TURKEY: PRO-KURDISH DTP SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CLOSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001651 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: PRO-KURDISH DTP SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CLOSURE REF: ANKARA 1546 Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady, reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: On the ropes in its Constitutional Court closure case, pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) is staging "awareness-raising" walks, and reaching out to any who will listen to garner much-needed support. In his September 16 oral defense on behalf of the party, DTP Chairman Ahmet Turk is expected to emphasize that DTP opposes violence and supports peace; closing it would be a blow to those seeking a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem. In an unprecedented act of support, eleven groups from Turkey's heterogeneous Alevi community signed a declaration calling on those who opposed closing AKP to do the same for DTP. Meanwhile, a party debate over whether DTP MP's should speak in Kurdish at the opening of Parliament in October (an inflammatory gesture that has led to arrest in the past),is the latest sign of friction between hawks and doves in DTP. Party contacts call the debate everyday politics, and remain confident fed-up Kurdish voters in southeastern Turkey are ready to vote the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) out of municipal office. End summary. -------------- DTP Seeks International Support -------------- ¶2. (C) Leading up to its September 14 oral defense in the closure case, DTP party leadership is speaking out to the media and Western diplomatic missions for support. Delivering the party's stock message, DTP Foreign Affairs Advisor Sinan Onal told us DTP has been promoting peace and dialogue since it entered parliament in July 2007. Closure would solve nothing. The Turkish state had closed Kurdish political parties 16 times, and the Kurdish issues remains. Shutting DTP would "cause large segments of the Kurdish public in the Southeast to become alienated from politics," according to Onal. -------------- Ahmet Turk To Deliver "Political" Defense -------------- ¶3. (C) Onal told us DTP Chairman Ahmet Turk is preparing to deliver the party's defense on September 16. Turk will rebut the charge that DTP has been the center of activities against the indivisible unity of the country and the state; note that DTP has been the guarantor of Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood; assert DTP wants peace and not violence; and argue that shutting DTP would mean insisting on allowing the Kurdish issue to fester without a solution. Speaking to Turkish media September 13-14, Turk said, "Our party is the defender of a legitimate solution to the Kurdish issue. Closing DTP would mean opening the door to violence." ¶4. (U) DTP is organizing awareness-raising walks September 15-16 in key cities, including Diyarbakir, Van, Hakkari, Sanliurfa, Tunceli, Istanbul, and Izmir. DTP Co-Chair Emine Ayna told the press DTP's oral defense would be "political" in contrast to the party's "purely legal" written defense. She said the "peaceful" walks will lend support to the defense by raising the public's awareness of the case. -------------- Minimal Support for DTP -------------- ¶5. (U) Most politicians have remained quiet on DTP closure since an Ankara prosecutor initiated the case on November 16, ¶2007. Though PM Erdogan vigorously defended AKP against closure, he avoided commenting on DTP closure by saying he should not comment on an active case. Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin went on record that he was "not pleased" at the news but said it would not be appropriate for him to comment further about an ongoing case. Opposition Republican People's Party (CHP),Nationalist Movement Party (MHP),and Democratice Left Party (DSP) MPs have suggested DTP members brought on the case with their antogonistic words, and have said the judiciary's decision should be respected. ¶6. (U) In an unprecedented gesture of support for DTP by Alevis, eleven Alevi organizations, including traditional supporters of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Alevi-Bektasi Federation and Pir Sultan Abdul Cultural ANKARA 00001651 002 OF 002 Association, gathered at the Human Rights Association's Istanbul office to declare their opposition to closure of DTP. The organizations issued a joint statement urging that those "who referred to a democratic, secular state of law should take a stance against closure, as they did against AKP being closed." Free Democratic Alevi Movement Spokesman Ergin Dogru said closure would "build walls between Turks and Kurds." In a peaceful protest on September 15 in front of the Constitutional Court building in Ankara, a small group of women from various leftist NGOs, the KESK labor union, and fringe political parties gathered peacefully and chanted, "Don't touch my party; don't touch my voice in Parliament." -------------- Tension Over Kurdish Language Continues -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Meanwhile, Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan responded to press speculation that some DTP MPs would deliver remarks in Kurdish during the October 6 opening session of Parliament. Though several DTP MPs, including Sirri Sakik, have used Kurdish phrases in Parliament without incident during the last year, the 13 MPs who in 1991 took their parliamentary oath of office in Kurdish were shouted down with cries of "traitor," arrested, stripped of parliamentary immunity, and convicted to 15-year prison sentences. (Note: The European Court of Human Rights in 2002 ruled the verdict violated basic principles of democracy, and awarded each imprisoned MP a substantial monetary award. Though Turkey did not recognize the verdict, the imprisoned MPs ultimately won their freedom by using a new 2003 law that permitted retrials based on ECHR verdicts.). Answering questions from reporters regarding whether the MPs would be allowed to use Kurdish, Toptan said, "They cannot speak in Kurdish on the parliament floor." In response, DTP hawkish MP Selahattin Demirtas told reporters, "there has not been any provision in parliament's by-laws or other laws about speaking Kurdish in Parliament." ¶8. (C) Abdullah Demirbas, a moderate DTP politician who was fired as Mayor of the Diyarbakir Sur sub-municipality for his efforts to use Kurdish language in provision of municipal services, told us the party is conflicted on the issues. Though he believes speaking in Kurdish at Parliament would create unnecessary friction, some hardliners want to push the envelope, he told us. Highlighting what he believes is Turkey's schizophrenic position on EU harmonization, Demirbas said he is preparing to travel to Norway and Brussels to collect awards for his courage in pushing forward-looking language policies, while he is simultaneously being prosecuted at home for his efforts. Demirbas hopes a Council of Europe delegation visit to Turkey in October will help keep pressure on the GOT to liberalize its language policies. -------------- DTP Prepared to Re-Organize if Closed -------------- ¶9. (C) Demirbas told us DTP, if closed, is prepared to quickly reorganize under the banner of Peace and Democracy Party, a party it formed last year for just this contingency. Under either name, he believes the party is poised to tap into southeast voters' dissatisfaction with AKP's poor performance. After several recent trips through that region, Demirbas concluded that voters are disillusioned by a weak economy and resent PM Erdogan's failure to follow through on promises to ease social and cultural restrictions. Though AKP's method of distributing coal and food boxes would attract some voters, Demirbas said, "the majority cannot be bought." He noted that allegations of AKP corruption and a renewal of legislation that permits the Turkish military to conduct cross-border operations into northern Iraq, upon the current authorization's experation in October, would further alienate voters. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON