TURKEY: DTP PULLED IN OPPOSING DIRECTIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001656

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2019
TAGS: PGOV PTER PHUM TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: DTP PULLED IN OPPOSING DIRECTIONS

REF: A. ANKARA 1653

B. ANKARA 1538

C. ANKARA 1470

Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady, reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Turkey
is being torn between two trains of thought. On one hand,
co-chairman Ahmet Turk and those aligned with him are
attempting, at least in words, to distance themselves from
the violent actions of the terrorist Kurdistan Worker's Party
(PKK). On the other, co-chairwoman Emine Ayna and those
close to her consider the PKK the legitimate voice of the
Kurdish people in Turkey, and insist that jailed PKK leader
Abdullah Ocalan be an interlocutor for the government on the
Kurdish issue. While sources within the DTP make it clear
that the party is holding together, moderates stress that PKK
pressure and intimidation prohibits them from even speaking
out within the party, let alone in the broader public arena.
END SUMMARY

Ahmet Turk: DTP As a Peaceful, Legitimate Political Party
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2. (C) Ahmet Turk, co-chairman of the DTP, has clearly stated
on several public occasions (including the party convention
in October, REF C) that the DTP is a party of peace and
democracy. While stopping short of condemning the PKK, Turk
has distanced his party from PKK violence and from calls for
an autonomous or independent "Kurdistan" in Turkey. In his
address to the parliament on November 13 to discuss the
government's Democratic Opening initiative, Turk stressed the
importance of peace and economic progress for the Kurdish
people in Turkey (REF A). Although he spouted the
traditional rhetoric about oppression of Kurds and the
mistakes of previous governments, he struck a chord of
inclusiveness saying that all citizens would benefit from
democratic reforms, and that the changes proposed by the
government would make Turkey stronger. Both privately and
publicly, Turk has attempted to distance the DTP from PKK
violence while still insisting that the motives for forming
the PKK and the political goals of the PKK were still valid.


3. (C) Sirri Sakik, a DTP MP from Mus who is close to Turk,
told us on November 19 that he hoped the Democratic Opening
initiative would make it easier for the DTP to distance
itself from the PKK. Sakik, like others in the party,
consistently calls for a lowering of the percentage of the
vote needed for a party to enter parliament so that smaller
parties could be represented. Sakik confirmed that there was
a split within the DTP between those who aligned with the PKK
and those who did not. However, when asked whether such a
change in election regulations would create a situation where
the party would split in two, Sakik simply laughed and
changed the subject, not denying that such a split could
occur. He stressed that all of the DTP wants democracy and
peace in the southeast, although there are differences of
opinion within the party as to how to go about accomplishing
such goals.

Emine Ayna: DTP Legitimizes the PKK, Follows Ocalan's Orders
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4. (C) Co-chairwoman Emine Ayna, on the other hand, leads the
section of the party that is closely aligned with the PKK and
wants to legitimize the terrorist organization -- and its
jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan -- as the representative voice
of the Kurdish people in Turkey. During the party's
convention in October, although Ayna gave a balanced speech
toeing the party line of peace and democracy, she made her
allegiances clear when talking about the PKK and the need for
the government to speak to them directly. When PKK
supporters tried to take the stage, she stressed that, "NOW
is not the time for this," implying that clearly there would
be a time for such celebrations.


5. (C) Sebahat Tuncel, the DTP Foreign Affairs Advisor, is
closely aligned with Emine Ayna. Tuncel told PolCouns on
October 23 that the PKK is the voice of the Kurdish people,
and that "more than three million Kurds in the southeast

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support Ocalan as their representative." She pushed for the
U.S. to remove the PKK from its list of designated terrorist
organizations and stated that the recent Treasury designation
of three PKK leaders as "drug kingpins" was a "lie." (Note:
She even contended that the USG "knows this is a lie," which
we firmly rejected. End Note) She stressed that the PKK
returnees from northern Iraq (REF B) had returned not to
surrender, but on behalf of Ocalan to negotiate with the GOT
for a lasting peace. Tuncel self-identified as an Alevi, and
stressed that the DTP and PKK are working not just for the
Kurds, but also for the Alevis and all other oppressed
members of Turkish society. Throughout the meeting, she took
on a combative tone with us, in the end telling us that the
U.S. should not view all Kurds as terrorists; we stressed
that we did not.

Other DTP Members Caught in the Middle
--------------


6. (C) Bengi Yildiz, a DTP deputy from Batman, walks a middle
line between the two camps. Yildiz told Poloff on November
16 that there were definitely two camps within the DTP, but
that "so long as our children are in the mountains, the party
will not split because anyone who leaves would be viewed as a
traitor." Yildiz stressed that the DTP needed to be
completely independent from the PKK; the PKK should stay out
of politics and the politicians should stay out of violence
-- although he stopped short of condemning the violence. He
stated that DTP members are not allowed to talk about these
ideas, even within the party, because of PKK pressure and
influence. Yildiz lamented the fact that because the DTP
cannot come out strongly as a party independent of the PKK,
it is not trusted by the political establishment or by
Turkish society. Yildiz told us that, "no one in the party,
except Ahmet Turk, could be elected on their own," implying
that most of them only had their seats because of PKK support
and pressure.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) The DTP is trying to strike a balance between its
strong connection to the PKK and its integration into the
political establishment as a legitimate political party.
This is a dangerous position for them to be in given the
closure case proceeding against the party in the
Constitutional Court. It is unlikely, given the current
political atmosphere, that a split would occur within the DTP
because no one in the party wants to be seen as a traitor to
the Kurdish cause -- either by their constituency or the PKK
itself. However, if the new laws and regulations proposed by
the AKP as part of the Democratic Opening initiative create
real changes in the southeast, and PKK influence and control
declines, a widening of the split within the party would not
come as a surprise. We continue to encourage the positive
messages of moderation coming out of the party and discourage
messages condoning terrorist activity and violence.

JEFFREY

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