TURKEY: PRO-KURDISH LEADER AHMET TURK DEFENSIVE IN MEETING WITH EU AMBASSADORS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002630

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: PRO-KURDISH LEADER AHMET TURK DEFENSIVE IN MEETING WITH EU AMBASSADORS

REF: A. ANKARA 2604 B. ANKARA 2605 C. ANKARA 2595

Classified By: Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, for reasons
1.4(b) ,(d)

1.(C) Summary: EU ambassadors told Democratic Society Party
(DTP) leader Ahmet Turk, DTP MP Akin Birdal, and party whip
Fatma Kortulan October 23 that DTP must distance itself from
the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and call on the
PKK to lay down arms immediately. Turk responded
defensively, according to our EU contacts, saying DTP cannot
distance itself from the PKK until Turkey's Kurds are granted
full cultural rights. With DTP under continuing judicial
attack, ostracized in parliament, and facing mob-like
confrontations throughout the country, Turk claimed it is
impossible to denounce the PKK without alienating DTP's
grassroots support. DTP is making itself sadly irrelevant by
refusing to play a more constructive - and courageous - role
amidst the volatile atmosphere and intense pressure created
by recent PKK attacks. End summary.

2.(C) EU ambassadors met October 23 with DTP leader Ahmet
Turk, as part of a series of lunches with Turkish officials.
European colleagues said the EU ambassadors told Turk that
following the October 21 PKK attack (ref A),it was critical
that DTP condemn all forms of violence, clearly distance
itself from the PKK, and call on the PKK to lay down arms
immediately. (Note: Meeting with EU ambassadors just prior
to their meeting with Turk, Ambassador urged them to deliver
this same tough message.)

3.(C) Turk responded defensively, according to our contacts,
saying with the current pressure on DTP, the party cannot
alienate its voter base by condemning the PKK. Producing a
summary of dozens of court cases and investigations against
DTP members, Turk told the ambassadors that the continuing
judicial campaign against the party hindered its ability to
contribute to a peaceful solution. All parties had
ostracized DTP in parliament by refusing to meet with them or
even sit in the same office wing, he added. Following the
most recent PKK violence, DTP offices had come under attack
from stone-throwing mobs (ref C). Turk pointedly told the
ambassadors that he would be murdered in minutes if he were
to try to walk from parliament to the adjacent Kizilay
neighborhood, where a large anti-terrorism demonstration was
taking place. He also complained that while all were calling
on DTP to condemn the PKK, no one had asked DTP for its
political ideas. The public, he said, is simply not ready to
accept DTP or its grassroots, even though they are an
important part of Turkey's colorful mix of cultures.

4.(C) Akin Birdal told us separately that Turk had tried to
convey to the EU ambassadors the intense pressure and
physical risk DTP members are facing, and had reiterated that
DTP opposes violence and has already distanced itself from
the PKK. Birdal said DTP MPs and members fear for their
safety amid the increasing demonstrations and tense
atmosphere, which he charged was being stoked by opposition
People's Republican Party (CHP) and Nationalist Action Party
(MHP) supporters. In some of the latest attacks, groups
threw rocks at DTP offices in Izmir, Bahcelievler, Samsun,
and Eskisehir; a suspect fired a pump-action rifle at the DTP
office in Zetinburnu; and people had set furniture and
offices on fire in Istanbul and Antalya. He noted that the
police had provided no increased security for DTP MPs or at
DTP offices.

5.(C) Comment: Facing pressure from all sides and intense
public anger, DTP's refusal to denounce the PKK is sidelining
the party at a critical moment. Turk, a DTP moderate, is
undoubtedly under pressure from more extreme elements to
maintain the party line. By failing publicly to distance DTP
from the PKK, however, the party is missing a historic chance
to dispel continuing doubts about its loyalties and
contribute to peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue. In
fact, DTP's base has already shrunk, with many turning to the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Turk's approach
may please hard-line DTPers but risks both alienating those
DTP supporters who want an end to PKK violence and rendering
the party irrelevant. End comment.

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WILSON