TURKEY'S SOUTHEAST: LEADING MARDIN M.P.S SUPPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002232 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2013 TAGS: PGOV PREL TU SUBJECT: TURKEY'S SOUTHEAST: LEADING MARDIN M.P.S SUPPORT U.S. -- WHILE HAKKARI DYP BACKS "THE STATE" REF: A. ANKARA 2018 ¶B. ANKARA 1631 ¶C. ADANA 95 (U) Classified by Political Counselor John Kunstadter. Reasons: 1.5(b)(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Prominent Kurdish M.P.s representing the border province of Mardin for both ruling AK and opposition CHP support the U.S.-led war against Saddam. Despite (1) pressure from elements within AK, (2) outright hostility from the CHP and the Turkish State, and (3) the ethnically Turkish public's strong anti-war sentiment, these M.P.s tell us their own personal and regional political interests, and those of their constituents, are supported by the USG approach, not the approach of Ankara. Meanwhile, an M.P. representing Hakkari for right-of-center DYP -- which is trying to revive its fortunes by tying itself to the security forces -- charges that the USG is supporting Turkey's enemies including the N. Iraqi Kurdish "bandits," the PKK, and Kurdish Hizbullah. End summary. -------------- Memo to Baykal: Give It A Rest -------------- ¶2. (C) CHP deputy Mahmut Duyan, scion of the huge Duyan Kurdish tribe in the Mardin Turkey-Syria-Iraq area, told us April 4 he has faced a barrage of criticism from party colleagues and associated media because he rented property to the U.S. military in the region. Flipping through a file of newspaper articles lambasting his business deals with the U.S., Duyan noted that the reaction against him has only reinforced his support for U.S. efforts in the region. ¶3. (C) Indeed, Duyan declared that "I would now be willing to provide land for free to the U.S. My conscience is clear." He asserted that in any event he had joined CHP only to receive financial assistance for the November 2002 national elections. He also noted that the Duyan tribe is theoretically large enough to provide enough votes for an independent seat in the legislature. Duyan, formerly with right-of-center DYP that long dominated the province, claimed that CHP "now needs me more than I need them." -------------- --- Memo to Tayyip: Listen Up -- Because TGS Doesn't -------------- --- ¶4. (C) April 3 an AK Party M.P., a leading conservative figure in both Mardin and the wider region, gave us a pro-U.S., decidedly anti-Turkish State view. "The Turkish state has absolutely no right -- none -- to intervene unilaterally in northern Iraq" under any conditions, the M.P. said. If the Turkish military does so, it will have face a Kurdish uprising in Turkey that will make the PKK pale by comparison, he stated. The criticism emanating from AK elements and the Establishment alike regarding alleged USG "massacres" of civilians in Iraq is simply ridiculous, he asserted. He then produced a large, framed poster of the results of Saddam's chemical attack on Halabja in 1988, noting that Turks remain largely silent about the Baath'ist regime's ongoing atrocities against civilians. ¶5. (C) "We (Kurds) have real problems throughout the region" -- political, economic, and social -- the M.P. explained. Instead of dealing with these, however, the Turkish State, "as represented by the military," insists on an approach that over time has only humiliated the Kurds and made them feel less tied to Ankara. "Throughout the region you see mountains with messages carved into them that proclaim that Turkey is for the Turks. Why don't you see the same in Kastamonu or Corum" or elsewhere in ethnically Turkish central Anatolia, he asked rhetorically. The deputy added that he repeatedly gives the same message to P.M. Erdogan, who knows he has a problem; meanwhile, the military and other elements of the Turkish State refuse to listen. ¶6. (C) The M.P. observed that the various tribes, landlords (aghas),and tarikat lodges retain considerable influence in the southeast. The current "feudal structure" in Mardin, he said, is closely tied to the Turkish State, which uses it to manipulate politics and keep the region under control. He expressed hope, however, that the tribes and tarikats would in the future be able to play a more "positive" role regarding Kurdish issues. While there are still some diehards that support the approach of Ankara, "90 percent of the people now have their eyes open" to the realities on the ground in Mardin and elsewhere. -------------- DYP: Remnants of Susurluk -------------- ¶7. (C) DYP, long in control of the Mardin municipality, has long been seen by the Turkish State as a political means to keep the province and the wider region "stable" -- as evidenced in part by the 1996 Susurluk scandal and the nexus of security forces, primarily DYP M.P.s, and organized crime groups that fought the PKK. That nexus still involves some DYP elements in the southeast, who retain their sizeable paramilitary "village guard" cadres -- DYP M.P. Mehmet Tatar from nearby Hakkari being one prominent example. He asserted to us March 17 that: (1) the USG supports not only the northern Iraqi Kurds but indirectly the terrorist PKK and Turkish "Hizbullah" (comment: the latter in fact created by the security forces to combat Kurdish "separatism." End comment); (2) he has presented files detailing alleged nefarious USG activities to both TGS and President Sezer, "who are very worried about the emergence on an independent Kurdish state"; (3) Turkey should invade northern Iraq on its own to protect Turkish interests; and (4) he, personally, with his "thousands" of village guards, is "the guarantor of the Turkish State" in his chunk of the southeast. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) The Iraq question has brought to the fore how little Ankara has done throughout the life of the Republic of Turkey to address the political, economic, and social questions of a significant number of citizens who are ever more aware of their Kurdishness. PEARSON