TURKEY: PROSECUTOR OPENS CLOSURE CASE AGAINST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002807

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: PROSECUTOR OPENS CLOSURE CASE AGAINST
PRO-KURDISH DTP PARTY

REF: ANKARA 2774

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


1. (C) Summary and comment. Turkey's top prosecutor filed an
indictment with the Constitutional Court on November 16 to
close down the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) for
alleged ties to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The indictment calls for a ban against DTP participating in
elections while the case is pending, and for 221 party
members, including eight sitting MPs, to be banned from
politics for five years once the party is closed. DTP
members called the action a setback for democracy, and have
organized rallies in several southeastern cities under
banners reading "Enough." Prime Minister Erdogan called the
move a blow to democracy, while the main opposition parties
welcomed the prosecutor's action. Turkish columnists were
divided, with several commenting that while DTP had brought
the case upon itself, history demonstrated that party closure
was a strategy designed to fail. Many see a closure case as
playing into the PKK's hands, closing off avenues for a
political solution and re-igniting ethnic tensions in the
Southeast that could revive PKK's flagging support and
undermine government efforts to stabilize the region. Such
an outcome might also reduce growing AKP support with
southeastern voters -- a result the PKK, DTP and, some argue,
the secular judiciary, would consider an added bonus. End
summary and comment.

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Chief Prosecutor Launches Closure Case
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2. (U) Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, Chief Prosecutor of Turkey's
Court of Appeals (the Yargitay),filed a case on November 16
with the Constitutional Court to close down the pro-Kurdish
DTP for its alleged ties with the PKK. DTP currently holds
20 seats in the 550-seat Parliament, the minimum number
required to establish a party group. The 120-page indictment
documents 141 DTP statements and actions by party members to
support the allegation that the DTP "has become the center of
separatist activities against the indivisible unity of the
state and the nation." The indictment notes that DTP members
have referred to the PKK as "a valid interlocutor" and its
members as "brothers," and said, "We are the party of
Ocalan." It also notes that three DTP deputies traveled to
northern Iraq for the release of eight Turkish soldiers
abducted by the PKK and allegedly used the event for
propaganda purposes. The indictment requests that the
Constitutional Court prevent DTP from participating in any
elections while the case is pending, and bar 221 members of
the party, including eight sitting MPs, from participating in
politics for five years after the party is closed.


3. (U) The case against DTP is the fifth in a succession of
cases to close DTP predecessor parties: the People's Labor
Party (HEP) in 1990, the Freedom and Democracy Party (OZDEP)
in 1993, the Democracy Party (DEP) in 1994, and the People's
Democracy Party (HADEP) in 2003. According to legal
contacts, the Constitutional Court will now assign a court
rapporteur who will review the indictment and recommend
whether to accept or reject it. If accepted, DTP will have
one month to file a defense brief, to which the prosecutor
will respond. The eleven-judge Court will then hold a
hearing where both sides may present their case by calling
witnesses and making legal arguments. The Court will
deliberate and vote; seven votes (3/5ths) are required to
close the party.


4. (C) Contacts disagree on how long the case will take to
play out. DTP Mus MP Sirri Sakik told us he expects the case
to drag on for years, noting that the 2003 case to close
HADEP is still pending. DTP MP Akin Birdal said that whether
the case lasted "three months or three years" would depend
solely on political maneuvering. Attorney Fatma Gulay Guner,
a retired criminal and civil judge, and her partner Mujde
Avcioglu reflected the sentiment of most of the judicial
establishment when they told us the Constitutional Court
would close down the party within three or four months.


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DTP Reacts With Indignation
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5. (C) Newly elected DTP leader Nurettin Demirtas reacted
immediately to the closure case, stating publicly that
banning the party would only aggravate the Kurdish problem.
Demirtas told the press, "If they can demonstrate that
closing the party will solve the problem or at least stop the
bloodshed, then we will dissolve our party on our own and
leave Parliament." Sakik told us the case is "a project to
obstruct a democratic solution and hinder the process of
integration with the EU." The judiciary is trying to hurt
not only DTP but also AKP, he added. Birdal commented that,
given the nationalistic ideological bias of the judiciary, no
one in DTP was surprised by the case. Birdal believes the
case will strengthen the unity and determination of DTP
members. He noted that DTP, if disbanded, could easily
reconstitute under the banner of an alternate party they had
created in 2003 called the "Free Society Party" (OTP). DTP's
Siirt deputy Osman Ozcelik noted that closure of DTP's
predecessor parties had only harmed democracy; it had brought
about no positive results.


6. (U) Over the November 17-18 weekend, DTP held several
demonstrations in the Southeast with the theme "Enough." At
a November 17 rally in Van, approximately 3,000 DTP
supporters cheered former DEP MP Leyla Zana as she criticized
efforts to close DTP. Police broke up the gathering and
arrested 25 demonstrators when some attendees displayed
posters of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and PKK
flags and began chanting pro-Ocalan slogans. Zana told 6,000
supporters at a November 18 rally in Batman that Kurdish
people are losing patience and closing down a party will not
resolve the problem. Police detained 20 demonstrators who
were chanting pro-PKK slogans. In Urfa, a group of 200 DTP
members chanting pro-PKK and pro-Ocalan slogans made a press
statement protesting the closure case.

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AKP Opposes Closure of DTP
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7. (U) Prime Minister Erdogan told reporters that closing DTP
would be a blow to democracy. "The path of democratic
struggle using legitimate political platforms, not mountains,
must be chosen," he stated. Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali
Sahin said he was displeased by the news and that "Turkey
must get rid of its image as a graveyard for political
parties." AKP Whip Sadullah Ergin, noting that he was
provincial chairman for AKP-predecessor Refah and Faazilet
parties when they were closed by the Constitutional Court,
told us that closing DTP would not solve the PKK problem.
Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan took a neutral stance,
saying only that the legal process needs to play itself out.

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Opposition Parties Favor DTP Ban
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8. (U) Opposition parties reacted positively to the closure
case, using the news to boast about their nationalist
credentials. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, deputy parliamentary group
leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party
(CHP),told the press that all political parties, including
DTP, must remain loyal to the basic institutions of the
Republic and refrain from breaching the constitution. CHP
Vice Chairman Mustafa Ozyurek said DTP's behavior and
rhetoric suggested the party was asking to be closed.
However, CHP leader Deniz Baykal said that "none of us want"
the closure case against DTP, but if a party rejects
referring to the PKK as a terrorist organization when the
whole world recognizes it as such, there is a problem. The
Nationalist Action Party's (MHP's) deputy group leader Oktay
Vural said the case was in line with MHP's bill aimed at
waiving parliamentary immunity in cases against deputies
charged with undermining the unity of the country. MHP
recently filed a motion to have the Speaker's office forward
the request to lift the parliamentary immunity of 74
deputies, including many DTPers, to parliament's Constitution
and Justice Joint Commission for decision. Democratic Left

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Party (DSP) leader Zeki Sezer criticized DTP for failing to
denounce the PKK as terrorists and squandering its
opportunity of being in parliament.

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Press Reaction Mixed
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9. (U) The news brought predictable cheers from the
ultranationalist press but also engendered thoughtful
commentary on what the move would mean for combating the PKK
and improving conditions in the Southeast. Ultranationalist
"Yeni Cag's" Altemur Kilic wrote that shutting down a party
of separatists who exploited democracy was legal and
necessary. Moderate columnist Yusuf Kanli of the "Turkish
Daily News" noted that DTP "has grossly failed" in its stated
mission of peaceful dialogue and had instead "just become the
propaganda tool of the separatist band in Parliament." But
Kanli acknowledged that solving the Kurdish problem through
military measures was impossible; only stepped-up reforms can
solve the problem. "Hurriyet's" Fatih Cekirge wrote that
jailed PKK leader Ocalan is attempting to elevate tension by
replacing moderate DTP chairman Ahmet Turk with a more
extreme figure who will depict Turks as the Kurds' enemies.
Cekirge called on all Turks to avoid falling into this trap.
According to "Sabah's" Hasan Bulent Kahraman, even though the
link between the DTP and PKK is no secret, closing the party
has not worked in the past and would be a mistake.


10. (U) Many commentators agreed that party closure would
bolster the PKK without improving conditions in the
Southeast. "Hurriyet's" Yalcin Dogan and "Referans'" Cengiz
Candar both warned that closing the party would merely play
into the PKK's hands. Human rights activist Baskin Oran
wrote in "Radikal" that closing five different Kurdish
parties since 1971 had not solved the problem because such
action leaves Kurds only two options: turn into a Turk or go
to the mountains (and join the PKK). Oran posited a third
way: Kurds should accept a "supra-identity" that does not
deny Kurdish rights, and the state should respect the Kurdish
"sub-identity". "Radikal's" Murat Belge emphasized the
importance of maintaining dialogue, citing Spain and Northern
Ireland as examples of countries that rely on dialogue rather
than party closures to undermine terrorists. Even in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks had continued. "Not to
talk has never been a solution," according to Belge.

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Possible Reprieve Under a Revised Constitution
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11. (C) Sakik and Birdal told us that despite AKP leaders'
references to Turkey's cultural "richness," the party had
failed to take concrete actions to allow Kurds to express
their culture. Both said AKP should take such action now by
adopting a new constitution that strengthens cultural rights
and protects political parties from repeated closure cases.
Sema Kilicer, a human rights expert at the EU Commission's
Ankara office, noted AKP's draft constitution, if adopted,
could spare the DTP by making party closures more difficult.
Only if party leadership or the general party convention
embraces actions that, through a "constant and intensive"
manner, pose a serious danger to the unity of the state could
a party be closed under AKP's draft, she said. In addition,
these actions must have been done with intent to pose a
serious danger. As a further precaution, an official warning
would have to be issued prior to the initiation of a closure
case.

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WILSON