HRANT DINK SUCCESSOR: PROPOSED ARTICLE 301 CHANGES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000029

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/16/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF AM TU
SUBJECT: HRANT DINK SUCCESSOR: PROPOSED ARTICLE 301 CHANGES
POSITIVE IN SHORT TERM

REF: A. ANKARA 0059


B. 07 ISTANBUL 0896

Classified By: Consul General Sharon A. Wiener for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)


1. (C) Summary and comment. During a January 9 meeting at
Agos newspaper headquarters, Consul General discussed the
status of constitutional and democratic reform in Turkey with
Etyen Mahcupyan, editor-in-chief of the Armenian weekly and
head of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation's
(TESEV's) Democratization Program. Though he would prefer to
see it abolished, Mahcupyan characterized proposed changes to
the controversial Turkish Penal Code Article 301 (dealing
with "insulting Turkishness") as positive in the short term.
A close friend and successor at Agos to Hrant Dink - the
prominent human rights advocate assassinated nearly a year
ago by an ultranationalist youth and who many believe became
a target following his 2005 Article 301 conviction -
Mahcupyan is uniquely positioned to comment on such issues.
Perhaps no other organization has suffered more from Article
301 than Agos. Dink's son Arat, a managing editor at the
paper, and his colleague Sergis Seropyan are in the process
of appealing their own October 11, 2007 Article 301
convictions. End summary and comment.

The Headscarf: Turkey's Burnt Bra
--------------


2. (C) Hrant Dink's successor as editor-in-chief of the
Armenian language Agos newspaper Etyen Mahcupyan discussed
constitutional and democratic reform in Turkey, among other
issues, during a January 9 meeting with the Consul General.
Responding to Consul General's inquiry concerning the state
of affairs for minorities in Turkey, Mahcupyan argued that
Turkey is at a crossroads. How it handles minority problems
is an indicator of what kind of democracy Turkey will become.
He noted Turkey is more transparent than in the past and
praised the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for
its sincere desire to reform. Pointing out the lack of a
strong opposition party, Mahcupyan described politics in
Turkey as a dispute between the government and the
traditional establishment.


3. (C) Attributing lack of progress on EU accession reforms
to diluted external pressure and an absence of internal
competition, Mahcupyan claimed the government was engaged in
politics based on intentions and not policies. The
government has nothing to lose by maintaining the status quo.
In the meantime, it has everything to gain by advertising
its intentions and measuring the response. He trusts the
government's desire to change things, but recognized it was
of prime importance to not cause a crisis.


4. (C) Still, Mahcupyan believed change was on the horizon,
beginning with Article 301 the week of January 14 and the
Foundations Law and Constitution soon thereafter. He
characterized four changes to Article 301 (ref A),widely
covered in press as the likely, final government proposal, as
positive in the short term. The proposed amendment requiring
Justice Minister (or a separate government appointed council)
vetting of Article 301 charges is an improvement as long as
the current government is in power, he cautioned. Mahcupyan
credited the AKP and Prime Minister Erdogan for making
"critical" changes to the Constitution, which he believed
would be accepted if approached in a balanced manner,
favoring freedoms in general without focusing on any one
issue (i.e., headscarves in universities). "Change will be
slow but the direction is more important than the pace," said
Mahcupyan.


5. (C) Regarding the controversial headscarf issue,
Mahcupyan expected that in a few years, different university
campuses will behave differently and eventually the issue
will resolve itself. He described Turkey's secularists -
those opposed to allowing headscarves in universities - as a
community in and of themselves. According to studies he
directed as the head of TESEV's Democratization program, most
families in Turkey were against their daughters wearing
headscarves in the political fashion. The headscarf has
become a symbol for "liberated" women seeking to rebel
against their parents and state authorities.


6. (C) In response to Consul General's inquiry concerning
the GOT's approach to combating the PKK, Mahcupyan opined the
government had no real policy beyond the military approach
but would likely test different options because it does want
to do something. Continuing a theme evident throughout the

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discussion, he believed the government would try out ideas
while avoiding big risks and would slowly and systematically
push for a more positive picture, including greater freedom
for the use of Kurdish language and increased autonomy for
municipalities. Mahcupyan expected the AKP to make
significant gains in majority Kurdish provinces during 2009
municipal elections because Kurds realize the AKP is the only
actor that can achieve results.

Turkish Identity and Armenian "Genocide"
--------------


7. (C) Pointing out that the proposed U.S. Congressional
Armenian genocide resolution that weighed heavily on the
U.S.-Turkish relationship when they had first met in
September (ref B) had since been temporarily shelved, Consul
General asked whether anything was being done in Turkey to
come to terms with the events of 1915 or advance
reconciliation with Armenia. Mahcupyan lamented that
Europeans and Americans don't understand the psychological
challenge for Turks to come to terms with this part of their
history: accepting "genocide" means accepting that the
founders of the Republic were culpable. "It is only within
the last few years that Turks are realizing they don't know
their history, but at the same time they don't want to learn
the truth and certainly not from outsiders," proffered
Mahcupyan.


8. (C) Speculating on the sources of these educational
challenges, Mahcupyan explained the identity of a Turkish
citizen is defined by the State. Because Turks are so
diverse there is no such thing as a Turkish cultural
identity, only a political identity. This state-defined
political identity provides a "psychological umbrella" that
has inhibited the Turkish public from facing its history.
Still, society is changing, Mahcupyan believes, as
demonstrated by the movement responsible for AKP's success.
Muslims are trying to differentiate themselves from the
founders of this country, thus transforming Turkish identity
to one based on religion. The Armenian Diaspora is very
superficial and does not understand the internal politics in
Turkey underlying the "genocide" issue, he added. "In
Turkey, when you talk about Armenian 'genocide,' five minutes
later you're talking about a very different thing," Mahcupyan
said, referring to Turkish identity.
WIENER