Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ISTANBUL372
2006-03-15 05:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Istanbul
Cable title:  

ISTANBUL CONFERENCE TACKLES TURKEY'S "KURDISH

Tags:  PGOV PHUM TU 
pdf how-to read a cable
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PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHIT #0372 0740540
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 150540Z MAR 06
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4441
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L ISTANBUL 000372 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: ISTANBUL CONFERENCE TACKLES TURKEY'S "KURDISH
PROBLEM"

Classified By: Consul General Deborah K. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISTANBUL 000372

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: ISTANBUL CONFERENCE TACKLES TURKEY'S "KURDISH
PROBLEM"

Classified By: Consul General Deborah K. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (C) Summary. A March 11-12 Istanbul conference on
"Turkey's Kurdish Problem" brought together a range of
leading figures from Turkey's Kurdish community with the
ambitious goal of hammering out an alternative to the
leadership of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Organizers argued that the time was ripe for such an
initiative, crediting both the changed situation in Northern
Iraq -- where organizers anticipated an autonomous
"Kurdistan" -- and Turkey's own increasing openness to
addressing difficult and sensitive issues. While no concrete
platform emerged, participants were united in condemning the
PKK and declaring that the period for armed struggle is over.
Chastened by past experience, however, there was also a
largely unspoken consensus that the Kurdish problem in Turkey
will not be resolved in the near future. End Summary.


AGAINST VIOLENCE AND EXTREME NATIONALISM
--------------


2. (C) The crucial question before the March 11-12
conference on civic and democratic resolution for Kurds in
Turkey, according to Bilgi University Professor and local
Helsinki Assembly Chairman Murat Belge, was whether Turkey's
Kurds will continue to take direction from Ocalan, or whether
they will begin to organize themselves around some new leader
and modified principles. Participants were united in their
advocacy of peaceful change through a democratic and
voluntary alliance. In the run-up to the event, Belge told
us the conference aimed to bring together exceptional,
"non-Ocalan people," who, though divergent in opinion, would
work toward a platform independent of Ocalan's influence.
These people sensed a changed situation anticipating an
autonomous "Kurdistan" in Northern Iraq.


3. (SBU) In the event, the two-day program largely tracked
with organizers' plans. On the opening panel, Sertac Bucak,
founder and former chairman of the International Center for
Kurdish Human Rights, accused the PKK of standing in the way
of a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem and said the
period of armed struggle was over. Other conference speakers
criticised hyper-nationalism, both Turkish and Kurdish.
While declaring the PKK an organization with no democratic
legitimacy, Professor Ahmet Insel of Galatasaray University
said Turkish and Kurdish nationalism both led in the wrong
direction. Baskin Oran of Ankara University, Journalist
Etyan Mahcupyan and others offered similar criticism.
Musician Nilufer Akbal put it poignantly, "I want to sing in
my mother tongue. I want to feel that I belong here.... I'm
a Kurd but this is my land. I should have the right to
perform my art in my country." Osman Baydemir,mayor of
Diyarbakir, summarized the sentiments of many in praising
Prime Minister Erdogan's remarks last August that
acknowledged the Kurdish question was a question for all
Turks. Baydemir voiced his concern for the future if Turks
and Kurds do not assume responsibility for solving the
problems of Kurds together.


4. (SBU) The only discordant note was sounded by a number of
media participants, who missed the earlier sessions and
(incorrectly) criticized other participants for complaining
about the PKK in private but not in the event's public fora.
Syndicated columnist Mehmet Ali Birand added that Kurdish
speakers at the conference were confused, not knowing what
they really wanted.


5. (C) Comment: Like the Armenian conference before it, the
March 11-12 Kurdish conference was testimony to the
increasing willingness of Turks to tackle even the most
sensitive and difficult issues that both divide and define
them. The idea of using a two-day event to create an
anti-Ocalan platform was undoubtedly overambitious and not a
little naive. Yet the event did contribute to dialogue on
the issue. The key will be what happens next, and whether
the Kurdish leaders and intellectuals who gathered last
weekend will continue the search to create a vehicle for
their aspirations that steers well clear of its troubled
forbearers. There was a clear sense among participants, both
Kurdish and otherwise, that a resolution to Turkey's Kurdish
problem will not come to pass in the foreseeable future. End
comment.


JONES