Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for April 24, 2007

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR APRIL 24, 2007

This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for April 24,
2007. 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:

EKSPRES / BOLGE: Kemal Sag, Adana deputy from CHP, criticized
the remarks made by Necati Cetinkaya, AKP Deputy National
Chairperson and Elazig deputy, who recently said that the right
to elect the President was at AKP's discretion and they would
allow nobody to interfere in their own business. Sag reportedly
responded to those remarks by saying that electing the President
was not an item of intra-party business, but a right that
belongs to the Turkish Parliament.

EKSPRES: Abdullah Torun, Adana deputy from AKP, harshly
criticized the Ankara Bar Association which filed a petition
with the court to annul the recent decision taken to found a law
faculty in Adana. The Ankara Bar Association was reportedly
regarding the decision to found a law faculty in Adana as a
political move and based their objection on a shortage of
faculty members.

SECURITY:

ZAMAN / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / BOLGE / EVRENSEL: Jandarma in
Hatay's Dortyol district opened fire on two persons when they
reportedly ran away after disobeying jandarma's call to halt.
One of them died and the other one was wounded. It was found
out later that the two persons were working voluntarily as
village guards. Meanwhile, a private was wounded during a
conflict with PKK members in a military operation going on in
the Amanos Mountain range in Hatay's Hassa district.

ZAMAN: Terrorists reportedly planted explosives on a
section of railroad passing nearby a village of Diyarbakir's
Bismil district. Security officials noticing the explosives
safely defused the device and rendered the area safe.
Meanwhile, security forces patrolling a rural area in Bingol's
Genc district found terrorists' shelters and ammunition and
supplies stored in the shelters.

EVRENSEL: The daily claims that two Sikorsky helicopters that
took off from Sirnak's Silopi district bombarded the rural
sections of Zaho in the northern Iraq for three hours the
previous day. The villagers in those areas were reportedly very
anxious because of the bombardment. No casualties were
reported.

ECONOMY

HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / ZAMAN: The ground-breaking ceremony of
the Samsun-Ceyhan Pipeline project, which is a joint venture of
Turkey and Italy, will be held today in Ceyhan district of
Adana.

CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

EKSPRES / BOLGE / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / ZAMAN: Jandarma found
and seized 54,000 packets of smuggled cigarettes in the
warehouse of a factory in Adana's Organized Industry Zone. In a
separate operation in Adana's Yuregir district, jandarma seized
152 historical artifacts at the house of a person upon receiving
a tip-off.

CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT

EVRENSEL: The daily points out that those children in
disadvantaged sections of the society, such as the children of
seasonal workers, were not able to celebrate April 23 joyfully.
They were instead working to earn a livelihood for their
families or they were playing in the slums in front of their
makeshift tent-homes. Members of Adana branch of Egitim-Sen
(Teacher's Union) pointed out that 5 million children in Turkey
were deprived of the right to receive an education.

EVRENSEL: Alevi organizations will hold their biggest
public meeting on April 28 in Mersin.

GREEN

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