TURKEY: GENC PARTY DREAMS BIG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002516

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/17/2013
TAGS: PREL PGOV TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: GENC PARTY DREAMS BIG


(U) Classified by Acting Political Counselor Nicholas S.
Kass. Reason: 1.5 (b)(d).



1. (C) Motorola deadbeat Cem Uzan's Genc (Young) Party Ankara
provincial chairman Sule Nazlioglu expounded in a forceful
manner on her party's political goals in an April 16 meeting
with poloffs in Kizilcahamam sub-province. Surrounded by a
coterie of dapper young men who seemed out of place in a land
of crushed-shoe small-town conservatism, Nazlioglu wagged her
finger and raised her voice to a near screech while offering
the following:


-- Genc doesn't want to be labeled as a party with a
particular ideology. "As our Chairman says, 'if people want
to call us fascists, then we are fascists; if people want to
call us communists, then we are communists; if they call us
capitalists, we're capitalists.'"


-- In stark contrast to the rampant anti-Americanism that
pervades all of Cem Uzan's media outlets and Genc Party ads,
Nazlioglu claimed the party's commitment to Turkey's good
relations with U.S. She did not elaborate when pressed.


-- Genc was formed largely as a reaction against the
fecklessness of past Turkish administrations.


-- Gesturing to her well-heeled colleagues, she asserted that
Genc members are highly educated and come from a variety of
political backgrounds. Nazlioglu, for example, is a former
activist on the left. Former members of center-right DYP and
ultranationalist MHP were also present.


-- Genc is confident it can capitalize on its showing in the
national elections, in which it captured 7.5% of votes. "If
we can get 7.5% in only two months (after the party was set
up),then we should be able to win a majority the next time."
(Note: one Genc official claimed the party had become a case
study for political science students at Bilkent University.
We have heard on the street that Genc officials believe they
are at well over 10 percent in the public opinion surveys.
End note.)


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Star Search
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2. (C) While maintaining is sullen rhetoric and angry
nationalist-corporatist pose, Genc is trying to acquire the
patina of a legitimate party -- mostly by recruiting legit
faces as poster boys to woo more mainstream voters. Longtime
Embassy contacts Adil Asirim (formerly of ANAP) and Ufuk
Soylemez (erstwhile DYP) recently joined Genc. Asirim and
Soylemez had challenged for the ANAP and DYP chairmanships;
the publicity garnered from their failed bids generated some
buzz as they crossed over to the Uzan family.



3. (C) A variety of Congen Istanbul (septel) and Embassy Pol
section contacts tell us that Genc is making a serious effort
to recruit Istanbul Mayor Ali Mufit Gurtuna. According to
press reports, Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek is also considering
joining the Uzans. However, denying the Genc story to us
April 17, Gokcek's chief of staff Murat Dogru claimed instead
that the ruling AK Party, not Genc, had asked Gokcek to join.
Gokcek's political enemies, he said (note: and there are
many in AK. End note) had planted the Genc story to discredit
him. Dogru added that Gokcek is in no hurry to sign on with
AK in any event -- given the party's "unsuccessful government
up to now."


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Comment: Machine-Building
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4. (C) Contacts from across the political spectrum have
expressed concern that, with local elections mandatory by
April 2004, Genc is increasingly seen as an emerging threat
to both AK and the Establishmentarian CHP -- which many
deride as a weak and vulnerable opposition party. While Genc
has some media and other financial advantages stemming from
the Uzan fortune, the party itself still has some work to do.
The Istanbul and Ankara mayoralties would be huge prizes,
and would certainly strengthen the infrastructure of a
political machine still in its organizational infancy.
PEARSON