US embassy cable - 04ANKARA3976

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 003976 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, PHUM, ASEC, IZ, TU 
SUBJECT: ARE SE TURKEY PROTESTS AGAINST PKK TERROR 
REAL? 
 
REFTEL: ADANA 0067 
 
(U) THIS CABLE IS FROM AMCONSUL ADANA. 
 
1.(SBU) Summary:  Low scale reportedly PKK/KONGRA GEL 
terror attacks continue across southeast Turkey.  A car 
bomb attack in Van on July 2 also killed five and 
injured over twenty, narrowly missing the Van 
governor's car, its apparent intended target. Its 
perpetrators are as yet unidentified.  Meanwhile press 
reports of regional residents' protests against the 
return of PKK/KONGRA GEL violence are becoming more 
frequent.  The GOT is trying to present these as one- 
sided protests against PKK/KONGRA GEL.  Upon further 
examination, the GOT seems to be orchestrating or 
manipulating some of the protests and protestors often 
seem to be cautioning the GOT as much as the PKK/KONGRA 
GEL cadres who are apparently bent on a new terror 
wave.  Regional communities increasingly voice fear of 
being caught between the new round of PKK/KONGRA GEL 
regional terror and an anticipated GOT backlash which 
they fear will becomes less proportional the longer the 
terror continues. End Summary. 
 
Terror attacks continue on low scale 
------------------------------------ 
 
2.(SBU) Reported PKK terror attacks since June 19 have 
occurred in southeast Turkey from Kahraman Maras to 
Van. Press reports indicate that GOT casualties reached 
approximately nine dead or wounded, while PKK/KONGRA 
GEL suffered 12 dead or wounded since June 19. (Note: 
we cannot vouch for the accuracy of these numbers; they 
are rough indicators of the scale of ongoing terror and 
anti-terror operations. End Note.) There have been two 
credible reported mine or improvised explosive device 
(IED) attacks, in Van and Bingol provinces, since June 
19.  A third reported mine or IED attack on July 12 in 
Sirnak province is from a less credible source. 
According to multiple press outlets, Turkish General 
Staff (TGS) sources announced the deployment in late 
June of unspecified "special forces" to Sirnak, 
Tunceli, Diyarbakir and Bingol provinces. 
 
Van attack high profile, but perpetrators unknown 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
3.(SBU)  A car bomb attack in Van on July 2 also killed 
five and injured over twenty, narrowly missing the Van 
governor's car, its apparent intended target. Its 
perpetrators are as yet unidentified. On July 5, Van 
governor Hikmet Tan said in a press statement that 
neither Al Qaeda nor (Turkish) Hizbullah could be ruled 
out in the attack, but that the attack bore "some of 
the marks of a PKK attack." 
 
Protests against violence, hope for peaceful Kurdish 
solution 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
4.(SBU) Since late June there have been press reports 
of protests against the return of violence to the 
southeast Turkey region in Batman, Van, Tunceli, 
Diyarbakir and Sirnak provinces.  These protests have 
also advocated a peaceful solution for the "Kurdish 
question" in Turkey.  Most of these protests number in 
the hundreds according to press reports, but the Van 
protest on July 5 reached as many as a thousand, as 
confirmed by a local contact. 
 
Who is protesting? 
------------------ 
 
5.(SBU)  Many of the protestors are the southeast 
region's Turkish Kurds, according to local contacts. 
These contacts report, however, that the ranks of some 
protests are stacked with pro-government village 
guards, government employees forced to "protest," or 
police in civilian clothes.  In Dargecit, Mardin 
province, contacts report that shopkeepers were forced 
by police to "close" their shops as a sign of protest 
and police filmed open shops as an intimidation tactic. 
One contact told a consulate staff member that some of 
the "protest meetings' are being organized by 
individuals associated with the fringe Grand Unity 
Party and Nationalist Movement Party. (Comment: AMCON 
ADANA cannot corroborate this allegation.  End 
Comment.) 
 
GOT, PKK reactions to the protests 
---------------------------------- 
 
6.(SBU)  Contacts also say that GOT officials also are 
trying to spin the protests as anti-PKK, citing the 
predominance of governors, AK Party officials or 
military figures, e.g. Turkish General Staff Chief 
General Hilmi Ozkok's July 5 statement in Van, drawing 
media attention to the events.   Contacts underline 
that people in the region are protesting to try to 
impress upon both PKK/KONGRA GEL and the GOT their 
strong desire not to see violence "by either side" 
return to the region, a hope for a "peaceful solution 
for the Kurdish question," and a desire not to 
complicate the position of Kurds in Iraq.  Reported 
PKK/KONGRA GEL militant wing leader Murat Karayilan 
said in a late June statement reported on June 26 by 
Evrensel newspaper that PKK/KONGRA GEL would cease 
terror attacks if the GOT would end its anti-terror 
operations in return. He also reportedly called for a 
"peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue." 
 
So, are protests for real? 
-------------------------- 
 
7.(SBU) Comment:  At their roots, the regional protests 
are real, despite clumsy GOT efforts to manipulate 
them, in that there is frustration among people in the 
southeast region that they may again become caught in 
the crossfire between PKK terror attacks and GOT 
reprisals.  Local contacts also express disappointment, 
although not surprise, that neither PKK cadres still 
espousing terror and violence nor the GOT seem to 
understand the message protestors are trying to 
communicate to them.  Recent TGS Deputy Chief General 
Basbug and subsequent police official calls for 
prosecution of the four recently-released DEP deputies 
for transgressions reportedly committed during their 
June southeastern Turkey tour are deepening regional 
discouragement.  Finally, some contacts point out that 
the return of violence to the region is again delaying 
nascent efforts to start village return and 
resettlement programs, another thorny regional bone of 
contention.  End Comment. 
 
EDELMAN