US embassy cable - 04ANKARA6994

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 006994 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU 
SUBJECT: DEHAP PREPARING NEW KURDISH PARTY 
 
 
Classified By: Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b an 
d d. 
 
1. (C) Summary: Leaders of the pro-Kurdish Democratic 
Peoples' Party (DEHAP) are forming a new party they claim 
will be more broadly based and less focused on the Kurdish 
issue.  DEHAP officials hope the new party, unlike DEHAP, 
will be able to draw enough support to enter Parliament. 
They claim the leadership of the new party will be openly 
elected, though they have not worked out the election 
details.  DEHAP officials say they are forming the new party 
in part because they expect a high court to close DEHAP, 
which faces separatism charges, but also as part of an effort 
to reverse ground lost to the ruling AK Party in the last 
local elections.  The press has touted former MP Leyla Zana 
as a likely party president, but her ongoing trial may make 
her ineligible to run, and our contacts say there are more 
qualified candidates.  A Kurdish attorney and human rights 
activist predicted to us that the new party will be the same 
old DEHAP with a different name.  End Summary. 
 
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New, More Broadly Based Party Planned 
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2. (U) Tuncer Bakirhan, DEHAP president, told us the DEHAP 
leadership is in the process of establishing a new party, 
tentatively called the Democratic Society Movement (DSM). 
The goal is to have the party legally established by April, 
and then to phase out DEHAP.  Bakirhan said DEHAP leaders 
want to develop a party with a broader base.  The new party 
will be liberal, but less ideologically leftist than DEHAP, 
he asserted.  It will have a broad platform, less focused on 
the Kurdish issue than its predecessor.  Bakirhan appeared 
uneasy when we asked how DSM will approach religion.  He 
averred that the Kurdish population is "Muslim but secular," 
and said the new party will "not be against religion" (Note: 
The DEHAP leadership is leftist and non-religious, but the 
party draws most of its support from the generally pious 
southeastern Kurds.  End Note).   DEHAP leaders are hoping 
the new party will draw more votes from outside the 
Kurdish-dominated southeast, and thus garner the 10 percent 
share of the national vote required to enter Parliament. 
 
3. (U) Bakirhan claimed that DSM will be the first Turkish 
party with "internal democracy."  The party leadership will 
be elected through an open, transparent process.  When 
pressed, he was vague on the details, saying that "everyone" 
will be allowed to vote, regardless of whether they are 
members of DEHAP.  However, Nazmi Gur, DEHAP vice chairman 
for foreign affairs, gave us a somewhat different outlook. 
He said DEHAP will organize caucuses across the country, in 
which selected delegates will elect DSM leaders.  When we 
told him about Bakirhan's description of a more open process, 
Gur replied that the details have not yet been worked out. 
 
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Human Rights Attorney: New Party Will Be Same As Old 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
4. (C) Yusuf Alatas, chairman of the Human Rights 
Association, told us he doubts the new party will be 
different from the old.  A Kurdish attorney who is close to 
DEHAP, Alatas has often criticized the party for a lack of 
vision and a failure to allow new leadership to emerge.  The 
new party "will be led by the same old people, who don't get 
along with each other and can't make decisions 
democratically," he said.  "How could it be different?" 
Alatas said DEHAP members, as a rule, slavishly follow their 
preferred leaders.  Any DSM election will be a popularity 
contest among established DEHAP figures.  At the same time, 
he said, there is a need for a party focused on the Kurdish 
issue.  DEHAP or its successors will remain a permanent 
fixture in Turkish politics as long as the other parties 
continue to neglect Kurdish language/cultural rights. 
 
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Zana Touted As Potential Leader 
------------------------------- 
 
5. (C) Leyla Zana, a leftist Kurdish former MP with close 
ties to the PKK, has made public statements about the new 
party.  Much of the press has touted Zana, recently released 
from prison pending the outcome of her trial on charges of 
being a PKK member, as a likely party president.  But it is 
unclear whether Zana and her co-defendants can legally 
participate in party politics while their trial is ongoing; 
Alatas, Zana's attorney, told us there are different possible 
legal interpretations.  Moreover, our contacts averred that 
Zana is only one among many possible leaders.  Bakirhan 
acknowledged that Zana, who in October traveled to Brussels 
to receive the European Parliament's Sakharov prize, has 
become a media celebrity and symbol for the Kurdish cause, 
especially in Western Europe, which has lionized her.  But he 
claimed Zana's international star status will not affect 
voters.  Gur called Zana "uneducated" and predicted voters 
would elect a candidate with more stature to serve as party 
president, though he declined to name other contenders. 
Alatas said Zana would be a disaster as president.  Turkey's 
Kurds need independent political leadership, not someone like 
Zana, who "takes orders from (jailed PKK leader) Abdullah 
Ocalan," he said.  Alatas said he was disgusted by the base 
"populism" of Zana's public speeches after her release from 
prison, and has limited contact with Zana and her 
co-defendants to the minimum needed to continue to represent 
them in court. 
 
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DEHAP Faces Possible Closure 
---------------------------- 
 
6. (U) DEHAP faces charges of separatism in an ongoing legal 
case that could result in the party's closure; several of 
DEHAP's predecessor parties were closed by the State in the 
past.  Gur said DEHAP leaders expect the High Court of 
Appeals to close the party, and are establishing DSM in part 
as a vehicle to continue their political activities. 
 
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DEHAP Hoping to Regain Lost Ground 
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7. (U) During an October trip to the southeast, we met with 
AK Party mayors who defeated DEHAP incumbents in Van, Bitlis, 
and Mus, reflecting broader AKP gains in the DEHAP stronghold 
in the March local elections.  The mayors averred to us that 
voters recognized that DEHAP has failed to deliver on its 
promises, and that AKP, as the ruling party, can do better. 
Moreover, they said the AKP government has adopted some 
reforms demanded by Kurds, such as those allowing, under 
tight restrictions, Kurdish language courses and 
Kurdish-language news broadcasts.  The mayors predicted that 
AKP would gradually earn the trust of southeastern Kurds and 
eclipse DEHAP in the region.  Bakirhan rejected this claim, 
insisting the March elections were a temporary setback for 
DEHAP.  He said DEHAP garnered more votes than in the 
previous local elections, but lost ground because the other 
parties united against DEHAP in coalitions.  Moreover, he 
said, AKP used its status as the sole ruling party to maximum 
advantage.  Bakirhan claimed people in the region are already 
beginning to realize that AKP has no intention of following 
through on its campaign promises.  Later, however, Bakirhan 
contradicted himself, citing the disappointing results of the 
March elections as a reason for creating a new, more broadly 
based party. 
 
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Comment 
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8. (C) DEHAP, like its predecessors, has not been a positive 
force for resolving Turkey's Kurdish problem.  The party is 
too leftist, and too closely associated with the PKK, to draw 
the nationwide support needed to bring Kurdish issues to the 
public agenda.  A fresh approach is sorely needed. 
Unfortunately, however, we have no reason to believe the new 
party will be anything more than yet another new label on the 
same old package.  It is difficult to take DEHAP leaders 
seriously in their claims to desire a more democratic party 
when they have obviously put so little thought into how to 
bring that about.  Earlier this month, a statement signed by 
prominent Kurds in Turkey and Europe, including many DEHAP 
leaders, was published in the International Herald Tribune 
and Le Monde.  After the publication, Zana and others who 
signed the document engaged in a bitter round of 
fingerpointing, with some signatories accusing others of 
having radicalized the draft without their knowledge.  This 
does not bode well for Kurdish political movement. 
 
 
 
EDELMAN