DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S PARTY (DEHAP) VICE PRESIDENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 007085 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2015 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER TU ADANA PKK SUBJECT: DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S PARTY (DEHAP) VICE PRESIDENT HIKMET FIDAN ASSASSINATION TRIAL REF: A. ANKARA 4182 ¶B. ANKARA 4458 ¶C. ANKARA 6254 ¶D. ADANA 199 Classified by Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, E.O. 12958, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This message is from Consulate Adana. ¶2. (C) Summary: Despite the recent indictment of the suspected killer of former pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) Vice President Hikmet Fidan, questions remain about why he was killed. Fidan's death may have been intended as a message by PKK hard liners to quash attempts by Kurdish moderates to set up alternative voices in Turkey's southeast. End Summary. Three Charged in Assassination -------------- ¶3. (U) The press recently reported that the Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor completed the indictment regarding the summer 2005 assassination of former DEHAP Vice President Hikmet Fidan. The prosecutor demanded a life sentence for the suspected killer, Firat Karahan, and 10 year prison sentences for each of two other suspects in the case. The press reported that Diyarbakir felony court will take up the case soon. Despite the indictment, questions remain about why Fidan was assassinated, and who ordered it done. A Deadly PKK Message to Moderates -------------- ¶4. (C) Many of AMCON Adana's contacts in the southeast believe that the PKK was responsible for Fidan's death because he was not sufficiently supportive of PKK hard line attitudes and opposed the PKK civilian enforcers, messages in circles in Diyarbakir. Furthermore, Fidan allegedly refused to go along with the approach of the new Democratic Society Party (DTP),DEHAP's follow-on party. Some contacts told us that his killing was not so much directed at him as it was intended to send a message to a wider group of Kurdish moderates that, even should they not support the PKK line or DTP, they should not think about moving to set up alternative Kurdish voices in the southeast. ¶5. (C) AMCON Adana contacts in Hak-Par, the small, organized alternative Kurdish political voice in the southeast and among the Kurdish diaspora in western Turkey, told us that they interpreted Fidan's killing that way, and had heard rumors that there were others like Fidan on the PKK's enforcement hit list. Hak-Par contacts told us that they long ago realized that when they got involved with Hak-Par this could be the consequences of their involvement. ¶6. (C) Some in DEHAP claim that the Turkish state is responsible for Fidan's killing, even insisting that the killing is a sign of a resurgent Turkish Hizbullah terrorist group (widely rumored to have been abetted by the state) in southeast Turkey. More moderate contacts in Diyarbakir dismiss these comments as pro-PKK propaganda (Comment: We agree. End Comment.). MCELDOWNEY