Cablegate: Southeast Turkey Press Summary for December 18, 2006
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SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 18, 2006
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for December 18,
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 (CUKUROVA): The daily, while it reported recent
resuming of the light rail metro project in Adana which was
halted five years ago due to reported shortage of funds, despite
the 339 million USD that was spent for it to that date, pointed
out the irony created as workers were currently striving to
purge the water that accumulated in one of the big wells dug
during the past construction process. The article mainly points
out the irony in workers' efforts to save tons of fish that
started a colony in that "huge million-dollar-aquarium" during
the water discharge process. The daily reminds with a photo
showed Mayor Aytac Durak, just before March 2004 elections,
posing for cameras, as he ran a test drive in one of the trains
of the supposed rail system.
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI / EVRENSEL / RADIKAL: Nearly 1000 DTP
members, whom the daily refers to as elected members, started "A
Walk for Peace" in Diyarbakir the previous day. Thousands of
people reportedly enthusiastically welcomed the convoy as it
entered several provinces such as Sanliurfa, Gaziantep and
Adana, to draw the attention of the state authorities and public
to Kurdish people's calls for peace, and to extend support for
the cease-fire. The walk will reportedly end in Ankara today,
and it is expected that some of the DTP members would talk with
the parliament spokesperson in Ankara.
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI / EVRENSEL: Many people protested with
marches in Istanbul, Izmir and Adana the seventh anniversary of
simultaneously held December 2000 police operations, dubbed
"Return to Life", which ironically caused the deaths of 122
inmates as the police conducted operations at twenty separate
jails in Turkey.
EKSPRES: Unrest broke out in Inonu Park of Adana as some
political parties and civil society members held a march to
protest the seventh anniversary of "Return to Life" operations.
A group of people, undergoing police search reportedly as they
were trying to enter the venue designated for the protest, had a
brief heated altercation with the police.
CUMHURIYET: Reportedly, because of an ensuing shrinkage in the
PKK grassroots as radical religious groups are reportedly
gaining more influence in southeastern Turkey, recent criticisms
from top PKK officials in the Qandil Mountains against some
religious sects and groupsv followed similar remarks expressed
by Abdullah Ocalan last week.
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI: Sirnak Governor's Office notified the
Ministry of Interior and Foreign Ministry about seals used by
the Iraqi side during the processing of trucks passing the Habur
Border Gate in Sirnak, to enter Turkey. The seals imprinted on
the documents of the commercial vehicles the word "Kurdistan" as
in the following statement "Iraqi Federal Republic - Kurdistan
Regional Authority".
CRIME / LAW ENFORCEMENT
ZAMAN: The daily reports that nine children were detained
on grounds that children stole telephone cables of a police
station in a village of Diyarbakir. According to the
authorities, one of the children died under detention because of
a heart attack.
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI / EVRENSEL: The dailies reported
allegations that soldiers opened fire on a 15-member group of
children in a village of Diyarbakir, as the children, who were
reportedly scared of the soldiers accusing them of stealing some
telephone cables of the police station, ran away. Soldiers
allegedly caught Semsettin Yavuzkaplan, a 16-year-old boy.
Soldiers reportedly forced him to lie down, treated brutally and
allegedly dragged the child on the ground towards the police
station. Later, police reportedly detained seven more children,
and announced that the boy initially brought to the station died
because of a heart attack. Villagers stoned the police station
when officials did not return the dead body of the child to his
relatives. When the villagers blockaded a section of a main
road, many jandarma teams deployed in the area took the
situation under control. Human Rights Association and DTP sent
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delegations to the village.
CUMHURIYET: Police seized 10 kilograms of heroin in Hakkari
during a search of a car that was being followed under police's
investigative efforts.
HUMAN RIGHTS
TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI: Adana Chapter of Human Rights
Association held a dinner event to mark Human Rights Week.
Representatives of the political parties and democratic
organizations attended the event. Chairperson of the Adana
Chapter said that the (Turkish) state was committing a crime by
ignoring the hunger strikes and the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT
ZAMAN / HURRIYET: Health Minister Recep Akdag paid a visit to
Hatay and conducted local studies at several state hospitals
where allegations of irregularities in the tenders had recently
surfaced.
GREEN