Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for November 25, 2005
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000221
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR NOVEMBER 25, 2005
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for November 25,
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
HURRIYET / ZAMAN: Upon receiving a tip-off that a PKK militant
was readying to launch an attack, Istanbul Intelligence and
Anti-Terror Branch Directorate conducted operations in
Istanbul's Gaziosmanpasa and Eminonu districts and caught two
people, who were allegedly procuring arms for the PKK. 24
Glock-, one CZ-75-, one Sig Sauer-, two Baretta- and one
Ceska-brand shotguns, 19 spare clips, 150 cartridges and two
blank cartridge guns were seized during the operation. Two
people caught were arraigned. In a separate operation conducted
in an unspecified location, four alleged PKK militants were
caught.
HURRIYET: Turkish Parliament's Commission for Probing Honor
Killings, started scrutinizing the elderly female members of the
families, as well, because, according to the opinions of the
academic faculty members and experts, mothers and mother-in-laws
are also backing the honor killing practices within the family
and are in fact very influential in the honor killing decision
processes of the family gatherings.
ZAMAN / HURRIYET: Turkey reportedly sent to Denmark several
times evidence of Roj TV's affiliation with the PKK. Turkey
claimed that a minimum of 18 of the programs that were aired on
pro-PKK Medya TV and MED TV, whose broadcasts were already
banned by France and the UK respectively because of the
station's reported PKK affiliation, were now being aired in Roj
TV under different titles but with the same content and same
people.
HURRIYET: Van Chief Prosecutor's Office (VCPO) extended the
scope of the investigation about the Semdinli case.
Prosecutor's Office will investigate both the gang allegations
and the possibility that there might be a PKK provocation in the
incident. VCPO will look into the alleged contact and phone
calls between Seferi Yilmaz, the owner of the bookstore which
was bombed, and Murat Karayilan, a senior PKK official.
RADIKAL / HURRIYET / ZAMAN: Erdogan Gurbuz, Hakkari Governor,
who has been assigned as a governor to another central Anatolian
province recently, said that this change of place was a normal
practice of the government and could even be regarded as a
promotion since he assumed the responsibilities of a bigger
province.
HURRIYET: Government's second "Security Summit" will be held
today and PM Erdogan will chair it. The first one was held
immediately after the incidents and demonstrations that followed
the Semdinli bombing, which took place on November 9.
ZAMAN: Zaman daily reported that Prof. Ugur Oral, the
rector of Mersin University, had allegedly informed the YOK
(Higher Education Board) against the faculty members during
Kemal Guruz's chairmanship. Allegedly, Oral wrote a November
2000 dated letter to the YOK and warned YOK against 'separatist
activities' of some of the scientists, the press and the Adana
American Consulate.
ZAMAN: Reportedly, Diyarbakir Dicle University Rector,
Prof. Fikri Canoruc, dismissed nine professors from the
university allegedly on the grounds that the professors formed
an opposing stance against him (the rector). One of the
professors dismissed was reportedly the rival of Canoruc during
the rector elections.
ZAMAN: Semdinli Prosecutor reportedly said that he would
not have released Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildeniz, the two soldiers,
who were caught by the local people and detained following the
Semdinli bombing, had the prosecutor possessed at that time the
evidence he has now. Sources from the Prosecutor's Office
reportedly said that the case would be handled under
terror-related cases, and the possibility that it would be
handled under criminal network/gang cases was weak.
OZGUR GUNDEM: The daily claimed that the government was
feigning as if it was trying to resolve the case in a determined
manner; but prior similar cases, such as the 1996 Susurluk case
and the Yuksekova Gang case, proved that such cases were
deliberately forgotten in the course of time.
OZGUR GUNDEM: The police, conducting raids on houses in
Adana, detained three people. These people were reportedly
detained on charges that they participated in an October 9
protest activity in Adana against the arrest of terrrist leader
Abdullah Ocalan in 1999.
RADIKAL: Reportedly, 3345 women have applied to women's
organizations on grounds that they were subjected to violence
this year. Nebahat Akkoc, Chairperson of KAMER (Center for
Women), said that 2235 women have applied to KAMER's Emergency
Line this year with complaints of violence they suffered.
REID