HAYMANA SUB-PROVINCE: RURAL UNDERDEVELOPMENT NEAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004120 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2021 TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON TU SUBJECT: HAYMANA SUB-PROVINCE: RURAL UNDERDEVELOPMENT NEAR TURKEY'S CAPITAL Classified by Political Counselor Janice Weiner for Reasons 1.5 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: On July 13, we visited Haymana, an agricultural sub-province located 70km from Ankara. Despite its proximity to the capital, Haymana suffers from rural underdevelopment. Outward migration to cities and abroad has been a fact of life for over three decades. Education is not always a top priority for area parents. Suspicions of America and belief in anti-American and anti-Israel conspiracy theories are common. Most of the people turn to state bodies for assistance, suggesting strong belief in state control and little confidence in elected officials. End Summary. -------------- Economy and Investment -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Haymana's economy is 90% agriculture, and many of its villages are only now in the process of getting irrigation and/or roads. Wheat and barley, Haymana,s main crops, are purchased entirely by state agencies. Commodities prices are lower than in past years. Officials and party leaders repeatedly said that most in Haymana suffer from economic hardship. At the same time, however, the appointed sub-governor Kazim Tekin noted that sometimes people make poor economic choices, giving the example of farmers typically owning fancy air-conditioned tractors. The elected Haymana town mayor Bunyamin Adaci and his office works on attracting investment to Haymana's thermal water spas. He and the sub-governor also hope that Haymana's inclusion in State Minister for Tourism and Culture Koc's Tourism Plan will lead to state assistance for the development of this sector. -------------- Barriers to Getting a Good Education -------------- ¶3. (C) The Haymana sub-governor, mayor and the local AK party leader, as well as the mayor of the nearby village of Balcikhisar (population 1,500),described the question of youth as a painful one. They said that unemployment is high, there is little activity beyond the harvesting season, and most youth spend their time in coffeehouses. The Haymana sub-governor said that parents - fathers, in particular - do not place high priority on children's education, in part negating efforts by his office to provide financial and logistical assistance so that all children can attend school. Access to high schools from Balcikhisar is very limited, even for those who can afford to attend. The closest high schools are 40km away in a sub-provincial town or 100km distant in Ankara. -------------- Anti-American Sentiment -------------- ¶4. (C) Most interlocutors with whom we met said they opposed American policies. Haymana local AKP leader Haci Aysu and his subordinates questioned us about USG support for Israel and the "killing of innocent lives in Iraq and Palestine." We observed that Aysu recorded our response to his question about why the U.S. does not solve the Israel-Palestine problem when it "could have done so in 24 hours." When asked, Aysu could not describe what actions the USG might undertake within 24 hours to resolve the situation. -------------- Women Undervalued -------------- ¶5. (C) A traditional view of women prevails. In Haymana, the sub-governor said that the majority of children who are not sent to school are girls. In Balcikhisar, when we asked a village man if he had any children, he responded that he had four sons. The Balcikhisar mayor pointed out that the man also has two daughters, to which another village man critically responded that there are still people who subscribe to the saying, "at the dinner table, a cow has a ANKARA 00004120 002 OF 002 place before the woman." Another villager said most village girls are married when they are 15 to 16 years-old and have on average four children. At a local wedding celebration, we observed that the bride was a teenage girl who did not appear very happy when dancing with her young groom. A villager told us that she was brought by her family from Germany to be married to her first cousin. -------------- Reliance on the State -------------- ¶6. (C) Villagers strongly rely on the state for assistance, and have little confidence in elected officials. For example, the sub-governor, who is appointed by the central state administration, said that villagers sometimes come to him with an odd request to remove the village administrator, aka "muhtar," whom they elected. The state is viewed as the ultimate bastion of control, as well as power. However, the Balcikhisar mayor claimed he does not receive state help because his party is not in government. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON