TURKEY/IRAQ: OPPOSITION CHP'S GRATUITOUS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001634

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2013
TAGS: PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: TURKEY/IRAQ: OPPOSITION CHP'S GRATUITOUS
RESISTANCE CONTINUES

REF: ANKARA 1350


(U) Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons: 1.5
(b)(d).



1. (C) Summary: Contacts from main opposition CHP say that
although another UN resolution could influence some
backbenchers, CHP is likely to continue to vote en bloc
against U.S. troop deployment. Taking their cue from
President Sezer, CHPers at all levels assert that any UNSC
resolutionless operation would lack "international
legitimacy", which they claim is required under the Turkish
constitution. They also criticize the AK government's
alleged failure to share detailed information with CHP on
Turkey's role in post-Saddam Iraq. Bottom line: CHP is
engaging in sterile opposition. End Summary.


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CHP still looking for more "international legitimacy"
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2. (C) In a March 7 meeting with Congressmen Wexler and
Whitfield, CHP Chairman Deniz Baykal interpreted constitution
art. 92 as requiring "international legitimacy" for any
Parliamentary authorization to deploy U.S. troops to Turkey.
"If you take the constitution seriously, then you could not
support war in Iraq," he said. In any case, Baykal
explained, bringing democracy to Iraq is a "utopian idea."
Without a another UNSC resolution or a NATO-backed decision,
CHP will remain opposed. Even then, CHP may not change its
position, but a second resolution "will help."



3. (C) March 11 ANAP Central Board member and former minister
Vehbi Dincerler explained to us that he had contacted former
ambassador and senior CHP deputy Sukru Elekdag to discuss
art. 92. Dincerler, who was in Parliament during the Gulf
War, argued to Elekdag that international legitimacy applies
only to declarations of war. According to Dincerler, Elekdag
simply shrugged, saying "as a lawyer, you would know better
than myself." Dincerler is an engineer.



4. (C) CHP M.P. and Human Rights Committee member Engin Altay
told poloff March 10 that TGS chief Ozkok's March 8 public
statement endorsing passage of a deployment resolution could
play a role in changing the minds of individual CHP deputies.
Nevertheless, he explained, Baykal's position against the
deployment of U.S. troops is clear and is not likely to
change.


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AK isn't sharing
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5. (C) In recent conversations, CHP deputies complained to
poloff that the AK Government is not sharing enough detailed
information on either the political statement, military MOU,
and economic package negotiated with the U.S. or Turkey's
role in a post-Saddam Iraq. Baykal told Congressmen Wexler
and Whitfield that his party has "no idea about the big
picture" in Iraq. CHP M.P. and Foreign Affairs Committee
member Emin Koc claimed that in the March 1 closed session,
the GOT failed to answer even the most basic questions from
CHP on the state of negotiations with the U.S. Koc suggested
that AK's reluctance to share more information reflected
Erdogan's and Gul's overconfidence in their ability to
deliver AK's Parliamentary group. In a March 4 conversation,
senior CHP M.P. and long-time pollster Bulent Tanla, who has
helped to lead the anti-deployment efforts together with
Islamist columnist Fehmi Koru and others, asserted that AK's
failure to communicate better with CHP directly led to CHP's
decision to vote en bloc against the Parliamentary motion.


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Vague apologies for Sav
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6. (C) Reftel reported CHP General Secretary Onder Sav's
March 1 remarks in the open session of Parliament -- carried
on live television -- in which he called U.S. ships off the
Turkish coast "ships of the enemy." Since then CHP M.P.s --
including Altay, Koc, and Tanla -- have offered reluctant
apologies for Sav's statement, while professing their
friendship with the U.S. Notably, Baykal offered no such
apology in his meeting with Congressmen Wexler and Whitfield.


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Comment: Bleating rings hollow
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7. (C) CHP's continued harping on "international legitimacy"
and complaints about alleged poor communication from AK
overshadow what appears to be the party's ultimate goal in
opposing a war in Iraq: humiliating the AK government. Altay
self-servingly claimed that if CHP were in power, it would
support the USG without hesitation. However, as the party in
the minority, he averred, "we have to vote against the
government's policies." Altay hinted that the U.S. should be
happy to have AK in power during this sensitive time, because
AK is able to keep a lid on religious groups. If CHP were in
power, he said, these groups would be leading huge protests
against the war and government. Bottom line: CHP continues
to play a cynical, negative-value-added game.
PEARSON