TURKEY: 2007 - INTOLERANCE AND VIOLENCE TOWARD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 000019

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/02/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: 2007 - INTOLERANCE AND VIOLENCE TOWARD
RELIGIOUS MINORITIES SPIKES

Classified By: A/Political Counselor Kelly Degnan, reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (U) This is a joint Embassy Ankara-Consulate General
Istanbul cable.


2. (C) Summary: Intolerance and violence against Turkey's
dwindling religious minority communities spiked in 2007. The
January assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, the brutal killing of three Christians in Malatya, and
the stabbing of a Catholic Priest in Izmir were the starkest
examples of intolerance toward non-Muslims. The government
failed to deliver any of its long-promised reforms for
religious minorities, and ruling and opposition parties alike
played the nationalist card to attract votes during 2007's
parliamentary and presidential elections. While GOT
officials decried the Dink murder, they declined to use the
groundswell of public sorrow and shame to confront pervasive
societal intolerance and prejudice. Turkey is expected to
take some important symbolic steps toward improving religious
freedom in 2008, including re-passing the Foundations Law,
amending Article 301 (insulting "Turkishness") and
constitutional reforms. But changing the underlying public
mindset that narrowly defines a Turk to exclude diverse
religious or ethnic backgrounds is a prerequisite to ending
the type of intolerance witnessed in 2007. End summary.

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2007: A Low Point for Turkey's Religious Minorities
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3. (SBU) Claims that Turkey is a model of religious tolerance
took a beating in 2007. While many Turks -- from the
government's top leaders to the man on the street -- firmly
believe religious discrimination does not exist, Turkey's
dwindling religious minorities (approximately 65,000 Armenian
Orthodox; 25,000 Jews; 15,000 Syrian Orthodox; 4,000 Greek
Orthodox; and 3,000 Protestants) faced unprovoked violent
attacks and a government that stalled on long-promised
reforms to improve their situation.

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January: Shocking Murder of Hrant Dink
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4. (SBU) Turks were shocked to learn on January 19 that a
17-year-old ultranationalist, Ogun Samast, had assassinated
Turkish-Armenian journalist and activist Hrant Dink in front
his Armenian language newspaper's office. Samast shot Dink
three times in the neck and head, killing him immediately.
Samast confessed the next day, but a national debate ensued
over who was really to blame. Many argued Turkey's Supreme
Court of Appeals had essentially handed Dink a death sentence
in July 2006 by upholding a six-month suspended sentence
against Dink for violating Penal Code Article 301
("humiliating Turkishness"); Dink had called the 1915-17
massacre of Armenians a genocide in a series of articles in

2004. Ironically, the articles' focus was convincing the
Armenian Diaspora to put aside their grievances against
Turks. Some blamed security officials for failing to protect
Dink despite repeated threats to his life. Photographs of
policemen proudly posing with Samast in front of Turkish
flags shortly after Samast's arrest did little to dispel such
accusations.


5. (SBU) Dink's funeral drew tens of thousands of people in a
show of Turkish solidarity against his assassination.
Mourners brandished signs exclaiming "We are all Hrant" and
"301 Kills", but it was the "We are all Armenian" signs that
drew nationalist ire. Though PM Erdogan spoke out against
the assassination and visited the Dink family to express his
condolences, many Turks and international observers were
disappointed that no high-level government official took part
in the funeral ceremonies. The ongoing murder investigation
has been laced with controversy, with Dink family attorneys
alleging a cover-up that extends well beyond the 18 suspects
indicted thus far. The trial, which began July 2 behind
closed doors because Samast was a minor and reportedly
included his confession during an October 1 session, is
expected to reconvene on February 11.

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April: Massacre of Three Christians in Malatya
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6. (SBU) A group of youths brutally killed three Christians
on April 18 in a small Christian publishing house in the
eastern Anatolian city of Malatya. The three victims -- two
Turks and a German citizen -- were found with their throats
slit and their hands and legs bound. One was still alive
when found, but died later in the hospital. Four suspects
were caught as they were trying to escape, while another
jumped out a window and was hospitalized.


7. (C) High-level GOT officials, including the prime
minister, minister of interior, and head of the religious
affairs directorate (Diyanet),condemned the murders as
"savagery," and assured "all necessary measures would be
taken to prevent new killings." Their statements were
undermined by the entrenched bureaucracy's reaction, which
emphasized the danger of growing missionary activities in
Turkey. A day after the murders, Niyazi Guney, a senior
official in the ministry of justice, reflected this sentiment
when he remarked to parliamentarians that, "Missionary work
is even more dangerous than terrorism and unfortunately is
not considered a crime in Turkey."


8. (SBU) The suspects' trial began November 23 in Malatya
amid massive security. Five defendants face multiple life
sentences for murder and terrorist acts; two others are
charged with assisting in the planning. Attorneys
representing the victims' families have criticized the public
prosecutors for collecting details of the victims' missionary
activities but failing to probe for information on those who
may have recruited and encouraged the youths to commit the
murders. The attorneys claim the prosecutorial files contain
revelations that have disturbing parallels with the Dink
murder: In the six months preceding the murders, four of the
suspects acquired new cell phones 106 times, suggesting the
unemployed youths had financial support to help them avoid
surveillance. The youths' phone records show they had
regular contacts with a local council member from the
far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP),someone in the
Ankara headquarters of the Special Police Unit, a public
prosecutor, and a military official. The trial will resume
on January 14.

