Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for July 14, 2005

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

UNCLAS ADANA 000142

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JULY 14, 2005

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for July 14, 2005.
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

1. ZAMAN/RADIKAL/HURRIYET: PKK terrorists reportedly attacked
an infantry unit with an RPG in the Digor district Kars at 11.40
p.m. yesterday. The rocket landed on the garden of a house a
hundred meters away from the military unit. Following the
explosion, the military unit reportedly returned fire. The
terrorists reportedly fled.

2. RADIKAL: An armored vehicle from the Genc Jandarma
Command traveling on the Genc-Diyarbakir road hit a mine at 9
a.m. yesterday. One security officer was wounded.

3. CUMHURIYET/ZAMAN/OZGUR GUNDEM: Following GUNSIAD
(Southeastern Young Businessmen Association) call to put an end
to the conflict in the southeastern region, the association's
Chairperson said that businessmen are becoming reluctant to
invest in GUNSIAD's education projects in the southeastern
Turkey because of escalating terrorism acts. This explains why
a total of 130 million dollars worth of investments have
reportedly been suspended, according to the Chairperson.
Reportedly the Sirnak Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Chairperson expressed its worries about the disruption of peace,
which has been able to persist for five or six years.

4. SABAH/ZAMAN/HURRIYET/YENI SAFAK: These dailies report
that the U.S. is extending support to Turkey's military
operations carried out within Turkey's borders against the PKK,
which the U.S. clearly characterizes as a terrorist
organization.

5. EVRENSEL/RADIKAL/SABAH/ZAMAN/OZGUR GUNDEM/HURRIYET/YENI
SAFAK/CUMHURIYET: The terrorist organization PKK announced that
Private Coskun Kirandi, whom PKK terrorists kidnapped on Monday
(see press summary 07/12 and 07/13), is in a safe place in
healthy condition. PKK/Kongra-Gel announced on an inernet site
(www.kurdishinfo.com) that Kirandi was being treated in
compliance with the international law of war. The Human Rights
Association (HRA) called on the PKK to release Private Kirandi.
The HRA Diyarbakir Chairperson said that kidnapping a person and
jeopardizing his security and his life was unacceptable.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces are conducting military operations
in the region to find Private Kirandi.

6. HURRIYET(CUKUROVA)/BOLGE/EKSPRES: The terrorist
organization PKK/Kongra-Gel and the TAK (Kurdistan Freedom
Hawks) reportedly independently claimed responsibility for the
explosion which occurred in a fertilizer company in Mersin (see
press summary 07/13.) Meanwhile, the Mersin Security Director
reportedly said that no evidence has been found proving a
connection to any terrorist organization.
7. BOLGE/EKSPRES: Adana Governor Cahit Kirac said that
Agricultural Organized Industrial Zone of Adana, which will be a
center for organic agricultural production, was nearing
completion.

8. EVRENSEL/OZGUR GUNDEM: The Bingol Governor's Office
reportedly rejected the application of the provincial DEHAP for
authorization of a campaign to collect signatures in support of
the people's right to have education in their own language. The
paper draws attention to the fact that similar applications to
Governors' Offices in several provinces were accepted, but not
in the Tatvan district in Van and in the Bitlis province.

9. OZGUR GUNDEM: Two hundred people who gathered in front
of the DEHAP district party premise in Diyarbakir's Silvan
district staged a protest to call for an end to the "isolation"
of the terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan in jail and an end to
the military operations.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

1. OZGUR GUNDEM: The GOT reportedly will provide
subsidies for farmers who will to stop producing tobacco and
start producing alternative products in the eastern and
southeastern Turkey.

REID

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