Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ANKARA4196
2003-07-02 15:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:
GOT CIRCULAR ON ARMENIAN "GENOCIDE" SEEN AS
how-toThis record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004196
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU
SUBJECT: GOT CIRCULAR ON ARMENIAN "GENOCIDE" SEEN AS
ANTI-REFORM EFFORT
Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.5 b and d.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004196
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU
SUBJECT: GOT CIRCULAR ON ARMENIAN "GENOCIDE" SEEN AS
ANTI-REFORM EFFORT
Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.5 b and d.
1. (C) Summary: Turkish Education Ministry has urged all
fifth- and seventh-graders to write an essay arguing that
allegations that the Ottomans committed genocide against
ARMENIAns are "baseless." The Ministry also asked schools to
organize conferences on the issue, and seven teachers have
been indicted for comments made during one such conference.
Our contacts, both in and outside the GOT, are mostly
embarrassed by these measures, but the chairman of the
parliamentary Human Rights Committee defended the essays.
Academics and human rights activists said they believe the
military-dominated National Security Council (NSC) is behind
the measures. End Summary.
-------------- --------------
Students Urged to Write About "Baseless" Allegations
-------------- --------------
2. (U) Education Minister Celik in April issued a circular
urging all schools in Turkey to have their fifth- and
seventh-graders prepare a one-page essay arguing that the
allegations that Turkey committed genocide against ARMENIAns
are "baseless." The essays have been submitted to the
Education Ministry, which will review them and announce in
September the winners of the national competition.
--------------
ARMENIAn Schools Ignoring Contest
--------------
3. (U) Turkey's ARMENIAn schools were included in the
distribution of the circular. However, Hrant Dink, editor of
the Istanbul-based ARMENIAn newspaper Agos, told us the
ARMENIAn schools are not participating in the voluntary essay
competition. Still, he said, knowledge of the competition is
a kind of "psychological torture" for Turkish ARMENIAns.
--------------
Teachers Arrested at Conference
--------------
4. (U) The circular also asked schools to organize
conferences on the "baseless" allegations. At one such
conference, seven teachers were arrested June 2 in the
southeastern province of Kilis when one teacher, Hulya
Akpinar, got into a dispute with the speaker and was joined
by six others when she walked out in protest. Prosecutors
have indicted the seven teachers, and accuse Akpinar of
claiming during the conference that the Ottoman State had
massacred 800,000 ARMENIAns as part of a deliberate policy.
According to press reports, however, the dispute began after
Akpinar asked the speaker whether the GOT had a policy on how
it would respond if the ARMENIAn lobby managed to persuade
many countries to accept the genocide allegations. Akpinar
has reportedly been dismissed from her job.
--------------
Parliamentary and GOT Reactions Mixed
--------------
5. (C) We have raised concerns about the circular and the
indictment with a number of GOT contacts and other public
figures. Most were visibly embarrassed by the issue, but
Mehmet Elkatmis, president of the parliamentary Human Rights
Committee, defended the measures. Elkatmis argued that the
Education Minister "did the right thing" by encouraging
students to "study" the ARMENIAn accusations. When we noted
that the circular required students to reach a specific
conclusion, Elkatmis argued that was justified, given the
GOT's policy on the issue. Elkatmis further averred that the
arrest of the teachers was "not an international incident"
and noted that the teachers were "only under investigation"
and that none remained in detention. (Note: It was clear to
us that Elkatmis had not been aware of the issue; his
responses were prompted by an advisor who whispered in his
ear. End Note).
6. (C) However, Koksal Toptan, chairman of the parliamentary
Justice Committee, said the circular and the indictment
reflect the fact that human rights reform in Turkey is
incomplete. "We have deficiencies in implementation (of
reforms)," he said. "There is no question about that."
Toptan predicted that the charges against the teachers will
be dropped. Abdulkadir Kaya, Justice Ministry Director
General for International Relations, called the indictment of
the teachers "stupid, unacceptable," but said the Justice
Ministry does not have the authority to intervene in the
case. "We are stuck with it for now," he lamented.
--------------
Others Blame NSC and Reform Opponents
--------------
7. (C) Prominent political reformer and civil society
activist Berna Turkili, pointing to what she called the
"Soviet-like" line on her identity card listing religion,
sees the contest as a reflection of continuing paranoia on
the part of an Establishment which wants to keep Turkey
anchored in the revolutionary nationalist fervor of the
Republic's initial period.
