TURKEY: PROTESTS MARK ANNIVERSARY OF OCALAN CAPTURE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000040 SIPDIS SENSITIVE NOT FOR INTERNET DISTIBUTION E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PTER TU ADANA SUBJECT: TURKEY: PROTESTS MARK ANNIVERSARY OF OCALAN CAPTURE THROUGHOUT SOUTHEAST ¶1. (SBU) Summary: As in past years, protest activities marking the anniversary of the February 15, 1999 capture in Kenya of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and his subsequent transport to Turkey by Turkish authorities, occurred throughout southeast Turkey. This year's protests lasted one week, instead of the one or two days in recent past anniversaries. Many of the protests were peaceful, but in some areas they turned violent, with clashes between protesters and security forces. This may augur more confrontational Newroz protests in March. End summary. ¶2. (U) Based on media reports, as early as February 7, pro-PKK groups around southeast Turkey started to call for protests to mark the February 15 anniversary marking PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan's 1999 capture and transport by Turkish authorities from Kenya to Turkey. The protests come in the wake of urgings of PKK leader and head of the Kurdish Federations Association Murat Karayilan for Kurds to protest the anniversary of Ocalan's capture. Media reported that pro-Ocalan Kurdish groups throughout the southeast, including in Adana, Mersin, Hatay, Mardin, Gaziantep, Iskenderun, Sirnak, Siirt, Batman, Diyarbakir, Cizre, Malatya, Van and even Kandil in Northern Iraq, have called on Kurds to shut down businesses, boycott schools, wear black, go on hunger strikes, pray for, and march in protest against, Ocalan's incarceration and as a remembrance of his being brought to Turkey after his capture in Kenya. Reportedly, the theme of these activities was to "halt a life which excludes Ocalan." A rough count from the media showed approximately forty incidents related to the Ocalan capture around the southeast region. ¶3. (U) Media reported that in Adana on February 16, a large group of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DSP) members attempted to conduct an unauthorized demonstration, and when security forces intervened, demonstrators started throwing heavy objects at the police, resulting in the injury of the Deputy Security Director and a police shift leader, as well as damage to nearby shops. (Note: Subsequent press reports indicate that prosecutors charged approximately 30 protestors with resisting arrest and being members of an illegal organization End Note). Police reportedly detained nearly 200 people. Also in Adana, a February 14 press report said that, on February 13, a group of youths staged a demonstration and blocked traffic flow with Molotov cocktails. There were similar protests in Adana and Mersin again on February 19, according to reliable press reports. ¶4. (SBU) Media reported on February 15 that Murat Karayilan, a senior leader of the PKK's military wing, called on Kurds to fast on February 15 and to close down their businesses and not go to work. A local Imam reportedly called on the community to pray for Ocalan. On February 14, media reported a DSP-sponsored group in Diyarbakir marched and shouted pro-Ocalan slogans and clashed with police, resulting in two arrests and two injured policemen. According to our contacts and the press, no Ocalan-related activities took place in Diyarbakir on the anniversary day -- February 15 -- itself. ¶5. (U) On February 14, per the press, 3000 people marched in Hakkari's Yuksekova district, while on February 15, security forces in Yuksekova and Semdinli patrolled the streets and reportedly forced business-owners to open their businesses. Many people throughout the region responded to the PKK's call by closing their businesses, as did people in Adana, Batman, Hakkari and Siirt. Police in Nusaybin, Derik and Kiziltepe reportedly took down the names of shop-owners who closed their doors for the day. ¶6. (SBU) Our police contacts reported that 2000 people marched and shouted slogans in Mersin, while smaller groups of Ocalan sympathizers in a number of districts of Mersin clashed with security forces, who intervened with tear gas and armored vehicles. Businesses in those districts reportedly stayed closed, while students boycotted schools. Comment -------------- ¶7. (SBU) This year's protests marking the Ocalan capture anniversary have been violent in Adana and Mersin, but on a par with last year's intensity in Diyarbakir. This year's protests also spanned a week rather than 1-2 days as in recent past years. This longer duration probably is due to recent calls by Ocalan for better medical treatment and the reopening of his trial, as well as recent widespread public discontent in the southeast over prosecutors' decision to keep Ocalan locked-down in his cell for 20 days as punishment for his attempts to control the PKK through his attorneys (reftel). TNP reaction to the protests has varied in eastern and southeastern Turkey, with the most aggressive in the Adana-Mersin area. The obvious PKK and DTP-led efforts to use this date as a rallying point may augur for a more confrontational Newroz season in late March this year. REID