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Viewing cable 06ADANA1, SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 23, 2005

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06ADANA1 2006-01-04 08:17 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Adana
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000001 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 23, 2005 
 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for December 23, 
ΒΆ2005.  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, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
YENI SAFAK: In an interview with the Deutsche Welle, the 
European Parliament Joint Parliamentary Commission Chairperson 
Joost Lagendjik said that he believed that some circles within 
the military had an interest in the continuation of clashes with 
PKK. He has been quoted as saying "the Semdinli incident is not 
a fantasy, and that the military is the true boss in the 
Southeast is a fact. The Kurdish issues will not reach a 
solution as long as it continues like this. I believe that the 
government, as a civilian administration, has to go to that area 
and seek a solution to the problem." 
 
HURRIYET: During his visit to the Turkish Chief of General 
Staff, the Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. General Dan Halutz 
expressed that his country would supply Turkey with 
high-technology surveillance equipment so that Turkey could 
cover its problematic border with Iraq more effectively and 
prevent PKK militants from infiltrating Turkish territory. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: Following an autopsy conducted on seven PKK 
militants killed in clashes with the GOT forces in Savur 
district of Mardin in June 21, 1995, the militants' bodies had 
been buried in a lime well because it was getting dark, the then 
Dereici Jandarma Commander, Noncommissioned Officer T.K., told 
the public prosecutor investigating the case. A village guard 
involved in the incident said that they covered the lime well 
after the burial so that it would not be recognized. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: GOT forces, during an operation in Silvan 
district of Diyarbakir, detained six Democratic Society party 
members for unspecified reasons. 
 
ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM: A weekly Turkish-Kurdish eight-page 
newspaper is being published in Van under the name of "Yeni 
Bakis" in Turkish and "Nerina Nu' in Kurdish. The newspaper's 
owner, Adil Harmanci said that the paper would contain short 
essays, proverbs, regional news, and articles in its Kurdish 
version. 
 
CUMHURIYET: The Van Public Prosecutor's Office is getting ready 
to appeal the court's acquittal decision concerning the Van 
Centennial University Rector Yucel Askin's antiquities smuggling 
case. Charges had been brought against Rector Askin for 
allegedly unregistered historical artifacts found during a July 
14, 2005 search of his house. Rector Askin, who had been accused 
of violating article 2863 on Protection of Nature and Cultural 
Heritage, had been acquitted during a December 15, 2005 hearing. 
Claiming that some procedural errors had taken place during the 
hearing on December 15, the Van Public Prosecutor's Office 
(VPPO) claimed that Rector Yucel should have been punished and 
therefore the VPPO was getting ready to appeal the case to the 
Supreme Court. 
 
EKSPRES/BOLGE: At a press conference, the AK Party Adana 
Provincial Chairman, Abdullah Dogru, announced that asking for 
an early election was the same as betraying to the country. 
Dogru said that Turkey's agenda was being determined by external 
powers in the past, but today it was just the opposite, and 
Turkey had gained a reputation among the world communities 
thanks to the AK Party government. Mr. Dogru added that Turkey 
had been sunk in a swamp of debt before AK Party came to power 
and inflation dropped to 7 percent and interest rates to 1 
percent under their governance. 
 
EVRENSEL: Following the developments in the Semdinli, Yuksekova 
and Hakkari incidents about 1.5 months ago, the Yuksekova 
Brigade Commander, Brig. General Erdal Akpinar, pressed charges 
against the Gazi Elementary School Folklore Team on charges of 
wearing outfits resembling the PKK uniforms during a performance 
on October 29, Republic Day. The Ministry of Culture also wrote 
a letter to the Hakkari Provincial National Education 
Directorate ordering that the students should not wear the local 
outfit known as "sal-sepik" during performances. Esat Canan, the 
CHP deputy from Hakkari, said that it was a mistake to associate 
the local outfits with PKK and that the people in the region 
just wanted peace, and that approaching everything with 
skepticism was not right. 
 
EVRENSEL: Talat Yorulmaz, who has been working as a temporary 
village guard in Lice of Diyarbakir for six years, has been 
selected "Village Guard of the Year" for 2005 by the Kulp 
sub-governor's office. Yorulmaz has been awarded with a 
two-storey house for the services he had rendered. The Kulp 
Jandarma Commander, Cap. Erkan Sandikci, said Kulp residents and 
village guards suffered most form terror, and commended Yorulmaz 
E.O 12958: N/A 
SBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER23, 2005 
for his success. 
 
EVRENSEL: It is reported that the files of only 350 persons have 
been examined and 109 persons have received payments out of 
22,300 people applying to the Sirnak Governor's Office to 
benefit from the Compensation Law that allows payment for the 
terror-related losses of the villagers. The nine-person 
assessment committee is primarily focused on examining the files 
from 2004. 
 
EVRENSEL:  The Mardin Governor, Temel Kocaklar, announced at a 
ceremony organized in Omerli district that 16,000 villagers had 
returned to 127 of 129 villages that had been evacuated because 
of disturbances from terror. Governor Kocaklar added that 9,000 
girls had been registered in schools under the "Lets Go to 
School Girls" campaign in the past two years. 
REID