8. (C) Suavi Aydin, Hacettepe University anthropology
professor and expert on Anatolian minorities; Baskin Oran,
Ankara University international relations professor; and
Yavuz Onen, Human Rights Foundation chairman, all told us
they blame the NSC for the measures (Note: We have no
information confirming NSC involvement. End Note).
9. (C) "There is no way the Education Minister did this on
his own," Aydin claimed. Aydin argued that the circular is a
reaction by establishmentarian elements of the State opposed
to human rights reform and EU membership. These elements
seek to delay the reform process by pumping life into
traditional Turkish paranoia over issues such as ARMENIAn
genocide allegations, Cyprus, and relations with Greece, he
said. Onen believes the circular has two purposes: 1) to
warn the GOT against any effort to radically change policies
toward ARMENIA, and 2) to ensure that the next generation of
Turks accepts the State view of the genocide allegations.
Oran characterized the circular as a typically clumsy effort
by the Establishment, and predicted the backlash will
actually prove beneficial. "We have to thank the opposition
(to reform) for being stupid," he said. Public reaction to
the arrest of the teachers will generate more open debate
about the genocide allegations, and relations with ARMENIA,
just as the GOT's crackdown on Kurdish cultural expression
has broadened the debate on the Kurdish issue, he said.
10. (C) Editor of intellectual center-left "Radikal" Ismet
Berkan, whose wife is of ARMENIAn descent and whose May 15
column sharply criticized the essay contest, differed on the
contest's origin. Responding to our comment that Education
Minister Celik (from Van, which had a sizable ARMENIAn
population until 1915) has long been a contributor to the
genocide denial camp, Berkan averred that the stimulus for
the contest came from lower-level retrograde Ministry
officials trying to curry favor with Celik.
--------------
Comment
--------------
11. (C) Turkish authorities have long made legal arguments
for rejecting the term "genocide," and otherwise handled the
question in a short-sighted, hyper-defensive manner, for
example by issuing counter accusations of an ARMENIAn
"genocide" of Turks. More and more Turks appear to us to
have an inkling of what happened on both sides, and have
begun to argue that this issue should be left for historians.
It is reprehensible, therefore, to ask young students to
take on this burden, especially considering that Turkish
textbooks provide nothing but propaganda on the question.
PEARSON
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU
SUBJECT: GOT CIRCULAR ON ARMENIAN "GENOCIDE" SEEN AS
ANTI-REFORM EFFORT
Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.5 b and d.
1. (C) Summary: Turkish Education Ministry has urged all
fifth- and seventh-graders to write an essay arguing that
allegations that the Ottomans committed genocide against
ARMENIAns are "baseless." The Ministry also asked schools to
organize conferences on the issue, and seven teachers have
been indicted for comments made during one such conference.
Our contacts, both in and outside the GOT, are mostly
embarrassed by these measures, but the chairman of the
parliamentary Human Rights Committee defended the essays.
Academics and human rights activists said they believe the
military-dominated National Security Council (NSC) is behind
the measures. End Summary.
-------------- --------------
Students Urged to Write About "Baseless" Allegations
-------------- --------------
2. (U) Education Minister Celik in April issued a circular
urging all schools in Turkey to have their fifth- and
seventh-graders prepare a one-page essay arguing that the
allegations that Turkey committed genocide against ARMENIAns
are "baseless." The essays have been submitted to the
Education Ministry, which will review them and announce in
September the winners of the national competition.
--------------
ARMENIAn Schools Ignoring Contest
--------------
3. (U) Turkey's ARMENIAn schools were included in the
distribution of the circular. However, Hrant Dink, editor of
the Istanbul-based ARMENIAn newspaper Agos, told us the
ARMENIAn schools are not participating in the voluntary essay
competition. Still, he said, knowledge of the competition is
a kind of "psychological torture" for Turkish ARMENIAns.
--------------
Teachers Arrested at Conference
--------------
4. (U) The circular also asked schools to organize
conferences on the "baseless" allegations. At one such
conference, seven teachers were arrested June 2 in the
southeastern province of Kilis when one teacher, Hulya
Akpinar, got into a dispute with the speaker and was joined
by six others when she walked out in protest. Prosecutors
have indicted the seven teachers, and accuse Akpinar of
claiming during the conference that the Ottoman State had
massacred 800,000 ARMENIAns as part of a deliberate policy.
