TURKISH INTELLECTUALS WANT FREEDOM TO DISCUSS

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000028 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL TU SUBJECT: TURKISH INTELLECTUALS WANT FREEDOM TO DISCUSS ARMENIAN ISSUE, OPPOSE CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION REF: ANKARA 2118 1.(SBU) Summary: Any official U.S. action to define the 1915 massacres of Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire as a genocide would harm U.S.-Turkish relations and fuel anti-Americanism in Turkey, despite general positive public opinion toward the incoming Obama administration, according to six leading Turkish columnist/intellectuals from across the political spectrum. At a lunch hosted by the Consul General, the group agreed the topic needs more open discussion in Turkey and that the Turkish government should better manage Turkish public opinion on the issue. The 27,000 signatures the "Ozur Diliyoruz" ("We Apologize") campaign (REFTEL) now has greatly exceeded the expectation of its authors (one of whom attended the lunch) and was furthering that discussion, but the participants debated the timing of the apology petition given the recent progress in relations between Turkey and Armenia. Economic factors and recent missteps by Prime Minister Erdogan mean that AKP could only expect 40 percent of the vote in the March municipal elections but would still come out ahead of any opposition; the lower its share of the vote, the closer the AKP would get to the military. Turkish public opinion overwhelmingly supports the Palestinians - but not Hamas particularly - in the conflict with Israel. Some expressed hope that any Obama approach to the Israeli/Palestinian problem would be more balanced than they perceived the Bush administration's had been. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Six of Turkey's best-known columnists gathered at the Consul General's residence to discuss current issues in Turkish politics and the prospects for U.S.-Turkish relations. The group included Cengiz Aktar (mainstream nationalist Vata and one of the authors of the apology campaign); Sahin Alpay (mainstream Islamist Zaman who lived in self-imposed exile in Sweden in the 1970s); Murat Belge (of liberal Taraf and a leading leftist intellectual who travels with bodyguards due to threats to his security); Fehmi Koru (from pro-government Yeni Safak and a reported confidante or President Gul); Haluk Sahin (with liberal Radikal); and Ferai Tinc (of mainstream secular Hurriyet). Alpay, Belge and Sahin were all participants in AFS exchange programs as high school students. Tinc and Alpay are alumni of the international visitor program. "THE MOTHER OF ALL TABOOS" ¶3. (SBU) Cengiz Aktar described Turkish public sensitivity to discussion of the 1915 Armenian massacres as "the Mother of all Taboos". Murat Belge called it "the number one issue for the health of the country". Aktar defended the apology campaign against those who accused him and his co-authors of trying to "submarine" recent official Turkish and Armenian efforts to improve relations. He described it as "independent, but not unrelated"; the petition is a chance for Turks to express themselves individually on the legacy of ¶1915. Fehmi Koru criticized the timing of the petition, saying it was "prematurely brought to the table" given the positive initiatives by President Gul to normalize relations with Armenia, including going to the football match in Yerevan in 2008. ¶4. (SBU) Aktar said that an unnamed "leading Armenian intellectual" had told him before the petition started that it would be a "revolution" if it received 10,000 signatures by the end of 2009. Over 27,000 people have signed the petition in less than one month. Aktar expects another wave of signatures on January 19, the second anniversary of Hrants Dink's assassination. Aktar indicated many renowned intellectuals have signed it (including Alpay and Belge) and claimed many of the signatories are Kurds, including DTP politicians. However, for him the most extraordinary thing is that the vast majority of signatories are "common man-in-the-street" Turks. He criticized the Turkish media for not covering more the "huge" interest in the campaign by the international media. Note: Turkish newspapers give a fair amount of space to how international press covers Turkey. End note. Aktar said he has also heard that an Armenian diaspora group would also start a petition on January 19 "accepting" the apology. Note: Turkish press reported on January 16 that a group of Armenians in France wrote an open letter thanking those who signed the Turkish petition. End Note. ADVICE TO OBAMA: NO GENOCIDE RESOLUTION ¶5. (SBU) The apology petition had stirred an "unprecedented debate" in the Turkish public over the Armenian issue, Aktar said, and the group talked about how the timing coincided with questions over what the Obama administration would do as it assumes office. Alpay advised against any resolution by the U.S. Congress defining the mass killings of 1915 as