TURKEY: DTP RESIGNS EN MASSE; CONTINUED VIOLENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001782

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD PLEASE PASS TO RRT ERBIL AND PRT NINEWA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2019
TAGS: PGOV PTER PHUM TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: DTP RESIGNS EN MASSE; CONTINUED VIOLENCE
TESTS AKP'S RESOLVE ON KURDISH INITIATIVE

REF: A. ANKARA 1765

B. ANKARA 1749

C. ANKARA 1743

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


1. (C) SUMMARY. Former Democratic Society Party (DTP)
parliamentarians decided to submit their resignations en
masse to the Turkish Grand National Assembly on December 15
following the Constitutional Court decision closing the party
for ties to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Former members of the DTP immediately re-formed under the
umbrella of the DTP's shadow party, the Peace and Democracy
Party (BDP). Former DTP members and the PKK's political
wing, the KCK, condemned the Court's decision as illegal, and
vowed to continue to fight for the rights of Turkey's Kurds
-- the DTP through peace and democracy and the KCK through
violence. Protests continued across the country, and clashes
between police and protestors turned violent in many
instances. The BDP could either continue to align itself
openly with the PKK, as the DTP did in the late days, or take
a more moderate and inclusive stance. The former is more
likely than the latter, which will further test the GOT's
resolve to proceed with its National Unity Project. END
SUMMARY.

DTP Resigns En Masse
--------------


2. (SBU) After a day-long meeting in Diyarbakir on December
14 to discuss the fate of the DTP, the 19 MPs from the party
who had not been banned decided to follow through with their
threat to resign en masse. They are expected to submit their
resignations to the parliament soon. It is unclear whether
the parliament will accept the resignations. (Note: A
simple majority vote of parliament is required to accept an
MP's resignation. End note.) While announcing the
resignations, former chairman of the DTP Ahmet Turk and
banned former MP Aysel Tugluk both stated that the
Constitutional Court decision was "unlawful" and they would
not recognize it. Tugluk went further, spouting the
extremist DTP line that the Kurdish issue could only be
resolved if the government took jailed PKK leader Abdullah
Ocalan as an interlocutor. The crowd that gathered at the
press conference chanted pro-PKK and pro-Ocalan statements.
PKK leader Murat Karaliyan earlier that day said the Court
decision was illegal and stressed that the MPs should resign
en masse.


3. (SBU) Members of the DTP have re-formed under the Peace
and Democracy Party (BDP),a shadow party created
specifically to carry on the same cause in the event the DTP
was shut down. Former members of the DTP who hold public
office now serve under the aegis of the BDP, except for the
mayors who were banned from political party activity for five
years who will remain in their positions as independents.

Violent Protests Continue
--------------


4. (SBU) Increasingly violent protests continued across the
country on December 14 and 15. Events over the weekend in
Istanbul came to a head on December 13 when DTP protestors
began to throw stones and were challenged by
counter-protestors who came out in force with knives and
pistols. Police disbursed both sides with tear gas and water
cannons. Press reports alleged that someone "in a black car"
had paid the counter-protestors and had provided them with
pistols, asking them to use them against the DTP protestors.


5. (SBU) On December 15 in Mus, at least two people were
killed and eight injured when shop owners shot at DTP
supporters who had thrown stones and broken windows of
official buildings, banks and shops in the town. The KCK
issued a statement asking Kurds across Turkey to step up
their protest efforts against the Court's decision. A group
of intellectuals released a statement on December 15 asking
the government, the parliament and the DTP to resolve the
problems and end the protests. The group worried that the
closure of the DTP raised the danger of progressively more

ANKARA 00001782 002 OF 002


violent protests across the country.

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


6. (C) The newly formed BDP seems inclined, sadly, to follow
the DTP's path of closure. Moderate voices inside the DTP
were effectively silenced in the weeks leading up to the
Court's decision, and those voices are unlikely to prevail in
the BDP with the removal of Ahmet Turk. The Emine Ayna wing
of the DTP appears to have won the philosophical fight, and
probably will align the new party closely with the desires of
the PKK and KCK, focusing on the demands of Ocalan above all
else. Security forces so far have shown relative restraint
against the latest protests. The worst of the problems seems
to be coming from rival groups within the Kurdish community
who seem determined to foment civil unrest. In addition,
Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and the Republican People's
Party (CHP) leaders continue to exploit the situation.

8.(C) PM Erdogan and other AKP leaders have reasserted their
commitment to continuing the National Unity Project, but the
latest moves from BDP leaders will sorely test their resolve.
The project's intended beneficiaries (former DTP members
and supporters) are doing nothing to stop the growing
violence. Bitter rhetoric from both sides is escalating
tensions. If security forces move to restore peace and
order, it may only further destabilize the southeast region
whose population is majority Kurdish. President Gul's appeal
last week to all parties to end the violence appears "too
little, too late" in the current environment. Only the Kurds
themselves could possibly defuse the situation, but the PKK
is clearly uninterested in doing so and no independent
Kurdish voice with clout is willing or able to speak out.
Silliman

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