US embassy cable - 04ANKARA1458

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001458 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU 
SUBJECT: AT PM'S URGING, STATE DROPS CASE AGAINST HUMAN 
RIGHTS GROUP 
 
 
Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
 
1. (U) Prosecutors failed to attend the March 9 hearing of a 
case against the leadership of the Human Rights Foundation 
(HRF), apparently in line with a high-level GOT decision to 
allow the case to be closed. 
 
 
2. (U) HRF operates five torture treatment centers in Turkey 
and serves as a clearinghouse for human rights-related 
information.  The General Directorate of Foundations asked 
Ankara prosecutors in November 2003 to open the case against 
HRF on a number of charges, including: translating HRF 
reports into English and distributing them to international 
organizations without permission; soliciting donations on the 
Internet; and encouraging protesters to engage in hunger 
strikes by providing treatment to ill strikers.  If 
convicted, the HRF Executive Board members would be forced to 
resign.  However, the case will be closed if prosecutors take 
no action in the next three months. 
 
 
3. (C) It is normally unheard of for State prosecutors to 
miss a hearing, but this absence came as no surprise.  Yavuz 
Onen, HRF president, told us March 8 that Mehmet Elkatmis, 
chairman of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, had 
advised him that the prosecutors would not attend.  Elkatmis 
said he was present when PM Erdogan instructed State Minister 
Sahin, who oversees the General Directorate of Foundations, 
to drop the case.  Elkatmis told Onen prosecutors will allow 
the case to be closed.  He said German PM Schroeder raised 
concerns about the case during his February 23-24 visit to 
Turkey, prompting Erdogan's actions. 
 
 
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Comment 
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4. (C) This is a classic harassment case, complete with petty 
charges that, even if true, should not constitute a crime in 
a democratic country.  Prosecutors and other elements of the 
bureaucracy believe it is their duty to haul "suspect" groups 
like HRF into court, whether or not they have the evidence to 
win a conviction.  This attitude explains the recent 
directive issued by the Turkish Ground Forces Command asking 
subgovernors to gather information on people engaged in 
"separatist and subversive" activities, including: supporters 
of the U.S. and EU; freemasons; artists; minorities; wealthy 
families; Satanists; members of sects; Internet groups; Klu 
Klux Klan, etc. (one of our contacts quipped that the only 
two groups not listed are "Russophiles and lonely hearts."). 
It is unfortunate that these types of trials continue in 
spite of the recent legal reforms, and that the only way to 
stop them is to bring outside pressure to bear on a 
case-by-case basis. 
 
 
EDELMAN