GOT HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL RESIGNS, OFFICE MAY BE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005163

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE
SUBJECT: GOT HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL RESIGNS, OFFICE MAY BE
CLOSED

REF: A. 03 ANKARA 2368


B. 04 ANKARA 126

C. 04 ANKARA 6116

Classified by Polcouns Janice G. Weiner; reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary: Vahit Bicak, head of the GOT's Human Rights
Presidency, told us he will resign this month, out of
frustration over the lack of support for the office from PM
Erdogan and other GOT leaders. He said Erdogan informed him
that he will not back a plan to create a new, independent
human rights institution, and indicated that he may close the
Presidency. Bicak has been controversial within the Turkish
human rights community, but he has been a valuable
interlocutor who tried, without GOT funding, to make
something out of a long-neglected office. End Summary.

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PM: No Need for Independent Body
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2. (C) Bicak told us September 1 that he will leave the Human
Rights Presidency September 17, after two years on the job,
and return to the Criminal Justice Faculty of the national
Police Academy. He said he decided to resign after a recent
meeting with PM Erdogan, at which Erdogan told him there is
no need for the GOT to establish an independent human rights
institution. The Danish Embassy and the Danish Institute for
Human Rights had been engaged in discussions with the GOT for
over a year, aimed at establishing an independent institution
in Turkey similar to the Danish Institute. The establishment
of an independent human rights institution had been one of
Bicak's top priorities. According to the Danish DCM, the
institution would have been government funded, but would have
maintained independence, similar to the judiciary.


3. (C) Bicak said Erdogan made his decision after consulting
with Prime Ministry Undersecretary Dincer, who also attended
the meeting. Dincer, who is overseeing a draft law on GOT
administrative reform, argued that an independent human
rights institution is unnecessary, given the existence of the
parliamentary Human Rights Committee.

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Existing Office May Also Be Closed
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4. (C) Dincer, according to Bicak, further maintained that
the existing Human Rights Presidency is also unnecessary.
Bicak said Erdogan did not respond to this point directly,
and it is not clear whether he will name a successor to Bicak
or close the office. The Human Rights Presidency is attached
to the Prime Ministry; the head of the office reports
directly to FM and Deputy PM Gul. It does not have a
separate budget, and has been allocated minimal funds since
its establishment in 1997. The Presidency is charged with
overseeing the human rights boards located in all 81
provinces and 849 sub-provinces. It is not clear whether the
boards will be maintained if the Presidency is closed. The
head of the Presidency serves as a member of the Reform
Monitoring Committee, a board led by Gul that the GOT
established to monitor the implementation of reforms related
to EU accession.


5. (C) The Danish DCM told us he is disappointed, though not
surprised, to learn that the GOT has abandoned the idea of an
independent human rights institution, noting that the GOT
leadership had never shown much interest in the proposal. He
said he is particularly concerned about the possibility that
the GOT will close the Presidency. He rejected the idea that
the parliamentary Human Rights Committee can fill the role
designated for the Presidency. The committee, he said, is
ineffective; its members are more interested in political
grandstanding than in promoting human rights. (Note: This is
our assessment as well, per reftel A. End Note.)

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Bicak Scored Some Successes...
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6. (C) During his tenure, Bicak drafted a regulation, adopted
by the GOT, that removed police and Jandarma officers from
the provincial and sub-provincial human rights boards and
increased the NGO/civil society representation (reftel B).
He also established a uniform system for collecting data from
the boards on human rights-related complaints. Frustrated by
the lack of GOT funding, he conducted a range of projects
under the sponsorship of foreign governments. These included
a USD 50,000 project on detainees' rights funded by the U.S.
State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, and overseen by the Embassy. Bicak plans to complete
the final portion of that project -- distribution of a
detailed book on detainees' rights to the human rights boards
-- before leaving office. He often came under fire from
Turkish nationalists for taking money from foreign
governments.

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...While Also Drawing Controversy
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7. (C) At the same time, Bicak has been a controversial
figure in the human rights community. He was widely
criticized by Turkish human rights NGO leaders and Danish
officials for his aggressive efforts to reserve for himself
the presidency of an independent human rights institution.
Bicak drafted a regulation establishing requirements for the
job, including 10 years of government experience, that
matched his resume and seemed designed to eliminate rivals.
He also failed to defend a GOT human rights body when it came
under fire for drafting an accurate but controversial report
on minorities in Turkey (reftel C).

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Comment: A Flawed But Valuable Interlocutor
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8. (C) Bicak has a tendency to let his ego get the better of
him. At the same time, though, we must credit him for trying
to make something out of an office that the GOT has neglected
since the day it was established. The provincial and
sub-provincial human rights boards are largely ineffective.
They lack training and guidance, and many of them do not even
meet regularly. Unlike his predecessors, Bicak made an
effort to change that, despite having virtually no budget to
work with. Our joint program on detainee rights included a
June 9 conference in Ankara that marked the first time
representatives from all 81 provincial human rights boards
had assembled in one place. The one-day conference featured
a series of panel discussions with legal experts. Following
this event, Bicak produced a pamphlet on detainee rights,
which his office distributed to the provincial boards. He
also drew wide press coverage for the pamphlet, highlighting
the large number of Turkish citizens who are subject to some
form of police investigation each year.


9. (C) The Human Rights Presidency has never been an
influential office. But before Bicak, few people in Turkey
were even aware that the office existed. That was beginning
to change. Given the weak state of civil society in Turkey,
and the highly politicized nature of Turkish NGOs, it will be
difficult to find suitable alternative partners for efforts
such as the detainee rights project if the Presidency is
closed.
MCELDOWNEY