. One policeman
was killed and two others were wounded during
the attack. In a written press announcement,
HRA's Vice President for Diyarbakir Chapter
Reyhan Yalcidag expressed that they, as HRA,
condemned such attacks which aimed to drag
people into clashes again, and found such
attempts extremely dangerous.

12. Evrensel/Ekspres/Bolge: Kamu-Sen, Public
Employees Union, members marched from their
office to AK Party's Provincial headquarter in
Adana yesterday. The union's representative for
Adana, Ismail Koncuk, said their action was a
warning to the government.

ECONOMIC

13. Milliyet: The President of Chamber of
Commerce of Adana, Saban Bas, said unemployment
was the most important problem Turkey faced. He
said the actual number of those unemployed was
much greater than 2.5 million persons reported
by the State Statistics Institute. Bas said the
obstacles in front of investment and labor
costs should be reduced in order to solve the
unemployment problem in Turkey. Bas added that
the current political and economic system would
not carry Turkey to the 21st century.

14. Milliyet/Ekspres/Bolge: A business
delegation from Adana's Chamber of Industry
(ACI) will attend the International Industry
and Trade Fair to be held in Greece between
September 6-14. A delegation from ACI visited
the Trade Fair in Thessalonika in April 2003.
ACI members aim to increase their business
connections with Greece and become permanent
suppliers in the Greek market.

HEALTH

15. Milli Gazete: As the Health Ministry failed
to send measles shots to Viransehir, Sanliurfa
province, 30 measles cases were seen in
villages of Viransehir. Kemberli village
headman Mubarek Talay said they took their
children who were suffering from measles to the
hospitals and infirmaries in the area but they
received no treatment due to lack of shots. Dr.
Ilker Kat from the Provincial Health
Directorate of Sanliurfa stated that they did
not get any measles shots from the ministry for
one month but they received a shipment just
recently, and would start inoculations
immediately. Dr. Kat said they would start a
measles shot campaign similar to "Infant Polio
Campaign" in the past.
REID

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