BANNED IN TURKEY, POLITICAL PARTY OPENS ERBIL OFFICE ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000093

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD FOR POL, ECON, NCT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/16/2016
TAGS: PINS PREL PTER PHUM IZ TU
SUBJECT: BANNED IN TURKEY, POLITICAL PARTY OPENS ERBIL OFFICE ON
KRG'S TAB

KIRKUK 00000093 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: RSDEAN, Acting Regional Coordinator, REO Kirkuk,
DoS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)





1. (C/NOFORN) SUMMARY: The Socialist Party of Kurdistan recently
opened a party office in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil,
Iraq. Its representative Nureddin Agiri said Erbil's Kurdistan
Regional Government was subsidizing the SPK's Erbil office.
Agiri admitted his under-financed party was banned in Turkey,
but said it rejected violence and was pushing for the
establishment of Kurdish provinces in Turkey, Syria and Iran.
Agiri said SPK members supported the U.S. presence in the area
and were involved in the recent Newroz demonstrations in Turkey.
END SUMMARY.


2. (C/NOFORN) Nureddin Agiri, Representative to Iraq from the
Socialist Party of Kurdistan (SPK) in Turkey, met April 6 with
IPAO in Erbil. The SPK was founded in the Kurdish city of
Diyarbakir in Turkey, but is prohibited by Turkish law. The SPK
recently established an office in the Kurdish province of Erbil,
Iraq, to promote their regional cause. Agiri said that Erbil's
Kurdistan Regional Government (dominated by the Kurdistan
Democratic Party) supported their organization by providing an
office and paying their rent. He said he had a staff of six.

Party Ideology
--------------


3. (C) Agiri said the SPK was created to push for the
"democratic rights of Kurds" and create a Kurdish province
within Turkey, similar to the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.
According to Agiri, Kurds were until 2002 referred to as
"Mountain Turks" in Turkey and were not allowed to claim their
ethnic heritage as anything other than Turkish.


4. (C/NOFORN) Agiri said that the SPK sought to create Kurdish
provinces similar to the Kurdistan Region in Iraq for Syria,
Turkey and Iran. He said this was to ensure democratic and
human rights for the Kurdish people while living among people of
other ethnicities. He said that the "Socialist" part of the
"SPK" name could be more accurately replaced with "Democratic"
to reflect their actual goals. Agiri said the SPK had worked
within the democratic process to elect two mayors in Turkey;
however, he described the candidates as independents with an
allegiance to the party.

No Methodological Connection to the PKK
--------------


5. (C) The SPK shares some ideology with the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK),but Agiri said it had no other connection. Agiri
stated emphatically that the SPK condoned neither terrorism nor
violence, and that as long as the PKK continued to embrace those
methods, there could be no relationship between the two parties.
He charged that the Turkish government had created the PKK to
get Kurds to fight other Kurds. He said that jailed PKK founder
Abdullah Ocalan had told a publication that for four years the
Turkish government had given the PKK arms to fight other Kurds,
adding "They used me, and I used them too." Agiri said that, if
the PKK gave up its arms and accepted democracy, then the two
groups could get closer.

Fear of Imprisonment
--------------


6. (C) Agiri said that, if Turkey knew of the political nature
of his travel to Iraq, he would face imprisonment. In 2002 he
was arrested and sentenced to one year in jail and fined 1
million Turkish lira. One month into his sentence, the Turkish
law he was charged under was changed because of Turkey's bid to
join the European Union. He said the law forbade Kurds from
claiming their ethnicity. Today, that law no longer existed and
Kurds had the political right to claim their ethnicity.
However, he said, Turkish criminal law prohibited Kurdish
organizations and political parties; the maximum sentence was 12
years. Agiri said that he was imprisoned for saying in the
press that Kurds wanted "the democratic process" because none of
the four countries with large Kurdish populations were taking
care of them.

Membership and Finances
--------------


7. (C/NOFORN) Agiri said that many of the SPK's members now
living outside Turkey were prohibited from returning. The

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Secretary General of the party, Masud Taq, lived between his

SIPDIS
home in Germany and Erbil. The second in command, Kormal Burka,
was a writer and poet living in Sweden. The membership of the
party is kept a secret, though he estimated there were about
2,000, most of who still live in Turkey. He said that the
membership came from all social classes, including teachers and
officials, and that sometimes they recruited members based on
education or occupation. He said they were very afraid of being
infiltrated by Turkish intelligence, as there were Kurds who
were willing to work against them.


8. (C/NOFORN) The party was supported financially by its
membership, much of which came from Europe. Beyond salaries,
transportation for officers, and leasing office space, he was
unable to identify other specific programs or expenses. He said
that the party membership was poor and donations were taken
voluntarily. One reason they were not very active was because
they lacked funding.

Cooperation with Legitimate Turkish Parties
--------------


9. (C/NOFORN) Agiri said that the SPK coordinated with legally
registered Kurd-dominated parties in Turkey, including the
Rights and Freedoms Party (RFP). He said the RFP was founded by
Abdulmelik Firat, the grandson of Shaykh Sayid, the leader of
the Kurdish revolt in Turkey executed in 1925. The RFP was a
legitimate party, but existed to talk about Kurdish problems
legally. Both Turks and Kurds were members of the RFP and
approached the issues by seeking human rights for all
ethnicities. He said that the SPK was heavily involved with
demonstrations in Turkey over the Newroz holiday in March.
Until 1997, celebrating Newroz was illegal in Turkey because it
was specific to one ethnic group. Now, Newroz is celebrated as
a holiday for all Turks, but the Kurds used it as an opportunity
to demonstrate for more democratic rights.

SPK's Support for U.S. Policy in Region
--------------


10. (C) Agiri said the SPK supported the U.S. presence in Iraq
and felt it benefited the whole of the Middle East. America's
global dominance in politics and economics brought positive
change to the region and its old systems of government. He said
that was the first time the SPK had ever contacted a U.S.
official and sought a relationship.


11. (C) Agiri said Kurds as a whole had benefited from the U.S.
presence in Iraq because it brought global attention to their
cause. He said all Kurds were paying particular attention to
Iraq's Kurdistan Region, as it gave them hope. He said that,
even though Turkey had democracy, it did not apply it to the
Kurds, and still treated them the same way others did in the
rest of the Middle East.

Comment:
--------------


12. (C/NOFORN) Agiri appears to be a sincere proponent of the
SPK's cause and stressed their commitment to non-violent means
to achieve democracy for the Kurds in Turkey. He appeared to be
thoughtful and frank during the meeting, with realistic
expectations of what the U.S. could do for the SPK. Given
Iraq's and the KRG's willingness to allow the PKK-affiliated
Kurdistan Democratic Solutions Party to operate in the Kurdistan
Region, it is not surprising the KRG is willing modestly to
bankroll the SPK, particularly given its at least ostensibly
democratic program.
BRADFORD