56 KURDISH MAYORS ON TRIAL FOR SUPPORTING ROJTV

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005698

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: 56 KURDISH MAYORS ON TRIAL FOR SUPPORTING ROJTV

REF: A. ANKARA 3676


B. ANKARA 5608

C. ANKARA 5640

Classified By: Kelly Degnan, Acting Political Counselor; reasons 1.4 (b
),(d)


1. (C) Summary: The trial of 56 popularly-elected Kurdish
mayors in Diyarbakir began contentiously on September 26 but
has been recessed until November 21. The mayors face up to
15 years of imprisonment each for allegedly supporting
terrorism by signing a letter to Danish Prime Minister
Rasmussen urging him to resist GOT pressure to shut down Roj
TV. (ref A) Although Turkish government officials have long
held that Roj TV is a forum for PKK propaganda, virtually all
Kurds in Turkey's Southeast watch the channel and support its
continued existence. The trial furthers the impression that
Turkey is still not prepared to allow free expression on
controverisal topics, and could further jeopardize the
fragile calm that currently exists in the region. End
summary.

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Trial Begins Contentiously But is Then Postponed By Judge
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2. (U) On September 26, the Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court
Number 5 began the trial of 56 mayors charged with supporting
the PKK by signing a December 21, 2005, letter to Danish
Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen, asking him to resist GOT
pressure to shut down Denmark-based Kurdish language station
Roj TV. The mayors, all members of the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party (DTP),face up to 15 years of
imprisonment each. (ref A)


3. (U) The trial began with the judge reading the indictment
to a packed courtroom, which included 46 of the 56 mayors.
Several mayors then submitted oral and written defenses.
Yenisehir Mayor Firat Anli read aloud a statement, which he
said was on behalf of all the defendants, that called the
indictment absurd because it asked for 840 years of
imprisonment for the signing of a letter containing a mere
405 words. Anli also argued that the indictment had the
appearance of a Ministry of Interior inspector's report,
rather than an official judicial indictment.


4. (U) The chief judge then read aloud a Ministry of Justice
letter that outlined connections of Roj TV to the PKK, such
as the fact that the station broadcast the PKK's annual
convention live, and the claim that Roj TV CEO Abdullah Hicap
was on the executive board of the PKK. The judge then asked
Anli whether it was proper for him to watch such a station
given his position as a civil servant of the Turkish state.
In response, Baglar Mayor Yurdusev Ozsokmenler pointed out
that who owned a TV station would have no bearing on one's
decision to watch the station. Kayapinar Mayor Zulkuf
Karatekin stated that the mayors signed the letter simply
because they stood against the station being shut down, not
because they supported terrorism. The judge decided to
adjourn the session until November 21, at which time he will
allow the testimony of the remaining 10 mayors.

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Roj TV Hugely Popular in Turkey's Southeast
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5. (C) Turkish government officials have long held that Roj
TV is a propaganda mechanism used to garner support for the
PKK. Yuksekova Subgovernor Ugur Kalkar told us in a
September 20 meeting that Roj TV brainwashes people to
support terrorism. "It's shameful this channel promoting
terrorists is allowed," he said. Our Kurdish contacts in the
Southeast, however, watch Roj TV, and believe the
government's efforts to close it are a way to harass the
Kurdish people. Diyarbakir Bar Association Chairman Sezgin
Tanrikulu told us, "the fact that every one of the defendants
is a publicly elected official from the DTP demonstrates
clearly that the Turkish government has brought the case to
persecute the Kurdish people." Yuksekova mayor Salih Yildiz
told us the government is merely hurting the Kurds by working
to close a TV station viewed daily by 20 million Kurds in
Turkey. (Note: Although there is no official calculation

ANKARA 00005698 002 OF 002


that would allow confirmation of this number, Post's
experience is that Kurdish officials highly inflate such
statistics. End note.)


6. (C) Comment: The trial of 56 popularly elected Kurdish
mayors will add to the impression that Turkey is still not
prepared to allow free expression on controversial topics,
and will inflate the deep mistrust of the central government
by the Kurds in Turkey's Southeast. (see reftels) The local
Kurds views the central government as hypocritical for
devoting resources to this trial while failing to bring all
perpetrators to justice in the November 2005 Semdinli bombing
or the September 12 Diyarbakir bombing. (see ref C) If the
court dismisses the charges when the trial resumes, the blame
could be placed on overzealous prosecutors, but a conviction
of any of the mayors would further jeopardize the fragile
calm that currently exists in the region. End comment.

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

MCELDOWNEY