Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ANKARA6984
2004-12-16 10:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:  

DIYARBAKIR GOVERNOR - A BREATH OF FRESH AIR?

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL TU 
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This 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 03 ANKARA 006984 

SIPDIS

ISTANBUL PLS PASS ADANA

E.O.12958: DECL: 12/16/2025
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL TU
SUBJECT: DIYARBAKIR GOVERNOR - A BREATH OF FRESH AIR?

REFS: A. ADANA 104


B. ANKARA 6277

(U) Classified by Political Counselor John Kunstadter, E.O.
12958, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

This message is from AmConsul Adana.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 006984

SIPDIS

ISTANBUL PLS PASS ADANA

E.O.12958: DECL: 12/16/2025
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL TU
SUBJECT: DIYARBAKIR GOVERNOR - A BREATH OF FRESH AIR?

REFS: A. ADANA 104


B. ANKARA 6277

(U) Classified by Political Counselor John Kunstadter, E.O.
12958, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

This message is from AmConsul Adana.


1. (SBU) Summary: NGO contacts in Diyarbakir confirmed
recent press reports of friction between Diyarbakir's
Governor Efkan Ala and Security Director Orhan Okur
attributing it to the Director's unhappiness with the
Governor's relatively liberal views on freedom of expression
and assembly. In Van, Poloff discussed with the Governor
court cases involving Amcits Victor and Kristy Bedoian,
expressing the U.S. Mission's interest in the case. The
Sirnak Governor expressed to poloff his dissatisfaction with
northern Iraqi customs officials and predicted (as others
have for two years) that a Union of Turkish Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Habur modernization project would
be up and running soon. End Summary.

Let Them Demonstrate!
--------------


2. (C) In a recent visit to Diyarbakir, Sehmus Diken,
advisor to Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, corroborated
press reports that friction between Diyarbakir Governor Ala
and Diyarbakir Security Director Okur had surfaced since the
Governor's appointment some four months ago. (Note: As
background, per Ref A, Okur asserted to poloff on a previous
occasion that all civic associations in Diyarbakir have ties
with terrorists. Ala, on the other hand, is viewed
positively for his accessibility and views by civic
association contacts in Batman province where he previously
served. End note). According to Diken, Okur has taken leave
and left town twice already since the Governor's appointment,
and was on leave when we visited Diyarbakir in early
December. When queried as to which of the Governor's
policies might be considered so liberal as to offend Okur,
Diken responded that Governor Ala has been approving all NGO
requests to publish press statements and hold demonstrations,
a break from practices of the previous Governor.


3. (SBU) Providing another example, Diken pointed to a
literature festival underway in Diyarbakir during our visit
that brought some 250 visitors to the city from inside and

outside Turkey, including Laz, Armenian, Syriac, Turkish and
Kurdish writers. At the previous year's festival, said
Diken, the Security Director reportedly requested copies of
identification documents for all the participants, and
security officials filmed participants. This year there was
no such request, nor uninvited cameramen. (Note: Despite
municipal governments' frequent lamentations regarding their
budgets, this cultural event was reportedly being funded
completely by the municipality to the tune of $200,000. End
note.)

Warmth Breeds Warmth
--------------


4. (C) Other non-governmental contacts in Diyarbakir agreed
that Governor Ala is off to a good start with the citizens of
heavily-Kurdish Diyarbakir. Lezgin Yalcin, who staffs the
EU's Business Corner in Diyarbakir, referring to the
Governor, said, "We warm up to anyone who shows warmth to
us." The Governor, he said, has bought a positive climate to
Diyarbakir, especially with his public statements about the
need for implementation of recent reforms. Separately,
Yalcin added that Mayor Baydemir recently gave an excellent
speech on the need for reconciliation and peace in the
region. Yalcin also noted that while the city's previous
mayor was sometimes criticized for traveling internationally
too much, Baydemir is not facing criticism despite his
frequent travels because he goes out of the way to report
back and share information about his trips.


5. (C) Reyhan Yalcindag, National Vice-President of the
Human Rights Association (HRA) added that Security Director
Okur has been in Diyarbakir for just one year, during which
time there has been an increase in arbitrary detentions and
overall tension. Her impression now is that Governor Ala is
approving all NGO petitions for demonstrations, and is
sending signals to the police not to use force to solve
"problems" at demonstrations. Some in the judicial,
administrative and military bureaucracies are resisting this,
she claimed. We were unable to raise the question of
tensions between the governor and security director in our
meeting with Diyarbakir Sub-Governor Vahettin Ozkan since a
security directorate chief inspector unexpectedly invited
himself to sit in.

