Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for October 20, 2005

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

UNCLAS ADANA 000192

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 20, 2005

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 20,
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

ZAMAN / OZGUR GUNDEM: Based on a tip, police conducted a
military operation in Diyarbakir and detained 9 persons. Police
were tipped off that a car, normally used to deliver daily
newspapers from Adana to the southeastern region, would
allegedly transport a terrorist organization's 6 new recruits to
Van. The driver of the car, the recruits, and the people who
would meet them were detained. The police are looking into
whether the car had been used to carry alleged recruits before.

2. BOLGE / EKSPRES: Ceyhan district municipality started to

deliver Turkish flags to the people of Ceyhan, who came to pay
their water bills at the utility payment collection offices.
Ceyhan Mayor Huseyiz Sozlu stated that people should show their
love and care for the Republic by hanging Turkish flags at their
homes on the 82nd anniversary of the Turkish Republic's
foundation which will be celebrated on October 29.

3. OZGUR GUNDEM: Reportedly, Hakkari Jandarma Command
(HJC) called Ali Erol and warned him that, if Erol planned to
file a complaint about being kidnapped during a checkpoint
search in Hakkari on October 12 (see press summary 10/17), he
must say that the checkpoint was not a Jandarma, but a Police
checkpoint. HJC reportedly dismissed any connection with the
kidnapping and reportedly implied that the police should answer
the charges.

4. OZGUR GUNDEM: Two people, who were detained in
Sanliurfa's Viransehir district on charges of recruiting new
members to a terrorist organization, have been arrested and sent
to Viransehir's jail. Separately, seven people detained in
Adana three days ago, have been arraigned. Two of them were
later arrested on charges of "being a member of, and making
propaganda for, a terrorist organization."

5. OZGUR GUNDEM: Ministry of Culture and Tourism stopped
the construction of a mosque in Diyarbakir's Kulp district
because the mosque was intended to replace a historical Armenian
church. The Subgovernor of the Kulp district said that there
were already two mosques in the village, and if another mosque
was going to be built, there was enough room elsewhere in the
village other than the location of the church.

6. EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: Following Diyarbakir
Governor's Office's probe into a monument erected by the Sur
Municipality to commemorate Ugur and Ahmet Kaymaz's killing in
Mardin's Kiziltepe district in November 2004, the Ministry of
Interior started an investigation against the mayor of the Sur
Municipality on charges that the municipality's budget was
deliberately spent "improperly" for construction of the
monument. Ahmet and Ugur Kaymaz are reportedly referred to as
"terrorists" in the report of the Ministry.

7. YENI SAFAK: Road expansion work on the road between Van
and Hakkari has been suspended due to depleted dynamite
supplies. Expansion tasks will resume as soon as Van's Regional
Directorate of Highways sends 5-tons of needed dynamite.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

YENI SAFAK / BOLGE: Edwar Mum, general director of the company
that operates Mersin's Free Trade Zone (FTZ), said that the
volume of transactions in the FTZ in the first nine months of
2005 has fallen behind last year's transaction volume during the
same period. Harmonization with EU laws brought about changes
in the FTZ status to where it is no longer covered under tax
exemption procedures.

REID

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