ISTANBUL'S CHP KADIKOY MAYOR: SAFE, SATISFIED,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 001511 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2016 TAGS: PGOV TU SUBJECT: ISTANBUL'S CHP KADIKOY MAYOR: SAFE, SATISFIED, STATIST REF: A. ISTANBUL 1475 ¶B. ISTANBUL 419 ¶C. 05 ISTANBUL 1734 Classified By: ACTING PRINCIPAL OFFICER SANDRA S. OUDKIRK FOR REASONS 1 .4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Republican People,s Party (CHP) mayor of Istanbul's Kadikoy district, Selami Ozturk, represents a wealthy constituency on the Asian side of Istanbul. Political activism is not the byword for this area where secular verities of the Turkish Republic remain more important to voters than works programs and soup kitchens. The mayor appears to be a solid supporter of the CHP leader Deniz Baykal, but laments Baykal,s late start in organizing the mass political rallies associated with electoral campaigns in Turkey and criticizes the press for ignoring the CHP message. End summary. -------------- POLITY -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Situated on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, Kadikoy is an ancient city with evidence of habitation dating to 3000 B.C. Inhabitants of Chalcedon (modern Kadikoy) were mocked as "blind men" when the great city of Byzantium was founded on the more defensible peninsula across the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara. Kadikoy, itself home to an historic terminus station for trains reaching Istanbul from the east, is one of the wealthiest sections of Greater Istanbul. Upscale residential areas stretch south from The European Highway (TEM) to the shoreline and house the majority of Kadikoy's population. However, an area north of the TEM caters to an influx of Anatolian migrants who bring with them traditional ways and village customs. The city ministers to this group, now largely stabilized in population, with a variety of public works projects dubbed "integration centers" that teach city etiquette, jobs skills and provide for limited social services. The mayor claims these projects are important to avoid "ruralizing" Kadikoy. According to Ozturk, Kadikoy's population of approximately one million doubles on weekends with an influx of Stambulus in search of high-end shopping, theaters, restaurants, bars and other entertainment. -------------- POLITICS -------------- ¶3. (SBU) CHP Mayor Ozturk won his first election by a slim margin in 1994. Five years later, when the general election coincided with local elections, CHP did not pass the 10% national threshold, but Ozturk widened his margin of victory. In 2004, Ozturk won by 10,000 votes garnering 53% of the vote. Ozturk says his focus is on local issues. However, his definition of local issues is different from that espoused by pro-Islam Justice and Development Party (AKP) mayors and CHP colleagues in poorer districts. Other than integration centers designed to cater to the urban poor, Kadikoy does not engage in the type of social welfare efforts common in other municipal districts (Ref A). Instead, suffering from what it claims is a lack of financial support from the AKP-controlled Greater Istanbul Municipality, Kadikoy maintains all its streets and main arteries, a job the city abandoned before Ozturk became mayor. More irksome is an announced plan of the Greater Municipality to build a mosque in one of the district,s largest parks (Ref C). The Kadikoy municipality opposes the plan and has appealed to the courts. A decision is expected in October; if Kadikoy loses, they plan an appeal to the Council of State (Danistay - the administration appeals court.) According to Ozturk, AKP-dominated state agencies also harass the city with frequent compliance inspections. However, Ozturk sniffs that inspections just make services in his district better. ¶4. (SBU) Asked about local AKP influence through its large and well-organized grassroots party apparatus and precinct captains (refs A and B),Ozturk was dismissive. The citizens of Kadikoy were more educated than average Turks and had no confidence in the competence of the Justice and Development Party to meet their particular needs, he claimed. His is a constituency mostly moderate, liberal and interested in world affairs. -------------- PROGNOSTICATION -------------- ISTANBUL 00001511 002 OF 002 ¶5. (SBU) Ozturk predicted a coalition government would emerge from the elections expected in November 2007. Baykal, he said, had been late in rallying the masses around the country and with the press "biased against him," there was a blackout on press coverage of party events. Nonetheless, Ozturk said he thought it would be hard to replace Baykal as CHP Chairman. However, he said AKP had shown itself to be erratic while in power -- at times stumbling through its responsibilities. He compared the 2007 election with the 1989 result, when CHP, like AKP today, held most mayoral positions in the country and yet lost the national poll. ¶6. (SBU) The performance of the government in power was key to winning and losing elections in Turkey and Ozturk viewed AKP,s biggest vulnerability as the economy. (Note: Most observers cite economic reform and fiscal policy as strong points for the current government, which is widely viewed as pro-business and pro-growth. End Note.) Claiming that despite good macroeconomic results the economy was suffering, Ozturk pointed to the income gap and employment as problem areas. Ozturk,s remedy is old school CHP statism. He claimed that the AKP had not taken advantage of opportunities afforded by the privatization of large state-owned companies to "force job creation." He said AKP missed the chance to obligate job creation by the new private owners and had instead allowed the new owners to determine work force dimensions without reference to the social contract. Ozturk claimed that in the coming electoral campaign, CHP would explain to voters how they would mandate job growth. ¶7. (C) Comment. In the wealthy district of Kadikoy, appeals to the primacy of the secular state have currency with the educated professionals who account for many of Ozturk,s constituents. Though the mayor reaches out to Anatolian migrants through the city,s integration centers, his target audience inhabits established upscale neighborhoods and expensive new apartment towers. However, if all Ozturk and CHP can offer in terms of economic policy is an electoral appeal based on the statist economic policies of the past, they will find hard going among AKP's natural small-business and tradesman constituency. OUDKIRK