GOT DISCOURAGES VISIT TO SOUTHEAST BY GERMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004031

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE
SUBJECT: GOT DISCOURAGES VISIT TO SOUTHEAST BY GERMAN
PROTESTANT CHURCH GROUP

REF: ANKARA 3638

Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary: GOT officials tried to discourage a German
Protestant Church delegation from visiting southeastern
Turkey as part of a fact-finding mission on refugee issues.
The Turkish press reported that the MFA and national
intelligence organization (MIT) sent a letter warning
governors not to meet with the group. The letter also
reportedly accused the delegation of advocating a lifting of
legal restrictions on the PKK in Germany; German embassy
contact finds reports of the letter credible. Our German
contact said the head of the Protestant Church will write a
letter to the Turkish Ambassador in Berlin to protest the
GOT's treatment of the group. End Summary.


2. (U) July 7 Thomas Bagger, political and press counselor at
the German Embassy, confirmed to us Turkish press reports
about problems faced by a delegation of Protestant Church
representatives who visited Turkey on a fact-finding mission
on refugee and asylum issues. The delegation, comprising
members of a council of the Protestant Church of Germany and
the Brussels-based Church Commission for Migrants in Europe,
traveled to Ankara, Istanbul, Diyarbakir, Van, and Midyat
during their June 6-17 visit.


3. (U) Bagger said the problems began in Berlin when the
group was working with the Turkish Embassy on the itinerary.
Turkish diplomats were cooperative at first, then suddenly
told delegation members their plans to tour the southeast
were "unwelcome" and they should limit their contacts to
Ankara and Istanbul. The Protestant officials approached the
German Foreign Ministry for help. The German Embassy in
Ankara raised the matter with the MFA, but officials there
were unsupportive.


4. (C) Governors and subgovernors in the southeast uniformly
declined to meet with the 11-member delegation. The Turkish
press reported that the MFA and Turkish National Intelligence
Organization (MIT) sent a letter to the governors warning
them not to meet with the group, and alleging that the
delegation was working to remove restrictions on the PKK in
Germany and promote recognition of the Armenian "genocide."
Bagger told the press that if the existence of the letter is
confirmed, it would harm bilateral relations. Bagger told us
GOT officials both in Ankara and Berlin deny that any such
letter was sent. However, he doesn't believe them -- a
journalist whom Bagger regards as credible told him he had
seen the letter.


5. (C) We tried to discuss the issue with the MFA, but could
find no one who would take responsibility for the issue. We
contacted five different MFA offices, as each one referred us
to another office.


6. (U) In the event, the delegation met with UNHCR
representatives, bar association attorneys, and NGO officials
in the southeast. In Ankara and Istanbul the group met with
parliamentarians, security officials, and European Commission
representatives, as well as NGO leaders. AK Party MP Cavit
Torun, a member of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee,
invited the press to his meeting with the delegation. Torun
accused delegation members of seeking to exploit problems in
Turkey to convert Muslims to Christianity (Note: This was the
same meeting in which Torun said President Bush and Saddam
Hussein were both "tyrants" (reftel)).


7. (U) Bagger said the delegation came to Turkey primarily to
collect information on how Turkish authorities handle refugee
and asylum cases. The Protestant Church plays a major role
in providing relief for refugees in Germany. The delegation
was also interested in the return of Kurdish and Syriac
migrants to the southeast, and the situation of Christian
churches in Turkey.


8. (C) Bagger said the head of the Protestant Church of
Germany will send a letter to the Turkish Ambassador in
Berlin protesting the GOT's treatment of the delegation.
Bagger expects the controversy to die there, though the event
will "take its place on the list of concerns about Turkey."

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Comment
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9. (C) PM Erdogan and other GOT leaders have recently
expressed growing unease about visits to the southeast by
European delegations. It is natural for visitors interested
in human rights, or refugees, to tour the beleaguered region.
But the Turks tend to view outsiders' interest in the
southeast as promotion of Kurdish separatism. In the eyes of
the Turkish government and State, this Protestant group
raised fears about separatism and fed already deep and open
prejudices against "Christian missionaries".
MCELDOWNEY