Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ANKARA3112
2005-06-03 09:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:  

HIGH COURT RULES FOR CLOSURE OF TEACHERS' UNION

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE 
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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 003112 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE
SUBJECT: HIGH COURT RULES FOR CLOSURE OF TEACHERS' UNION

REF: 04 ANKARA 6837

Classified by Deputy Polcouns Charles O. Blaha; reasons 1.4 b
and d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 003112

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE
SUBJECT: HIGH COURT RULES FOR CLOSURE OF TEACHERS' UNION

REF: 04 ANKARA 6837

Classified by Deputy Polcouns Charles O. Blaha; reasons 1.4 b
and d.


1. (U) Summary: A Turkish appeals court ruled May 25 for the
closure of Egitim Sen, the country's largest teachers' union,
on the grounds that the union's bylaw violates the
Constitution by advocating education in "mother tongues,"
which would include Kurdish. The union will appeal the
ruling to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Union
leaders might avoid closure by removing the controversial
language from the bylaw while the ECHR case is pending.
Egitim Sen representatives say the union is opposed by both
the State, which views the use of Kurdish as a threat to
national unity, and the ruling AK Party (AKP),which resents
the union's strongly secular stance. Egitim Sen has close
relations with teachers' unions abroad, and European contacts
say EU states are watching the case closely. End Summary.

--------------
Union Will Appeal to ECHR
--------------


2. (U) The Turkish High Court of Appeals ruled that the bylaw
of Egitim Sen, the trade union representing 30 percent of
teachers in Turkey, violates the Constitution by advocating
the right of citizens to be educated in their mother tongue.
The 45-0 ruling was issued by the Court's Grand Chamber, its
highest body. The ruling cannot be appealed further within
the Turkish judiciary.


3. (U) Oya Aydin, attorney for Egitim Sen, told us she will
file an appeal June 2 with the ECHR. She will ask the ECHR
to issue an immediate, "precautionary" ruling that would
prohibit the GOT from closing Egitim Sen while the broader
ECHR case is ongoing. However, she said precautionary
rulings are normally reserved for matters of life and death,
and it is unlikely the ECHR will grant her request.


4. (U) Aydin predicted that the union will hold an emergency
board meeting to temporarily remove the article on mother
tongue education from the bylaw. This would nullify the
closure order and allow Egitim Sen to maintain operations.
If the ECHR rules in the union's favor, a process that would
take 3-4 years, the language could be re-inserted into the

bylaw. If Egitim Sen fails to revise its bylaw, and if the
ECHR fails to issue a precautionary ruling, then the union
will be closed within two months.

--------------
Labor Court Sides With Union
--------------


5. (U) The Grand Chamber ruling against Egitim Sen capped a
see-saw legal battle between the appeals court and an Ankara
labor court that rejected the charges against the union. The
labor court in September 2004 ruled that the case against
Egitim Sen violated the rights of free expression and
association. The court stated in its decision that such
cases "can only be launched in countries like Colombia but
not in the juridical framework of the European Union." The
labor court further asserted that education in mother tongues
would strengthen, not threaten, national unity. The High
Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, maintaining that
under the European Convention on Human Rights freedom of
association can be restricted "for the protection of national
security, territorial integrity, and public order."
Nevertheless, the labor court in February 2005 stood by its
original decision, at which point prosecutors took the case
to the Grand Chamber.


6. (U) At issue is an article of the Egitim Sen bylaw in
which the union "defends the right of individuals to receive
education and develop their culture in their mother tongue."
Prosecutors charged that the bylaw article violates Article 3
of the Constitution, which states that Turkish is the
official language of the nation, and Article 42, which states
that, "no language other than Turkish will be taught as a
mother tongue to Turkish citizens." Union attorneys argue
that the bylaw does not challenge Turkish as the official
language, and does not violate Article 42 because it is
merely an expression of the union's view, not a call to
action.


7. (U) State restrictions on the use of "mother tongues" are
primarily aimed at limiting the use of Kurdish, the only
restricted language for which there is a significant demand.
Under recent EU-related reforms, it has become legal to open
private Kurdish language courses, but not to teach or use
Kurdish in primary or secondary schools.

--------------
State Views Kurdish Education As Threat
--------------


8. (U) Both Aydin and Emirali Simsek, Egitim Sen General
Secretary, averred to us that the case against the union is

SIPDIS
politically motivated. Simsek noted that the controversial
sentence has been in the union's bylaw for 15 years, though
it was modified slightly in 2002. He said efforts to close
the union began in 2003 when the Turkish General Staff (TGS)
raised objections. Simsek showed us a copy from the case
file of a June 27, 2003 letter from TGS to the Ministry of
Labor and Social Security calling on Egitim Sen to remove the
mother tongue article from the bylaw.


9. (C) Simsek said Egitim Sen is vulnerable because it has
enemies in both the security establishment and the AKP. TGS
and other core State institutions consider the use of Kurdish
a threat to national unity, and therefore object to the
union's advocacy of education in mother tongues.

--------------
AKP Objects to Union's Secular Stance
--------------


10. (C) AKP, meanwhile, views Egitim Sen as an obstacle to
its efforts to expand the role of religion in education,
Simsek said. The union's members are generally leftist and
highly secular. Egitim Sen has challenged a number of AKP
proposals that the union deemed contrary to secular
education. For example, the union tried unsuccessfully to
block a recent AKP plan to include visits to mosques and more
extensive prayer instruction in high school religion classes.
This explains why the Labor Ministry, led by AKP appointees,
did not resist when TGS urged the Ministry to open a case
against Egitim Sen, he said.


11. (C) Aydin said this dual opposition to Egitim Sen
explains the unanimous decision by the high court to close
the union -- all the Grand Chamber members are under the
influence of either AKP or the security establishment. She
noted that the Grand Chamber took only 26 days to reach its
unanimous decision to close the union. She said she
researched past cases, and concluded that the court normally
deliberates for at least 80 days before reaching a verdict.

--------------
Ruling Reflects Anti-EU Backlash
--------------


12. (C) Still, she did not expect it to come to this. After
the February decision by the labor court to stand by its
rejection of the case against Egitim Sen, Aydin predicted
prosecutors would not appeal. The case had drawn
international attention at a time when Turkey's EU candidacy
placed the judiciary under a spotlight. According to Aydin,
the Turkish State has become generally more reluctant to
close "suspect" institutions, preferring instead to keep them
off balance through harassment cases ending in acquittal.
Aydin believes the State's decision to go the distance in the
Egitim Sen case is a reflection of the broader nationalist
backlash against the EU reforms.


13. (C) Several European diplomats have told us their
capitals have instructed them to follow the Egitim Sen case
closely. Egitim Sen has more than 200,000 members, making it
not only the biggest teachers' union, but the biggest union
of any kind in Turkey. Its membership is not overwhelmingly
Kurdish. It has close ties to teachers' unions in Europe,
which, our contacts say, are pressuring their governments to
raise the case with the GOT. Egitim Sen has also been in
contact with the National Education Association in
Washington, which has written to PM Erdogan, President Sezer,
and Justice Minister Cicek about the court ruling.

--------------
Comment
--------------


14. (C) The ECHR is sure to rule in Egitim Sen's favor, a
point the labor court made clear in its attempts to dismiss
the charges. But the Turks are in no mood these days to take
their cues from Europe. While there have been some positive
rulings over the past couple of years by courts citing the
European Convention on Human Rights, we continue to see
verdicts, like this one, that openly flout EU standards.

EDELMAN