genocide. Belge called such resolutions "senseless", although he said he understood the U.S. or French domestic concerns behind them. Sahin and Aktar agreed that either a congressional resolution or the use of the word "genocide" by President Obama in the annual April 24 statement would deal a huge blow to bilateral relations and any efforts by the new administration to repair the U.S. public image in Turkey. Sahin continued that 95 percent of the Turkish public opposed a resolution, including liberal intellectuals. ¶6. (SBU) The group agreed that a congressional resolution would not help the debate over 1915 in Turkey because it would then become externally focuses in anti-American terms. However, they all concurred that the public needed to be able to have a free discussion on the legacy of these tragic events. Aktar asked, "Where is the effort to manage the public opinion?" by the government. Koru said the AKP is not happy with the apology campaign, but Belge noted Erdogan and Gul had personally intervened to allow the 2005 Bilgi University conference on the Armenian issue to proceed. Koru characterized public reaction to the Armenia issue as rooted in "Anatolian emotionalism." Koru said that for those living in the Turkish heartland, "who don't read the newspaper", stories get passed down and around families and villages of alleged incidents where Armenians killed Turks during World War I. These people are unlike to believe stories of the massacres of Armenians, and even less likely to believe they constituted a genocide - especially if the allegation comes from outside. ¶7. (SBU) Ferai Tinc, on the other hand, said the Turkish public might be past the point where a resolution would be a catastrophe. In 2007, Turks were very concerned a resolution would actually pass. She reminded that some commentators had said that if the U.S. Congress was ever going to pass a resolution it should get it over with, so the issue wouldn't be a perennial sticking point the U.S.-Turkish relationship. At least passing a resolution would engender more talk at the intellectual level, she mused. Sahin called for Turkey to "transcend the issue;" he hoped that in 10 years such resolutions "either would not be needed or won't be noticed" if they do pass. He compared the situation to that of two decades ago when similar passions were sparked over disputes between Greece and Turkey, and yet now these issues can be more openly discussed despite the lack of a settlement between the two countries. COLUMNIST PREDICTS AKP WILL PULL 40 PERCENT IN LOCAL ELECTIONS ¶8. (SBU) Turning to the subject of the March municipal elections, Koru predicted AKP would get about 40 percent of the vote nationwide - more than any other party, but less than the 50 percent it could have commanded in the recent past. (Comment: Koru's prediction is on the optimistic side for AKP. Many political analysts believe Turkey's economic woes will cut into AKP's vote. A series of resent polls show AKP with support under 40 percent and suggest 30-40 percent of voters remain undecided. End comment.) Koru bemoaned Erdogan's "new approach to many matters", citing unspecified mistakes on the Kurdish and Armenian issues. Others predicted a less rosy outcome for AKP. Alpay said the economic crisis would cost Erdogan votes; Belge said that the administrative competence of most local AKP politicians would allow them to keep their jobs despite blunders by the national party or a weakening economy. Koru said that if the AKP gets less than 40 percent of the national vote it would move closer to the military in managing the affairs of the country. Tinc sighed, "That's already happened," reflecting the views of many that a secret bargain already exists between the AKP and the General Staff. INVITATION TO OBAMA, AND A PLEA ON THE ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN SITUATION ¶9. (SBU) The group implored President-elect Obama to visit Turkey as soon as possible to capitalize on enthusiastic public reaction to his election. They were interested in whether Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton would get sufficient authority from the President to be effective, particularly in dealing with conflicts in the Middle East. Alpay hoped the Obama administration would be more "fair" than he believed the Bus administration had been in dealing with the Israelis and Palestinians, meaning he would take more of a favorable view of Palestinian concerns. Turkish public opinion is squarely on the side of the Palestinians; Tinc reported that when she had written a column criticizing both Israel and Hamas she received a flood of hate mail for having written anything negative about Hamas. ¶10. (SBU) Finally, on Turkey's EU aspirations, the columnists still believe in its necessity to effect reform in Turkey. Aktar called Egemen Bagis a good choice for chief EU negotiator. Moreover, he said "the position should have been moved to the Prime Ministry years ago", allowing the EU negotiator to get direct access to Erodgan. Wiener