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