TURKEY: UNREST CONTINUES IN SOUTHEAST TURKEY FOLLOWING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000082 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PINS PINR PGOV TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: UNREST CONTINUES IN SOUTHEAST TURKEY FOLLOWING ARRESTS OF KURDISH LEADERS REF: ADANA 0080 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The Kurdish community in SE Turkey continues to manifest its outrage following December 24 arrests of more than 60 Kurdish leaders including seven incumbent mayors. Significant street protests continue in Hakkari, Sirnak, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, and other heavily Kurdish-populated areas of the southeast. Banned DTP leaders Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk's decision to respond peacefully to their arrest warrants and appear before the Ankara Heavy Penalty Court on December 31 may help ease tensions, according to one contact. Kurdish contacts said the recent arrests heightened feelings of humiliation and embitterment, and that marginalization of legitimate political actors will lead to increased violence. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- -------------- 5,000 PROTESTERS CLASH WITH POLICE IN DIYARBAKIR -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Contacts confirm media reports that around 5,000 protesters gathered in the Baglar area of Diyarbakir to hear members of the Free Citizen Association read a press statement protesting the recent detentions and arrests of more than 60 Kurdish leaders. Diyarbakir MP Ayten Kisanak delivered a speech saying the GoT was pursuing a "hostage policy" by imprisoning DTP lawmakers and party members and said the Kurds could "no longer be deceived." She said the democratic struggle would continue. Protesters clashed with police, who responded with tear gas. Dramatic images of the Baglar protest aired on evening news channels. -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- SE ATTORNEYS RALLY TO END ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION IN JUSTICE SYSTEM -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Contacts confirm 300 lawyers from the Diyarbakir Bar Association together with nine regional bar association presidents marched on December 30 to the Diyarbakir Court Hall where they held a press conference to denounce ethnic discrimination in the judiciary system. Attorney Tahir Elci said the group wanted to call attention to the "unreasonable and heavy sentences for Kurdish children who throw stones at police during protests, continued repression of freedom of speech, and recent detentions of prominent Kurdish lawyers punished for activities on human rights cases." -------------- -------------- -------------- VIEW FROM HAKKARI: "SITUATION LIKE A DERAILED TRAIN" -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) In the city of Hakkari, protests continue to spill into the streets, and many retailers have shuttered their stores. Hakkari Bar Association President Necip Korkmaz said the situation in Turkey is a "mess," likening it to a derailed train. He blames the state for "playing with the hopes of the people," and contrasted AKP's statements about brotherhood and democracy playing out before scenes of arrests of prominent Kurdish leaders. Frustrating, too, is the fact that the government's democratic initiative remains undisclosed and opaque. Korkmaz urged the GoT to make announcements that would "comfort the people" and at a minimum, to announce short-, medium-, and long-term policies concerning the Kurdish issue. -------------- -------------- -------------- NEW RHETORIC, BUT "SAME OLD MISTAKEN POLICIES" -------------- -------------- -------------- ADANA 00000082 002 OF 002 ¶5. (SBU) Attorney Esat Canan, former CHP lawmaker representing Hakkari, said the continued arrests of people engaged in legitimate politics "forces them to be engaged in illegality." Despite the GoT's rhetoric about the democratic initiative, he said, AKP is pursuing the same old mistaken policies of the past 25 years: shutting down parties, arresting lawful Kurdish political actors, and trying to eliminate the PKK by military means. He said the recent detentions were a big misstep for AKP, and its inability or refusal to provide details on the "democratic opening" has undercut its political efficacy. "The government should broaden the field for politics if it really wanted to bring down the PKK from the mountains," he said. Canan also acknowledged mistakes by DTP officials in insisting that jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan be taken as an interlocutor in the democracy dialogue and by "indexing" itself to the PKK. In the end, he said it was unfortunate common sense did not prevail. -------------- TURK, TUGLUK TESTIFY -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Former DTP politicians Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk, who were stripped of their parliamentary immunity when their party was banned by a December 11 Constitutional Court decision, appeared in an Ankara court on the morning of December 31 to answer questions. Attorney Tahir Elci views their peaceful submission to a court order as a positive development that could help calm tensions in the region. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (SBU) As Elci noted, Turk and Tugluk's behavior stands in sharp contrast to Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, whose use of profanity on national television on December 24 shocked the country and resulted in a lawsuit against him (one of some 18 he has garnered in 2009). For Kurds in the southeast, the recent arrests of prominent Kurdish leaders have been both startling and humiliating. Emotions are running high with no signs of decreasing violence levels. One journalist contact said the one thing that could quell some of the tension is a substantive gesture from AKP on the democratic initiative. It remains to be seen whether such a gesture will be forthcoming. END COMMENT. DARNELL