TURKEY: PRO-KURDISH PARTY CALLS FOR UNILATERAL PKK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005294

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2021
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: PRO-KURDISH PARTY CALLS FOR UNILATERAL PKK
CEASEFIRE

REF: A. (A) ANKARA 5269


B. (B) ANKARA 5264

Classified By: A/DCM Dan Sreebny for Reasons 1.4(b, d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party
(DTP) issued an unprecedented call for a unilateral PKK
ceasefire during a September 11 press conference. Appearing
before the press in Ankara, DTP chairman Ahmet Turk portrayed
the move as a response to the party's grassroots' desires. A
group of prominent Turks (and Turkish Kurds) followed DTP's
call for a ceasefire with a more stringent one of their own
on September 12, while a terrorist bombing the same day in
Diyarbakir cast these appeals for peace into sharp relief.
END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Turk, speaking to the press at DTP headquarters in
Ankara and flanked by the DTP mayors of Diyarbakir and
Tunceli, called for a unilateral PKK ceasefire, citing:

--the loss of more than 30,000 lives and $200 billion in the
25 years ofthe Turkish-Kurdish conflict;

--a "nationalist chauvinist tide" that undermines the future
of Kurd-Turk unity;

--the desire for peace of wide sectors of society; and

--the need for economic and social development in Turkey's
southeast.


3. (SBU) Turk further stated that an end to hostilities
would allow Turkey to prepare the ground for a peaceful,
democratic solution to the Kurdish problem based on dialogue,
and permit all those living in Turkey "to live honorably with
their own language, identity, color." He called on the PKK
to respond positively and added that if the PKK declares a
ceasefire, "the necessary conditions to make it a lasting one
should be created."


4. (C) Unlike previous ceasefire calls, Turk directed this
statement solely at the PKK. While the DTP -- whose
stronghold is in the southeast, where it won 56 mayorships --
holds the GOT accountable for creating the problem originally
and for its eventual solution, Turk indicated that the PKK
must take the initial step of a ceasefire. Asked why the DTP
had changed its position, Turk told the press the DTP wants
to create a new environment in which dialogue will have a
chance.


5. (SBU) Following closely on the heels of the DTP's appeal,
219 individuals from a broad swath of the Turkish (and
Turkish Kurdish) intellectual society released a stronger
statement, published in the Turkish mainstream daily Milliyet
on September 13, demanding that the PKK unconditionally and
immediately stop all violence. Milliyet noted that the
intellectuals were not simply calling for a ceasefire, but
for the end to violence. One of the signers pointed out
that, whereas earlier intellectuals' declarations urged
action by both the PKK and the government, this statement was
a call to the PKK to abandon its weapons. Signatories
included academics, writers, current and former members of
parliament, journalists, and bar and medical chamber heads.
Among the names of note are writer Adalet Agaoglu, CHP
Hakkari MP Esat Canan, Yeni Safak editor-in-chief Mustafa
Karaalioglu, actor/director Ugur Yucel, authors Ipek
Calislar, Hrant Dink, Ali Bayramoglu, Derya Sazak, and Sahin
Alpay.


6. (U) The September 12 bombing in Diyarbakir, which killed
11 and wounded 15 (ref A),grabbed the headlines on September

13. National dailies played the bombing as a response to the
increased political pessure on the PKK from the DTP's and
the intellectuals' appeals.


7. (C) COMMENT. DTP, a legal political party, has at least
indirect contact with, and often reflects views associated
with the PKK. Previous ceasefire calls by the DTP and its
predecessor parties (DEHAP, HADEP) have looked to both

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security forces and the PKK; this is their first unilateral
call. It appears to acknowledge that nothing positive can
happen on the ground as long as the violence continues.
Turk's ceasefire call has been met with predictible
skepticism by Embassy contacts. At the same time, it puts on
the line Turk's credibility (and that of Diyarbakir mayor
Baydemir and Tunceli mayor Abdil) with their constituents and
marks a noteworthy change in DTP tactics. It also fits with
DTP's aim to style itself as the Sinn Fein of Turkish/Kurdish
politics -- they have stated in public and in private that
they want to make themselves the arbiters of a political
solution. Turk insisted pubicly that the pressure to make
this call originated with the grassroots, but it is unlikely
he would have gone forward without at least indirect
encouragement from imprisoned PKK leader Ocalan, who passes
messages via his lawyers. END COMMENT.

Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/

WILSON