TURKEY: MAVERICK KURDISH POLITICIAN SHOWS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000661 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: MAVERICK KURDISH POLITICIAN SHOWS PERSISTENCE IN THE FACE OF LEGAL PRESSURE REF: A. 07 ANKARA 2412 ¶B. ADANA 12 Classified By: Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, reasons 1.4 (b),(d ) ¶1. (C) Summary and Comment: Kurdish schoolteacher-turned-politician Abdullah Demirbas recently described to us the immense pressure brought to bear on him for his attempts to use Kurdish language in public services while serving as Democratic Society Party (DTP) mayor of Diyarbakir's Sur district. After he spearheaded an October 2006 "multilingual municipal services" project, the Ministry of Interior and Council of State fired him and dissolved the Sur Municipal Council -- actions the Council of Europe and international human rights organizations vigorously denounced. Demirbas contends use of Kurdish is a life-or-death issue in southeastern Turkey because hundreds of thousands of citizens are illiterate and understand only spoken Kurdish. He plans to continue in politics, optimistic that growing skepticism of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Southeast will allow DTP to rectify its poor showing in July 2007 parliamentary elections. The persistent efforts of Demirbas and a handful of other Kurdish politicians to increase the Southeast's political and cultural autonomy highlight the need for the government to tackle the root causes of the Kurdish conflict and the futility of pursuing a solely military solution. End summary and comment. -------------- Continuous Legal Pressure -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In October 2006, the 17-member Sur Municipal Council endorsed the principle of "multilingual municipal services" by providing services such as police and medical emergency information in a number of non-Turkish languages, including Kurdish. Demirbas said the decision was taken following a survey by the Sur municipality that showed 72 per cent of district residents spoke Kurdish in daily life, 24 per cent spoke Turkish, and the remainder Arabic, Assyrian, Armenian, and Chaldean. The new approach was meant to bring "more effective and accessible municipal services." ¶3. (SBU) In response, the Council of State high administrative court (Danistay),acting on a Ministry of Interior application, removed Mayor Demirbas on June 14, 2007 and dissolved the Sur Municipal Council. The court charged that the use of local languages in the provision of services was "political" and violated Article 42 of the Constitution and Article 30 of the Law on Municipalities (prohibiting councils from engaging in "political acts" outside their statutory powers)(ref A). The MOI appointed a temporary mayor to carry out municipal functions until a new mayor and council are elected in Spring 2009 municipal elections. ¶4. (SBU) Demirbas told us prosecutors have brought more than 20 cases against him for using Kurdish while he was mayor. He was accused of misusing his position by officiating at a wedding ceremony in Kurdish, misusing municipal resources for printing a children's book and tourist brochures in Kurdish, and accused (and later acquitted) of aiding a terrorist organization for initiating a plan to employ Kurdish-speaking phone operators and print public-health pamphlets in Kurdish. Most recently, he was charged for misusing resources for funding the building of an abstract sculpture to honor Ugur Kaymaz, a 12-year-old boy killed alongside his father by the Turkish police in 2004. -------------- The Reason for Using Kurdish Language -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Demirbas maintains providing services in Kurdish is a life-or-death issue in southeastern Turkey. He highlighted the State Statistical Institute's 2000 census figures showing 345,000 "illiterate" people -) defined as those who cannot read and write in Turkish -- in the Southeast. Demirbas believes the figure is understated and fails to reflect the overwhelming majority are women. He noted that a study by the Diyarbakir municipality's Center for Research on Women's Issues, based on interviews with 472 married women in 97 ANKARA 00000661 002 OF 003 villages, shows that approximately 80 per cent of these women are illiterate. Another recent survey on internally displaced persons (IDPs) conducted by the Hacettepe University Institute of Population Studies showed 27.4 per cent of IDPs, the vast majority of whom are Kurdish, said "not speaking Turkish" is the main reason for their lack of access to health services. -------------- -------------- International Criticism of Dissolution of Sur Council -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) The Council of Europe's (COE's) Congress of Local and Regional Authorities investigated the Sur Council issue and concluded Turkish authorities ignored relevant laws that require special elections be held within three months of the council's dissolution. The COE also attacked the substance of the laws, recommending Turkey overhaul the "outdated" Municipalities Law and undertake "broad revision of the Constitution and laws governing this area." The COE further opined that GOT policy strictly limiting use of Kurdish increases tension in southeastern Turkey. Minority Rights Group International's (MRG) September 2007 report called on Turkey to cease administrative and criminal proceedings against municipalities for providing services in minority languages, reinstate Demirbas and the Sur Council, and drop the legal cases against them. -------------- Skeptical of AKP -------------- ¶7. (SBU) AKP's failure to address Kurds' continuing problems have made many southeastern Kurds skeptical of AKP, after an initial post-election honeymoon period, according to Demirbas. Unlike some of his more optimistic DTP colleagues (ref B),Demirbas doubts AKP will follow up recent meetings with Kurdish Iraqi officials with concrete steps aimed at the root causes of the Kurdish issue. In the lead up to 2007 parliamentary elections, AKP acknowledged the Kurdish problem and promised to take measures to fix it, Demirbas said. Since then, AKP focused on its own "pet issues" such as the headscarf, and stalled on democratic reforms such as amending controversial Turkish Penal Code Article 301 (criminalizing insulting "Turkishness") and easing limits on Kurdish language broadcasting and education. AKP is relying on economic projects such as GAP (Southeastern Anatolia Project) to improve conditions but is avoiding political reforms that are at the heart of the issue, Demirbas noted. He believes AKP's insincerity is demonstrated by the party's delay in implementing its much-publicized proposal to increase Kurdish broadcasting on the state-run TRT network. Demirbas predicted the AKP closure case would further distract the party from attending to Kurdish political and cultural rights. ¶8. (SBU) Demirbas said southeastern Kurds showed their impatience by turning out in large numbers to DTP-organized Nevruz celebrations. Despite GOT efforts to limit turnout by denying event permits, more than 750,000 people gathered in Diyarbakir, and more than twice as many turned out for celebrations nationwide this year compared with 2007, he noted. (Other Diyarbakir DTP officials estimated approximately 350,000 participated.) Demonstrators were angry at the government's unexplained last-minute ban on banners displaying the slogan "Enough is enough" (referring to continued violence). When violence ensued, Demirbas said, the police overreacted, resorting to violence that included beatings recorded by cell-phone cameras, posted on YouTube, and widely circulated in the region. Demirbas was disheartened that not one police or government official has yet been punished. -------------- Looking Ahead -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Demirbas plans to remain in politics and remains optimistic DTP will perform better in 2009 municipal elections than it did in 2007 parliamentary elections, when just under half of southeastern voters opted for AKP. Demirbas echoed many DTP members' view that AKP is gerrymandering Diyarbakir districts and exploiting religion -- he claimed AKP supports a network of 200-300 Islamic ANKARA 00000661 003 OF 003 groups in the region -- to achieve its regional electoral goals. However, he expects voters will focus on AKP's failure to bring political change to the region, and AKP's cooperation with the military in carrying out recent cross-border operations -- unpopular with Kurds -- against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. "AKP has lost its image as a victim and underdog," Demirbas stated. It is now up to DTP leaders to figure out how to use these events to the party's advantage, a central issue at DTP's June party convention. ¶10. (C) Comment: While pragmatic government officials in southeastern Turkey often allow service providers to use Kurdish to ensure efficiency, Demirbas pushed the envelope by establishing formal policies to reflect Diyarbakir's multilingual character. Demirbas included languages other than Kurdish (such as Arabic and Armenian) to soften the perception that he is exclusively championing Kurdish rights. The judiciary's attempts to quash Demirbas's proposals are likely to increase his and the DTP's popularity while nourishing the perception of many Kurds that the GOT's ultimate goal is not to expand Kurdish rights but rather to assimilate Kurds into Turkish society. End comment. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON