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Viewing cable 09ADANA73, SE TURKEY SECURITY INCIDENTS: NOVEMBER 9-15, 2009

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09ADANA73 2009-11-16 14:15 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Adana
VZCZCXRO9176
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0073/01 3201415
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 161415Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4804
INFO RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1111
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1346
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1413
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 000073 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/EUR, DS/IP/ITA, INR AND EUR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PTER PINR CASC TU
SUBJECT: SE TURKEY SECURITY INCIDENTS: NOVEMBER 9-15, 2009 
 
1. The following security incidents for the period of November 
9-15, 2009, were compiled by the security assistant at Consulate 
Adana from RSO sources, to include Turkish security contacts, 
government officials and media.  The RSO uses the information to 
determine the security situation and trends of violence and 
crime throughout Turkey. The RSO shares the information with the 
country team and visas viper coordinator. 
 
2. Military operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party 
(PKK) as reported by the Turkish General Staff: 
 
A. Weapons, ammunition, and equipment seized: 
 
Sirnak - 11.14.09: 200 grams of hashish, 1360 kilograms of food. 
 
Sirnak - 11.13.09: 1,494 rounds of Kalashnikov ammunition. 
 
Van - 11.12.09: 9 rounds of RPG-7 ammunition. 
 
Sirnak - 11.12.09: 3 backpacks, 10 kilograms of food and 
logistical equipment. 
 
Mus - 11.11.09: A booby-trapped hand grenade found and 
destroyed. 
 
Sirnak - 11.11.09: 450 kilograms of food. 
 
01.01.09 through 11.13.09: Security forces confiscated or safely 
detonated 179 kilograms of TNT; 98 kilograms of plastic 
explosive material; 2,375 kilograms of ammonium/potassium 
nitrate; 53 kilograms of unknown explosive material; 42 units of 
landmines; and 87 units of other types of explosives. During the 
same period PKK carried out 68 attacks using explosive material. 
 
 
B. PKK members captured or surrendered: 
 
Erzurum - 11.13.09: Security forces caught 1 PKK member. 
 
Sirnak - 11.12.09: Security forces caught 3 PKK members. 
 
Sirnak - 11.11.09: 8 PKK members surrendered. 
 
Sirnak - 11.11.09: Security forces caught 1 PKK member. 
 
Sirnak - 11.10.09: 1 PKK member surrendered. 
 
11.09.09 through 11.15.09: A total of 15 PKK members were 
captured: 6 alive and 9 surrendered. 
 
C. PKK attacks: 
 
Sirnak - 11.13.09: A clash was reported; no casualties. 
 
Hakkari - 11.11.09: Military patrol team attacked by PKK 
members; no casualties reported. 
 
3. Media reports related to PKK and pro-Kurdish organizations: 
 
A. Anti-PKK operations: 
 
Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) anti-PKK operations in SE Turkey 
continue.  Many armored vehicles, military personnel and 
ammunition were sent to the operation areas in Sirnak, Hakkari, 
Van, Mus and Siirt. 
 
Sirnak  - 11.14.09: TAF artillery teams bombed the mountainous 
terrains of Semdinli District; no casualties reported. 
 
N. Iraq - 11.13.09: TAF artillery teams bombed the Zagros 
District; no casualties reported. 
 
Sirnak - 11.13.09: TAF ended anti-PKK operations on the Mount 
Cudi; no casualties reported. 
 
B. Arrests: 
 
Tunceli - 11.14.09: Security forces stormed the home of the 
chairman of the Education Union on the suspicion of terrorism. 
 
 
Hakkari - 11.14.09: Security forces detained 4 people on the 
suspicion of terrorism. 
 
Sanliurfa - 11.13.09: Security forces detained 3 people on the 
suspicion of terrorism. 
 
Hakkari - 11.12.09: Security forces detained 2 people on the 
suspicion of terrorism. 
 
 
ADANA 00000073  002 OF 003 
 
 
Diyarbakir - 11.12.09: Security forces detained 1 person on the 
suspicion of terrorism. 
 
Batman - 11.12.09: 7 minors (ages 13-17) are on trial on the 
charge of "carrying out illegal action on behalf of the PKK." 
 
Adana - 11.12.09: 8 people, including 6 children (ages 14-17) 
were sentenced to a cumulative total of 39 years in prison on 
the charge of "carrying out illegal action on behalf of the 
PKK." 
 
C. Other media stories about PKK: 
 
A total of 285 PKK members were neutralized in 2009: 58 dead, 96 
alive and 131 surrendered. It was reported that most of them 
were captured in Sirnak, close to the border with Iraq. 
 
Mardin - 11.15.09: 2 PKK members who surrendered on October 19 
at Silopi's Habur Border Gate have had several public speaking 
engagements. 
 
11.15.09 - Turkey wide: Turkey paid 1. 2 billion Turkish Liras 
as terror compensation to Kurdish people in East and SE Turkey. 
 
