GENC (YOUNG) PARTY MACHINATIONS IN KIRKLARELI

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISTANBUL 001014

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2013
TAGS: PGOV TU
SUBJECT: GENC (YOUNG) PARTY MACHINATIONS IN KIRKLARELI
PROVINCE


Classified By: Consul General David Arnett for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).





1. (C) Genc (Young) Party is in the process of attempting to
build a Turkey-wide base of support, seeking to co-opt local
politicians and appeal to broadly-nationalist sentiment.
Conversations with political leaders in one rural province
suggest that the combination of political ambition, murky
business dealings, and strong-arm tactics has left some of
the target audience wary of Cem Uzan and his party.


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Genc Comes to Kirklareli
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2. (U) Kirklareli is the capital of the province of the same
name in Trakya (European Turkey),a city of 53,000 people,
with an economy centered on farming and border trade with
Bulgaria. Kirklareli has a long history of center-left
voting, and CHP took the largest share in the last elections.
AK and Genc Party, both competing for center-right votes,
took second and third. Longer-standing parties that
previously did well in the province (such as MHP, DYP, ANAP,
and DSP) were badly defeated, taking on average just a few
percent of the vote.



3. (C) Genc Party has sought to consolidate and build upon
its base in Kirklareli in the wake of the November election,
establishing a party headquarters, courting local
politicians, and publicizing its populist rhetoric. The
strategy, it appears, can only take Genc so far, as evidenced
by the comments of contacts in Kirklareli. The province,
though a political backwater in itself, may be indicative of
a large segment of the rural and newly-urban voters who have
displayed some reticence toward Genc.


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By Any Means Necessary?
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4. (C) In the run-up to the November 2002 election, Kirkareli
sources report that Genc Party used particularly aggressive
tactics to attract voters there, including: forcing employees
of Telsim, Imar Bankasi, and other Uzan family businesses to
join Genc, using Uzan media outlets (including cell-phone
text messaging) to drive home the Genc message, increasing
profits to Uzan sub-contractors and distributors who visibly
supported the party and providing free cement for home
building to poorer segments of the population from the Uzans'
nearby Halapasa Cement Factory.



5. (C) According to Kirklareli Mayor Cengiz Bagdan, many
local politicians were also approached to join Genc, himself
included. Bagdan professes no interest currently in leaving
nationalist MHP, though he admits that may change as local
elections get closer.



6. (C) Separately, Sait Lutfu Gur, Chairman of the Chamber of
Tradesmen and Craftsmen, confirmed Genc Party's aggressive
politics. Gur believes, however, that the nationalist
rhetoric of Genc combined with strong-arm tactics has little
resonance in this area of Turkey. Kirklareli's economy was
more lightly affected than elsewhere by economic crises, and
has significantly less unemployment. Benefiting from free
trade, Gur and his colleaugues passionately argued for a
reduction in trade barriers as the best way to help the
Turkish economy, which runs against some of Genc's more
strident xenophobic rhetoric.


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Comment
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7. (C) Rural, statist, and moderately conservative,
Kirklareli has many traits similar to other Genc strongholds.
Some of Genc's more unseemly strong arm tactics have kept a
lid on any budding enthusiasm there, especially when coupled
with Kirklareli's pro-trade, left-of-center attitudes.
ARNETT