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December: Catholic Priest Stabbed in Izmir
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9. (SBU) Police detained a 19-year old Turkish man shortly
after he stabbed Italian Priest Adiano Franchini inside
Izmir's St. Antoine Church on December 16. Franchini
survived the attack and said he would not press charges
against the attacker, who he described as a mentally
disturbed youth. FM Babacan told the press he "learned of
the attack with deep sorrow," and recalled that "in Turkey
different religions, sects and cultures have lived together
for centuries." Many Turkish Christians believe it was not
an isolated incident but part of a troubling trend of
intolerance toward Christians. They note the attacker said
he had been influenced by "Valley of the Wolves," a popular
ultranationalistic TV series that spews rhetoric against
Christian missionaries (septel).

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GOT Fails to Deliver Long-Promised Reforms
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10. (SBU) A risk-averse government struggling with
contentious parliamentary and presidential elections in 2007
failed to enact reforms that would have benefited minorities.
Despite international pressure to repeal or significantly
modify Article 301 -- and statements by the prime minister
and foreign minister that the provision would be amended --
the controversial law remains on the books and was used to
convict Dink's son Arat on October 11. Following the
elections, the government focused on fighting PKK terrorism
and drafting a new constitution and failed to push through
the draft Foundations Law, which would make it easier for
minority foundations to own and manage properties.
Parliament had previously passed the law but then-President
Sezer vetoed it in 2006. The Ecumenical Patriarchate's Halki
Seminary remains closed despite repeated requests to re-open

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it as a vocational school, and Ministry of Environment and
Forestry officials damaged a centuries-old Greek Orthodox
church under restoration on the same island in November.
Alevis continued unsuccessfully to seek proportional
disbursement of government funding for their places of
worship (cem evis) and for inclusion of Alevi principles in
public school religion courses.

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Small Steps of Progress Fall Short
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11. (SBU) Turkey took several positive steps during the year
on the religious freedom front:

--GOT officials re-opened a government-restored Armenian
Church on Akdamar Island in Lake Van on March 29, but refused
an Armenian Patriarchate request to display a cross and allow
the church to host select religious ceremonies. The former
church will be a museum managed by the ministry of culture.

--The ministry of interior issued a June 19 circular to all
governors that acknowledged an increase in individual
criminal actions and attacks against non-Muslim citizens and
their places of worship, and requested governors take
protective measures to protect at-risk individuals, groups,
or property. Yet several Turkish Christians who faced death
threats during the year told us they struggled unsuccessfully
to obtain state protection.

--The Jehovah's Witnesses won a multi-year struggle to obtain
legal recognition for their church on July 31. Church
officials told us the victory has been mostly symbolic, as
they continue to face local bureaucratic obstruction to
requests to worship at particular sites.

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Comment: Intolerance Calls For Giant Leaps of Reform
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12. (C) Many Turkish commentators and several contacts blame
the GOT for tacitly helping sow seeds of intolerance and
xenophobia that contributed to attacks against religious
minorities in 2007. In the lead-up to July parliamentary
elections, both ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
and the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP)
unabashedly played the nationalist card in an effort to pry
votes from the far-right MHP. Then-Justice Minister Cemil
Cicek's comments in fall 2006 that those charged under
Article 301 with "insulting Turkishness" were "stabbing the
nation in the back" illustrated the government's failure to
tamp down spiraling nationalist sentiment. Following the
Dink murder, the GOT failed to capitalize on the unique, if
tragic, opportunity to initiate reform and promote tolerance.
PM Erdogan, then-President Sezer, then-FM Gul, and CHP
Chairman Baykal did not attend Dink's high profile funeral.
Similarly, though senior-level leaders were careful to
condemn the Malatya murders, none traveled to Malatya to
attend the funerals for the murdered Christians or make a
public statement. The widow of one of the victims told us
that no Turkish official had contacted her to offer
condolences.


13. (C) Countering extremist nationalists and taking bold
political action to confront pervasive societal intolerance
and prejudice remains politically risky in a country where
nationalism remains a fundamental aspect of Turkish identity.
The AKP is working on constitutional reforms that would
expand freedoms for minorities, and is expected to take some
important symbolic steps toward improving religious freedom
in 2008, including re-passing the Foundations Law and
amending Article 301. But changing the underlying public
mindset that narrowly defines a Turk to exclude diverse
religious or ethnic backgrounds is a prerequisite to ending
the type of intolerance witnessed in 2007. Dink himself
noted prior to his death that until the GOT treated Turks of
non-Turkish descent (Armenians, Kurds, Greeks, etc.) as
"normal citizens" - allowing them to serve in the police and
the bureaucracy and use their own languages in education --
Turkish society would remain divided.

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