Adana - 11.15.09: Governor's Office of Adana has banned the 
carrying of knives following the recent death of a police 
officer who was stabbed by a protester during a demonstration. 
 
Bingol - 11.15.09: 14 students were detained when nationalist 
students attacked a pro-Kurdish group last week. 
 
Sirnak - 11.15.09: Demonstrators, including pro-Kurdish unions 
and DTP officials, held a press statement to protest a 
hydroelectric plant which will be constructed in the city. 
 
11.14.09 - PKK is re-organizing its drug smuggling operations 
after UNODC and EUROPOL listed 
PKK members on the most wanted lists of international drug 
smugglers. 
 
Hakkari - 11.13.09: A member of the pro-Kurdish YDG-M (Patriotic 
Democratic Youth-Movement) has applied to the Human Rights Union 
with the complaint of police harassment. 
 
Adana - 11.12.09: DTP provincial administrators are under 
investigation on the charge of "making propaganda for the PKK." 
 
11.12.09: 8 PKK terrorists based in Iraq have surrendered, 
becoming the second such group since the government's pledge in 
July to end Turkey's decades-old Kurdish problem. The 
surrendering terrorists told authorities that "a large number" 
of other PKK members want to return to Turkey. 
 
11.12.09: The European Human Rights Court has asked Turkey to 
provide information about Lokman and Zana Ugurlu, brothers who 
were kidnapped and killed by members of the JITEM in 1993 in 
Diyarbakir. 
 
Mardin - 11.09.09: Pro-PKK news agency ANF reported that Turkish 
counter-guerillas are collecting money from the public under the 
false pretense of financing the PKK. The news agency reported 
that a group of 6 people may have ties to the local gendarme. 
 
 
Hakkari - 11.09.09: DTP Yuksekova organization held a march on 
the anniversary of the Semdinli book shop bombing to protest 
racist assaults against Kurdish people. 
 
4. Media reports on significant crime or security incidents: 
 
Siirt - 11.14.09: Unidentified assailants attacked police 
residences with a Molotov cocktail; no injuries reported. 
 
Adana - 11.13.09: Security forces detained 9 people in an 
anti-organized crime operation. 
 
Adana - 11.12.09: A PTT (Turkish Post and Telephone Service) 
district branch was robbed by an unidentified person. 
 
Hakkari - 11.09.09: Stores in the Semdinli district of Hakkari 
pulled down their shutters to commemorate the Semdinli bookstore 
attack. Four years ago, one person died and five were wounded in 
an attack on the Umut Bookstore by two noncommissioned officers 
and a former PKK member working for the gendarme. 
 
Van - 11.09.09: Four people were killed and five injured by 
village guards in an armed dispute at a wedding. Murders by 
village guards in similar cases have brought the village guard 
system into the national spotlight. In May, a vicious massacre 
took place at a wedding ceremony in Mardin's Bilge village, 
 
ADANA 00000073  003 OF 003 
 
 
where 44 people were killed in an interfamily dispute over whom 
the bride should marry. 
 
Batman - 11.09.09: 6 people wounded in a fight over a pasture 
disagreement. Security forces detained 5 people. 
 
Bitlis - 11.09.09: Security forces confiscated 2 long range 
infantry rifles, 1 unregistered pistol, 63 rounds of Kalashnikov 
ammunition, 1 magazine and 8 rounds of pistol ammunition. 1 
person was detained in the operation. 
 
Hakkari - 11.09.09: Unidentified people stoned a police patrol 
vehicle, wounding a police officer. 
 
11.09.09: The "Revolutionary Headquarters" organization 
infiltrated the staff of Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport with 
the intent of conducting terror activities, but its three 
members were caught by police. 
The organization is trying to take up the cause of the DHKP-C 
(Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front) and also the 
fanatic leftist "DEV-SOL" organizations. 
 
Gaziantep - 11.09.09: Security forces confiscated 5 unregistered 
pistols, 5 magazines, 7 rounds of bullet, and 90 grams of 
hashish. 2 people were arrested in the operations. 
 
5. Illegal immigrant arrests: 
 
None reported. 
 
6. Counter-narcotic operations: 
 
Diyarbakir-Istanbul: Security forces confiscated 230 kilograms 
of hashish brought from Diyarbakir. 1 person was arrested. 
 
Adana - 11.13.09: Security forces confiscated 8 kilograms of 
hashish, 465 pills, and 1,800 cannabis seeds. 5 people were 
arrested. 
 
Van - 11.13.09: Security forces seized 77 kilograms of hashish 
and arrested 1 person. 
 
Elazig - 11.09.09: Security forces seized 12 kilograms of 
hashish and detained 2 people. 
 
Diyarbakir - 11.09.09: Security forces seized 2 tons of hashish 
and 1 million cannabis seeds belonging to PKK. 19 people 
detained. 
 
Hatay - 11.09.09: Security forces seized 4,500 pills and 
detained 1 person. 
 
Bitlis - 11.09.09: Security forces seized 22 kilograms of 
hashish and arrested 1 person. 
DARNELL