Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ANKARA1651
2008-09-15 13:48:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:  

TURKEY: PRO-KURDISH DTP SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CLOSURE

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU 
pdf how-to read a cable
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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)

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