Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for August 27, 2007

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 27, 2007

1. This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for August
27, 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:

2. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): All MPs from Gaziantep had a
dinner together, reportedly without regard to party origins.
Akif Ekici, CHP, hosted the event. Deputies expressed a
committment to act together to solve the pressing problems of
the province.

3. EKSPRES: Emphasizing the importance to Adana to have
one of its deputies as a cabinet minister, a local columnist
points to recent efforts by Prof. Vahit Kirisci, AKP Adana
deputy, to win the seat of the Ministry of Agriculture. The
columnist further wonders whether Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, AKP
Adana MP, will support Prof. Kirisci, who ranked lower than
Firat on the local party ticket in Adana, or former agriculture
minister Mehdi Eker, with whom Firat has been best friends for
years?

4. GUNDEM / EVRENSEL: During a visit to DTP offices in
north-western Sakarya province, Akin Birdal, DTP Diyarbakir MP,
said that during the rounds of the presidential elections DTP
was expecting Abdullah Gul to address their expectations about
issues of interest. Birdal said DTP did not support Gul's
presidency in the first round because they did not hear him make
such statements. Meanwhile, DTP Diyarbakir deputies started
investigating the problems of seasonal agricultural workers in
Sakarya province.

5. GUNDEM: The daily claims that the Turkish companies
investing in northern Iraq are employing Turkish intelligence
agents and covering the costs of their intelligence duties.

6. YENI SAFAK: A group of DTP administrators proposed
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir to fill the party chairmanship
seat vacated by Ahmet Turk when he was elected to parliament in
the July 22 elections. DTP will elect its leader at its October
28 extra-ordinary convention.

SECURITY

7. RADIKAL / BOLGE / HURRIYET / SABAH / ZAMAN: Funerals
of two commissioned officers, who were killed in a confrontation
between security forces and terrorists in Sirnak's Uludere
district on August 24, were held separately in Mersin and
Gaziantep provinces. Meanwhile, Bolge and Zaman dailies
separately report that American made M-16s were found with the
bodies of the 10 terrorists killed in Sirnak yesterday.

8. SABAH: Sabah reports that, during the anti-terrorism
operations in Diyarbakir, an improvised explosive device planted
by the PKK in Diyarbakir's Lice district was found and safely
detonated.

9. GUNDEM: A group of nearly 100 people of Sirnak's
Uludere district led by DTP Uludere district chairperson claimed
the coffins of ten terrorrists killed in Uludere yesterday. The
daily separately alleges that a total of 16 soldiers were
recently killed in conflicts between security forces and the PKK
which erupted in rural sections of Sirnak and Diyarbakir
provinces.

CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

10. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / SABAH (GUNEY): Police caught
six illegal migrants, one Palestinian and five Iraqi nationals,
hiding in a cotton field in Hatay's Reyhanli district.
Separately, police caught in Hatay's Yayadag district 17 illegal
migrants from different countries, including Afghanistan,
Erythres, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Palestine. Sabah's Guney
supplement reports in its August 26 edition that a total of 681
Iraqi nationals attempted to enter Turkey illegally in the last
three months by crossing the river at the border.

ECONOMY

11. EKSPRES / BOLGE: Credit Guarantee Fund, an entity which
sponsors SMEs and which enables favorable bank loans for their
investments, opened a branch under the umbrella of Adana Chamber
of Industry.

ADANA 00000106 002 OF 002

12. SABAH (GUNEY) / EVRENSEL: Gaziantep Chapter of Chamber
of Agricultural Engineers indicated that this year's total
pistacchio yield in Gaziantep was 30 to 35 per cent of last
year's yield. The decrease was due to the trees' genetic
structure, which causes the harvest to be heavier in alternate
years.

CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT

13. EKSPRE / BOLGE: Philip McDaniel, the Commander of the
Incirlik Airbase, called on base personnel to be responsible
regarding alcohol consumption. Mr. McDaniel pointed out that
there has been an upward trend in general alcohol related
incidents in the base.

14. SABAH / GUNDEM / ZAMAN / EVRENSEL / RADIKAL: A
5.4-magnitude earthquake that shook Bingol's Karliova district
yesterday night caused no casualties or material damage but
panicked local people. Separately, the flood that hit Van's
Ozalp and Baskale districts three days ago caused suffering
among the victims who need urgent help from authorities.

15. HURRIYET (CUKUROVA): Hatay Governor Ahmet Kayhan said
that they were planning to complete the airport construction
project in Hatay in September. (This summary is from August 26
edition.)
GREEN

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