According to press reports, however, the dispute began after
Akpinar asked the speaker whether the GOT had a policy on how
it would respond if the ARMENIAn lobby managed to persuade
many countries to accept the genocide allegations. Akpinar
has reportedly been dismissed from her job.
--------------
Parliamentary and GOT Reactions Mixed
--------------
5. (C) We have raised concerns about the circular and the
indictment with a number of GOT contacts and other public
figures. Most were visibly embarrassed by the issue, but
Mehmet Elkatmis, president of the parliamentary Human Rights
Committee, defended the measures. Elkatmis argued that the
Education Minister "did the right thing" by encouraging
students to "study" the ARMENIAn accusations. When we noted
that the circular required students to reach a specific
conclusion, Elkatmis argued that was justified, given the
GOT's policy on the issue. Elkatmis further averred that the
arrest of the teachers was "not an international incident"
and noted that the teachers were "only under investigation"
and that none remained in detention. (Note: It was clear to
us that Elkatmis had not been aware of the issue; his
responses were prompted by an advisor who whispered in his
ear. End Note).
6. (C) However, Koksal Toptan, chairman of the parliamentary
Justice Committee, said the circular and the indictment
reflect the fact that human rights reform in Turkey is
incomplete. "We have deficiencies in implementation (of
reforms)," he said. "There is no question about that."
Toptan predicted that the charges against the teachers will
be dropped. Abdulkadir Kaya, Justice Ministry Director
General for International Relations, called the indictment of
the teachers "stupid, unacceptable," but said the Justice
Ministry does not have the authority to intervene in the
case. "We are stuck with it for now," he lamented.
--------------
Others Blame NSC and Reform Opponents
--------------
7. (C) Prominent political reformer and civil society
activist Berna Turkili, pointing to what she called the
"Soviet-like" line on her identity card listing religion,
sees the contest as a reflection of continuing paranoia on
the part of an Establishment which wants to keep Turkey
anchored in the revolutionary nationalist fervor of the
Republic's initial period.
8. (C) Suavi Aydin, Hacettepe University anthropology
professor and expert on Anatolian minorities; Baskin Oran,
Ankara University international relations professor; and
Yavuz Onen, Human Rights Foundation chairman, all told us
they blame the NSC for the measures (Note: We have no
information confirming NSC involvement. End Note).
9. (C) "There is no way the Education Minister did this on
his own," Aydin claimed. Aydin argued that the circular is a
reaction by establishmentarian elements of the State opposed
to human rights reform and EU membership. These elements
seek to delay the reform process by pumping life into
traditional Turkish paranoia over issues such as ARMENIAn
genocide allegations, Cyprus, and relations with Greece, he
said. Onen believes the circular has two purposes: 1) to
warn the GOT against any effort to radically change policies
toward ARMENIA, and 2) to ensure that the next generation of
Turks accepts the State view of the genocide allegations.
Oran characterized the circular as a typically clumsy effort
by the Establishment, and predicted the backlash will
actually prove beneficial. "We have to thank the opposition
(to reform) for being stupid," he said. Public reaction to
the arrest of the teachers will generate more open debate
about the genocide allegations, and relations with ARMENIA,
just as the GOT's crackdown on Kurdish cultural expression
has broadened the debate on the Kurdish issue, he said.
10. (C) Editor of intellectual center-left "Radikal" Ismet
Berkan, whose wife is of ARMENIAn descent and whose May 15
column sharply criticized the essay contest, differed on the
contest's origin. Responding to our comment that Education
Minister Celik (from Van, which had a sizable ARMENIAn
population until 1915) has long been a contributor to the
genocide denial camp, Berkan averred that the stimulus for
the contest came from lower-level retrograde Ministry
officials trying to curry favor with Celik.
--------------
Comment
--------------
11. (C) Turkish authorities have long made legal arguments
for rejecting the term "genocide," and otherwise handled the
question in a short-sighted, hyper-defensive manner, for
example by issuing counter accusations of an ARMENIAn
"genocide" of Turks. More and more Turks appear to us to
have an inkling of what happened on both sides, and have
begun to argue that this issue should be left for historians.
It is reprehensible, therefore, to ask young students to
take on this burden, especially considering that Turkish
textbooks provide nothing but propaganda on the question.
PEARSON