Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for October 11, 2006

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TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 11, 2006

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for October 11,
2006. 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

HURRIYET: Following an interview program NTV Television made
with the Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, this time the program
hosted Edip Baser, Turkey's Special Envoy for Countering the
PKK. Baser, when asked whether he would request anything from
Baydemir or the elected representatives in the southeastern
region, gave the message that nobody should try the patience of
the Turkish people, which also included the Kurdish citizens.

3. OZGUR GUNDEM: A panel was held in a DTP building in
Mardin's Nusaybin district to mark October 9, 1998, when eight
years ago PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was reportedly forced out
of Syria as a result of an alleged plot contrived by
international elements. Selim Sadak, former DEP (Democratic
Peoples Party) deputy, said that Europe betrayed the Kurdish
people and surrendered Ocalan to the Turkish authorities.
Hatice Korkut, an attorney, reminded the audience that PKK
declared cease-fire four times in the past.

4. OZGUR GUNDEM: Ingmar Karlsson, Swedish Consul General
in Istanbul, attended a seminar of Van's Bostanici Municipality,
which is called "Local Democracy and Leadership in Local
Democratic Organizations", in Van. Karlsson said that Turkey
should take action regarding the cease-fire.

5. ANF NEWS AGENCY ONLINE: Paavo Lipponen, Speaker of the
Finnish Parliament, and an accompanying ten-person delegation,
paid a visit to the national headquarters of DTP in Ankara, and
met with DTP leaders Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk.

6. OZGUR GUNDEM: The daily claims that PKK's cease-fire
process had its repercussions in the political sphere. While
AKP seems to be in a tendency to seize the opportunity the
process may serve, DYP leader, who launched a tour in the
southeastern region to meet with non-governmental organizations,
brought the issue of declaring a general amnesty to the agenda.
Agar made a call to the government, and told that he was ready
to hold liability for the consequences of whatever the
government would embark upon to resolve the issue.

7. OZGUR GUNDEM: Safiye Alagas, who is one of the members
of DTP in Siirt, was arrested after being detained and arraigned
yesterday morning on grounds that she was a member of the
terrorist organization.

8. OZGUR GUNDEM: DTP demanded in a letter it sent to the
Turkish Parliament and representatives of the political parties
that the election threshold be removed.

9. BOLGE / EVRENSEL / EKSPRES / SABAH (GUNEY):
Municipality Assembly of Adana voted yesterday in favor of
founding in Adana a monument to mark the "Algerian Genocide",
if, in case, the French Parliament ratifies the law on
criminalizing denial of "Armenian Genocide." (This summary is
from October 10 edition.) October 11 edition of Bolge daily
reports that some political parties, chambers and associations
expressed strong discontent about such a law that could be
passed today in the French parliament. Executive members of the
Adana Arts Council sent a letter of warning to the French
Ambassador in Ankara about the law envisaged. Chamber of
Industry in Gaziantep also called for a boycott on French goods
should the law takes effect. Meanwhile, Evrensel daily, equally
blames Armenians in France and the Turkish authorities, for the
political uproar on genocide claims, and characterized the
latest developments in Turkey as "schizophrenic internal strife
to achieve political ends".

10. SABAH (GUNEY): Erkan Mumcu, National Leader of the
Motherland Party, told the journalists during the opening
ceremony of the new party building in Adana's Yuregir district
that it was a great shame for the government to be in a position
as if Turkey was dependent on the U.S. in matters such as
Armenian issue and terror issues.

11. ZAMAN / SABAH (GUNEY) / EKSPRES: Prosecutor's Office
dismissed the complaint Adana Mayor Aytac Durak filed against
two local chambers for 'being responsible for the irregular
construction activities and ugly urban landscape that had been

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created in the province to date.

HUMAN RIGHTS
12. EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM: The daily reported that
soldiers were oppressing the villagers in a village of Hakkari's
Yuksekova district allegedly for not hanging the (Turkish) flag
on a mast. Separately, the daily reports a YTL664 fine which is
reportedly imposed on a driver of a passenger car in Gaziantep,
about whom a commissioned officer filed a complaint against with
the authorities allegedly for playing pro-PKK Kurdish songs in
his car.

13. RADIKAL: Court of First Instance in Adana found guilty
the Adana chapter of Haci Bektashi Veli Association, a cultural
center for Alevis, for its negligence in maintenin one of its
vehicles, which had an accident where all 39 of its passengers
died, in Adana four years ago during cultural festivities.

CRIME/LAW ENFORCEMENT
14. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / NTVMSNBC ONLINE: Diyarbakir
police, monitoring the activities of illegal drug trading rings,
conducted six separate operations in the province and seized a
total of 135 kilogram of hashish and unlicensed 7 guns. In one
of those operations, police stopped a car traveling from Hakkari
to Diyarbakir and found 43 kilograms of hashish in hidden
sections of the car. Fifteen of the 22 people detained in the
operations have been arraigned and arrested.

15. BOLGE: Hatay police seized seven kilograms of hashish
in an anti-drug operation in Hatay.

CULTURE / SOCIETY
16. OZGUR GUNDEM: The daily complains that the doors of
the Cultural Center of Mersin are closed to the activities of
diverse cultures.

17. SABAH (GUNEY): Prof.Suha Aydin has been elected as the
rector of the Mersin University. Aydin replaced the former
rector Prof. Ugur Oral.

18. BOLGE: A big earthenware jar, which dates back to
around A.D. 300, has been discovered in Adana's Karatas
district.
GREEN

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