US embassy cable - 04ADANA86

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, PHUM, IZ, TU, ADANA 
SUBJECT: RELEASED DEP DEPUTIES TOUR SE TURKEY AS PKK TERROR EXPANDS 
 
REF: REFTEL: ADANA 0067 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  Four recently released former DEP deputies, 
including Leyla Zana, kicked off a five-day tour of southeast 
Turkey on June 12 with a Diyarbakir rally attended by tens of 
thousands of enthusiastic supporters.  The four deputies called 
for a six-month extension of PKK/Kongra Gel's recently 
discontinued ceasefire and urged Turkish authorities to "regain 
the militants in the hills and prisons."  Diyarbakir DEHAP mayor 
Osman Baydemir called for a general amnesty for PKK/Kongra Gel 
and an immediate ceasefire when welcoming the group.  Meanwhile, 
PKK/Kongra Gel continued its accelerated terror expanding 
infiltration into urban areas in two provinces while continuing 
to provoke violence in rural areas.  End Summary. 
 
Released former deputies go on eastern Turkey tour 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
2. (SBU)  Four recently released former DEP deputies - Leyla 
Zana, Orhan Dogan, Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak - kicked off a 
five-day tour of southeast Turkey on June 12 with a rally in 
Diyarbakir attended by approximately 20,000 to 30,000.  The four 
deputies called for both a six-month extension of the PKK/Kongra 
Gel recently discontinued ceasefire and Turkish authorities' 
efforts to "regain the militants in the hills and prisons." 
Diyarbakir DEHAP mayor Osman Baydemir called for a general 
amnesty for PKK/Kongra Gel members and appealed for an immediate 
ceasefire and "peace throughout the region." The four continued 
their tour to large and small cities from Mardin to Van. DEHAP 
(DEP successor party once removed) Chairman Tuncer Bakirhan 
accompanied the group on their regional tour.   Diyarbakir Mayor 
Baydemir later in the week called for a fresh regional approach 
from  the AK Party government , which he claimed had left the 
"Kurdish question" on a back burner since AKP's election. 
 
 
Meanwhile PKK/Kongra Gel extends attacks into urban areas 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
3.(SBU)  There was a June 12 terror attack on a sub-governor's 
residence in Gercus, Batman province, which probably killed one 
TNP member and likely two alleged PKK attackers, while wounding 
several others.  Then, on June 13, two probable PKK/Kongra Gel 
attackers, reportedly using hand grenades (Comment: local 
contacts reported that press reports of use of "rockets" was 
inaccurate. End Comment.), attempted to attack a Jandarma social 
club.  Both attackers reportedly were killed in the ensuing 
clash.  Also, on June 13, probable PKK/Kongra Gel reportedly 
used a command-detonated landmine (comment: it may have been an 
improvised explosive device (IED), too, given credible reports 
of police seizures of C-4 caches in this area recently. End 
Comment.) 
 
4.(SBU) While, until late May, most of the recent violence had 
been in rural or village areas, there is now a clear shift in 
tactics to include targets in urban areas.  A first such urban 
attack was narrowly averted on May 28 in Adana's downtown city 
center.  Since then the Gercus and Bingol events confirm the new 
trend, as does the TNP police arrest of eleven additional 
alleged PKK members in Adana on June 14 armed with ten kilos of 
C-4 explosive, whom the TNP says were planning a terrorist 
activity against the Adana Justice Ministry building. 
 
5.(SBU)  Rural violence also continues.  There was an attack in 
Adiyaman June 9, which probably left several security forces 
dead and more wounded, and a probable PKK/Kongra Gel raid on a 
small Jandarma station in one of Bingol province's outlying 
district.  Additionally, there were recent attacks in Tunceli 
and Sirnak province between Jandarma and probable PKK/Kongra Gel 
terrorists.  The two most recent events, both in Hatay province, 
one June 14 in Dortyol and, again on June 16 in Hassa, show how 
probable PKK/Kongra Gel militants are trying to destabilize a 
wide swathe of southeast Turkey. 
 
How this is playing in region 
----------------------------- 
 
6.(SBU)  Local contacts in southeastern Turkey told political 
LES this week that they are relieved by the release of the four 
former deputies, whom they considered to have been imprisoned 
unjustly.  They said that the Kurdish community in the region is 
energized by the group of four's presence among them in open 
gatherings and expressed hope that the group can form the 
nucleus of a movement to change a dynamic which they otherwise 
fear could be headed toward renewed region-wide violence. 
Contacts also express disappointment in the face of continuing 
PKK/Kongra Gel attacks in the region.  Following the recent 
attacks, Batman local community leaders, including the province 
DEHAP chairman, expressed their condolences to State security 
officials, while some local residents visited the Gercus 
sub-governors residence and victims' families in Batman to 
express their condolences personally. Batman merchants staged a 
silent protest against the recent violence in Batman through 
shop closings.  Tunceli mayors called for an end to violence and 
expressed hope for regional reconciliation. Regional business 
leaders express concern that the region's economy, already very 
weak, will deteriorate further and one Diyarbakir business 
contact reported already hearing of the postponement of a 
long-hoped-for agro-industry investment in the province, as well 
as a hospital construction plan's postponement.  Baydemir held a 
business council on June 16 to assess publicly the most recent 
business trends in Diyarbakir and elsewhere in southeast Turkey. 
 
 
7.(SBU) Comment: The mood in the Kurdish community has been 
buoyed by the former deputies' release and spontaneous 
celebrations have occurred in many major southeastern Turkish 
cities throughout the past week.  The former deputies, as well 
as Baydemir, seem interested in playing an intermediary role in 
the southeast region posting negotiations with Terrorists which 
seek to raise the profile of "the Kurdish question" on the 
national agenda.  DEHAP, smarting from losses in spring 
municipal elections, also is eager to try to show leadership to 
its discouraged Kurdish regional political base.  In discussions 
in recent months with consulate officials, GOT representatives 
in the region have dismissed prospects for another round of the 
"return to home law" which was relatively fruitless in late 
2003, let alone the general amnesty advocated directly by 
Baydemir and at least indirectly by the former deputies. 
Bakirhan's descriptions this week in press interviews of DEHAP 
as "equidistant" between the Turkish state and PKK/Kongra Gel 
has also angered officials in Ankara because it did not condemn 
the PKK/Kongra Gel's use of terror.  PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan and 
Turkish General Staff Chief General Hilmi Ozkok have been quick 
to express this anger publicly this week. 
 
8. (SBU) (Comment, cont'd) For now, GOT forces have been 
proportional in their responses to the PKK/Kongra Gel attacks. 
This relative restraint generally has been positively noted by 
the regional Kurdish grass roots leadership.  If PKK/Kongra 
Gel's current strategy is to provoke the State into 
disproportionate crackdowns in order to rally its support base 
and active cadres, there could be further intensification of 
terrorism in the region. This deterioration in the security 
environment would check significantly implementation of the 
recently-passed EU Accordance laws in the region.  (End Comment). 
 
9.  Baghdad minimize considered. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
REID