ISTANBUL'S TESEV TOUCHES ANOTHER TABOO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 002149 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: ISTANBUL'S TESEV TOUCHES ANOTHER TABOO REF: A. ISTANBUL 2109 ¶B. ANKARA 6542 Classified By: Consul General Deborah K. Jones for reasons 1.5 (b) ¶1. (C) Summary. TESEV, the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, convened an international academic conference that discussed internal displacement, with a particular focus on the plight of Turkey's Kurdish population. Discussion of social issues and Kurdish identity would have been unlikely even five years ago, but the conference proceeded without difficulty. TESEV is no stranger to controversy, with the launch of its October study on transparency and military spending marked by fist-fights among attendees and followed by direct criticism by the Chief of the Turkish General Staff. TESEV founder Ishak Alaton admits that Turkey permits more open debate now than was the case several years earlier, but accuses the military of fabricating phantom threats as well as stifling debate. End Summary. ¶2. (C) On December 4-5, the Istanbul-based Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation NGO (TESEV) held a provocative gathering entitled "Internal Displacement in Turkey and Abroad." The seminar focused on the plight of Kurds forced to leave their homes in the southeast due to deplorable conditions caused in part by official policies. Topics ranged from the threat of landmines (topical as press reported December 6 the death of two soldiers in the southeast after stepping on a mine),to the general lack of safety and social exclusion for IDPs in Turkey and the effects of forced migration as well as the effect of violence on women. Scholars, experts and practitioners joined their colleagues in Turkey from the United States, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and international organizations including the UN and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This seminar on "internal displacement" demonstrated again TESEV's commitment to tackle taboo issues. Kurds, called "mountain Turks" for decades in an attempt to deny a separate ethnic identify for this group, were until very recently a non-topic for NGO and academic discussions because of nationalist fears of a separatist Kurdish state, carved in part out of Turkey. ¶3. (C) TESEV's October release of a study on the security sector and democratic oversight drew harsh criticism from Chief of the Turkish General Staff Yasar Buyukanit who questioned TESEV's sources and admonished the NGO for its uncomplimentary review of issues placed under military authority by the constitution. Dr. Nilufer Narli, professor of sociology and a vice president at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul strongly endorses the role of the Turkish military as guarantor of Turkey's secular state, but expressed personal concern to us in November over the same Buyukanit speech that contained a warning against those (she is one of only three in Turkey) who systematically monitor the military's response to perceived threats against secularism. A strong proponent of the secular state, Narli felt intimidated by the General's indirect attack. TESEV's decision to continue highlighting controversial topics is noteworthy, addressing problems of Kurds this week, even though avoiding using the term in the seminar title. ¶4. (C) In a recent conversation with a visiting member of Congress, TESEV founder Ishak Alaton described a closed-press speech he made at the Turkish Naval Academy graduation earlier in 2006 on "How to Manage Change" where he argued that "Kurdistan is a reality that must be acknowledged." He told graduating cadets and a large number of more senior officers that Turkey should end its "futile effort to stop something that already exists" and instead embrace a Kurdish buffer state. He argued in his speech that this would bring greater commercial ties, access to oil and gas as well as peace in Turkey's southeast. He said his remarks were greeted by "great silence" and then applause. He contrasted the civil reaction to his speech on an admittedly controversial topic with the openly hostile reaction to remarks he made on "Civil Society and Democracy", also to a military audience, several years earlier and admitted that Turkey was a more open society than it had been just a few years earlier. However, he cautioned that Turkey is a victim of 'paranoiac fears' fabricated to make people believe that the army is all important, resulting in a society that balances fear of and respect for the military. Alaton complained that the military continues to stifle debate, citing Gen. Buyukanit's recent speech criticizing TESEV for calling for transparency in military spending. ¶5. (C) Comment. TESEV, like TESEV founder Istanbul industrialist Ishak Alaton, does not shy away from controversy. However, Alaton, a member of Turkey's Jewish ISTANBUL 00002149 002 OF 002 minority, is also one of Turkey's wealthiest industrialists and is politically very well-connected -- with close relationships with politicians across the political spectrum including the current Prime Minister. This serves to immunize him from some of the pressure that less-well-connected observers like Dr. Narli feel when they cross political 'red-lines' through implied or actual criticism of the military. JONES