Cannot Even Imagine an EU "No"
--------------


6. (C) On the upcoming EU decision, Diken stated that he
"cannot even imagine what will happen if Turkey gets a 'no'
from the EU." When former EU Commissioner for Enlargement
Verheugen visited Diyarbakir earlier in the fall, he told the
civic association representatives attending a dinner in his
honor that they had made his work easier by sharing with him
their worry related to a negative answer. According to
Diken, Verheugen implied that before that visit he had not
been aware of just how much support there is for Turkey's EU
candidacy among the Diyarbakir civic associations and many in
the pro-Kurdish community. However, Diken also told poloff
Turkey has no idea what it will do the day after a 'yes'
answer.

On Amcits in Van
--------------

7. (C) Elsewhere in the region, poloff recently met with
Governors in Van and Sirnak. Van has a reputation for being
one of the wildest wild-east provinces: a Governor was
almost assassinated last summer and a former MP recently had
his drug-smuggling son broken out of jail. Van Governor
Mehmet Niyazi Tanilir responded to poloff's query regarding
the court cases of Amcits Kristy and Victor Bedoian (ref B)
by saying he is hoping for a fair and speedy resolution.
Proclaiming, "We trust the Turkish justice system," he
asserted that the judiciary is independent. Poloff stressed
that the U.S. Mission is following the Bedoians' cases
carefully, and also hopes for an expeditious decision in the
property ownership case, noting that such disputes can have a
dampening effect on potential foreign investors' enthusiasm
for Turkey. On a separate issue, Tanilir told poloff that
the controversy that has surfaced about the definition of the
word "minority" shows that democratic debate is expanding in
Turkey, and that once taboo topics are out in the open now.
He was uncertain that the Compensation Law would have much
impact on returns to villages, stating that many who have
moved from their villages are becoming more accustomed to
their homes in the city, or earning an income there. The
young, especially, he thought would be unlikely to return to
villages. In discussing the village guard program, he noted
that it had always been meant to be a temporary program, and
that it had been created for a specific reason. The
resumption of PKK attacks in June showed that the program is
still needed, he averred.

Modernization Project for Habur Gate: Finally?
-------------- --


8. (C) Despite our request for a private meeting, in front
of the media Sirnak Governor Osman Gunes harangued poloff for
continuously visiting the same individuals in the region and
demanded to know why we did that. When we asked whom he was
referring to, the Governor insisted we knew who he was
talking about. On this trip, we did not visit the human
rights organizations that so often agitate government
officials; we did visit a Syriac bishop in Midyat and a local
sheik in Cizre, however, which might have been the source of
the Governor's pique. His performance appeared staged for
the consumption of other Sirnak officials, including security
officials, but the internal politics were unclear. After
this introduction, Gunes focused on his concerns and
complaints surrounding Habur Gate and trucker security. He
charged that Turkish Customs officials there have no reliable
counterparts in Northern Iraq, and charged that the officials
on the Iraqi side are extracting bribes from Turkish truckers
and "closing down whenever they want to." Iraqi trucks are
allowed to jump to the front of the line ahead of Turks, he
claimed.


9. (SBU) The Governor told poloff that in late October, the
Union of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) and
the GOT had signed a protocol for TOBB's modernization
project at Habur Gate. He expected construction would be
underway within a month and that the project could last up to
one year. Many Chamber of Commerce representatives and the
Habur Customs officials with whom we spoke gave the same
prediction. However, it appears that one more step remains
before the project moves forward: according to the Cizre
Chamber of Commerce, TOBB must now "guarantee" the project by
depositing an unspecified amount of money in an account
before the High Planning Council gives final approval to the
project. (Note: This account has not been
corroborated/confirmed by other sources. End note.) In any
event, when the project does move forward, it is expected to
follow the Build-Operate-Transfer model that TOBB used in its
Ipsala Border Gate project on the border with Greece. It is
unclear what impact the construction will have on processing
capabilities at Habur Gate, though at least one contractor
with whom we spoke believes the negative impact should be
minimal.


10. (C) Comment: The tension between Diyarbakir,s
Governor's and Security Director mirrors a larger debate
within Turkey over whether the EU reform process has gone too
far. The Governor,s reform-minded approach has won praise
from even a representative of the normally-hypercritical HRA.
Still, as evidenced by the inspector,s intrusion into our
meeting, the forces that oppose reform are far from moribund.
End Comment.
EDELMAN