Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ISTANBUL2149
2006-12-11 11:13:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Istanbul
Cable title:  

ISTANBUL'S TESEV TOUCHES ANOTHER TABOO

Tags:  PGOV PHUM TU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1549
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHIT #2149/01 3451113
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 111113Z DEC 06
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6439
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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)

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