TURKEY: CHP PARTY CONGRESS SERVES UP MORE OF SAME

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000818 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: CHP PARTY CONGRESS SERVES UP MORE OF SAME REF: ANKARA 746 Classified By: Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, for Reasons 1.4 (b ,d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. A predictable and lackluster Republican People's Party (CHP) convention April 26-27 re-elected Deniz Baykal as chairman and cleaned house of his opponents, further strengthening his sclerotic hold over a party that does not want him, but cannot fight him. The convention declaration highlighted CHP's hostility to the US and EU. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Delegates re-elected Deniz Baykal with 83 percent (1021 votes of 1231 delegates). Although three Baykal rivals submitted petitions to run for party chairmanship (reftel), all failed to surmount the preliminary hurdle of obtaining signatures of 20 percent of the delegates, leaving Baykal to run uncontested. Haluk Koc came the closest with 168 votes; Umut Oran got 15; and Ayhan Yalcinkaya got one delegate's support. Vice Chairmen Onur Oymen, Mustafa Ozyurek, and Cevdet Selvi retained their positions, as expected. Onder Sav, seen by many as the mastermind behind Baykal's iron grip on the party, remains Secretary General, with Mehmet Sevigen as Deputy Secretary General. Party Assembly revisions are a victory for Sav, who ensured that all Baykal critics and his own enemies were ousted. Newcomers, mainly Baykal loyalists, include Faik Oztrak, Dervis Gunay, and all female CHP members of parliament (8) except Guldal Mumcu, who serves as parliamentary vice speaker. ¶3. (SBU) In his three-hour speech, Baykal struck themes of secularist harmony with religion, support for diverse ethnic compatriots, and opposition to terrorism. He also suggested party rebels get out and form their own party, an unlikely option since established parties receive considerable funding from the state. Eleven delegates also addressed the convention. Gulsun Bilgehan, as Ismet Inonu's granddaughter perhaps the only CHP member in a position to do so, harshly criticized Baykal's policies as opening the way for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to rule. Implying Baykal, she said, "What can be worse? You cannot conduct politics by adopting a stubborn attitude and remaining in the seat despite the will of the people. This is not the party that you established in 1992 and got 4 percent of the votes. This is the party of Ataturk." When the Agri Provincial Chairman criticized Baykal's opponents and said he regarded Baykal as he did Ataturk, opponents booed him. ¶4. (C) The convention produced a declaration that, among other things, implicitly took aim at perceived US imperialist domination; it rejected Turkey being used as a "tool of the Greater Middle East Project." It questioned Turkey's Customs Union with the EU and stated that Turkey's only goal should be "an honorable full membership based on equal rights." It repeated Baykal's policy statement on Northern Iraq from late 2007 -- that commercial, economic, and educational links should be enhanced and new border gates should be opened. Emphasizing individual rights, the declaration advocated enhancing linguistic freedoms (for the private, not public, sphere). It condemned interference in the judiciary and AKP's "efforts to find outside support for such initiatives.... No government can change the picture of legitimacy by creating its own legislation." It denounced terrorism and condemned "all sectors, institutions, and countries that provide direct or indirect support to terrorist centers that target the integrity and unity of the country." The declaration rejected efforts to convert Turkey into a "moderate Islamic" country (considered by many CHPers to be a US goal). It advocated a production-led economy, demanded accounting from the government of corruption allegations, and called for the lifting of parliamentary immunity. ¶5. (C) Although the convention was well-attended, participants lacked enthusiasm. In the normally rowdy convention milieu, Baykal supporters were comparatively subdued. Haluk Koc's supporters cheered loudly for their candidate, and even the delegates applauded him. Baykal's entry to the hall triggered both applause and booing. Umut ANKARA 00000818 002 OF 002 Oran was accompanied by former vice chairman Esref Erdem (booted from all party structures on the second day of the convention),Fikret Unlu, Atilla Kart, Necdet Pamir, Adbulkadir Ates, and Engin Altay. The hall was festooned with pictures of Ataturk, and the national founder's speeches were distributed to the delegates and audience. Kurdish songs played as well as Turkish ones. ¶6. (C) COMMENT. Baykal will be remembered as the leader who lost the most elections but won the most conventions. This result spells a grim future for Turkish politics and virtually no future at all for Turkey's otherwise-homeless social democrats. CHP has become an ossified cabal of hard-core nationalists who have convinced themselves they carry the banner of Ataturk, but in reality are only defending their own self-congratulatory hold on the party. By failing to present policy alternatives, CHP has relinquished its role as opposition to extra-political actors in the military and judiciary. Should CHP somehow manage to hold on to its July 2007 20 percent voter support in the March 2009 local elections, internal opponents will be hard-pressed to convene an extraordinary convention, and Baykal will remain chairman for another three years. A dip, however, or loss of traditional CHP strongholds Izmir and Cankaya, could invite malcontents to revisit party leadership -- or strike out on their own. Until then, with a shrill, reflexive, unconstructive opposition, political stability in Turkey will continue largely to depend on an embattled AKP. END COMMENT. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON