US embassy cable - 05ANKARA1231

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001231 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKISH MINISTRY OF JUSTICE OFFICIAL SAYS MOST 
COLLEAGUES OPPOSE EU ACCESSION 
 
REF: ANKARA 1074 
 
Classified By: Classified by Polcounselor John Kunstadter; reasons E.O. 
 12958 1.4 (b and d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: A close Embassy contact in the Ministry of 
Justice (MOJ) retired early in frustration after being unable 
to overcome resistance within the ministry to EU reform; she 
returned at the insistence of the Justice Minister.  The 
official, an expert on EU law, told us the MOJ Undersecretary 
has consistently blocked her efforts to enact regulatory 
reform required by the EU.  She said the majority of MOJ 
bureaucrats openly oppose EU membership.  GOT has thus failed 
to enact many reforms required for EU accession, including 
changes to the GOT's High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, 
which the EU has criticized for restricting judicial 
independence.  Moreover, the GOT failed to hold an 
interministerial meeting after the October EU progress report 
and December EU Summit to coordinate response to issues 
raised by the EU, leaving each ministry to develop its own 
approach.  Her observations indicate that Turkey will be off 
to a slow start when accession negotiations begin in October. 
 End Summary. 
 
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MOJ Contact Retires, Then Returns 
--------------------------------- 
 
2. (C) We met with Ayse Saadet Arikan, director general of 
the MOJ's General Directorate for EU Affairs, on March 4, 
shortly after Justice Minister Cicek persuaded her to reverse 
her decision to take an early retirement.  Arikan (please 
protect), a close Embassy contact, is a key figure within the 
GOT bureaucracy working on the nuts and bolts of EU 
harmonization.  She is one of Turkey's top experts on EU law 
-- she studied EU law in Amsterdam and London and wrote her 
Ph.D. thesis on Turkey-EU relations -- and a strong advocate 
of EU-related reform.  Over the past two years, she has 
expressed to us her increasing concerns about what she views 
as the sluggish, unprofessional approach of the GOT and 
ruling AK Party (AKP) to EU harmonization.  Her experience 
serves as a gauge of Turkey's capacity to meet the long-term 
demands of the EU accession process. 
 
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Minister Pledges Support 
------------------------ 
 
3. (C) Arikan told us she opted for early retirement in late 
February out of frustration largely caused by MOJ 
Undersecretary Fahri Kasirga's constant efforts to undermine 
the work of her department.  She discussed her problems twice 
with Minister Cicek, whom she respects.  Though Cicek tried 
to leave the impression of being supportive, the situation 
never improved.  Arikan said she completed the paperwork for 
early retirement and began holding the traditional farewell 
meetings.  When it came time to say goodbye to Cicek, the 
minister said he was shocked to learn of her decision.  Cicek 
told her she must stay on board, and called the deputy who 
signed her retirement papers to warn him against taking such 
action without informing him.  He said he had assumed 
Arikan's problems had been resolved, and promised to address 
the issue forcefully. 
 
4. (C) Though Arikan returned to work, she told us she will 
stay only if she is truly able to enact the regulatory 
reforms required by the EU.  She has reason for doubt -- 
Kasirga challenged Cicek's authority to reverse her 
retirement, and raised the issue with the Council of State, a 
high administrative court.  Arikan said a contact of hers at 
the court has assured her that Cicek's decision cannot be 
challenged.  Nevertheless, there is clearly something wrong 
when an undersecretary so casually rejects the authority of a 
minister.  Arikan said it appears that Cicek, as a transfer 
to AKP from the Motherland Party (ANAP), is not close enough 
to the AKP leadership to control the staffing in his 
ministry.  Kasirga -- who enjoys asserting that PM Erdogan 
directly appointed him -- is clearly not Cicek's man. 
Moreover, the AKP leadership has appointed a number of 
unqualified people to the MOJ since coming to power in 2002. 
Arikan has in the past raised concerns with Cicek about 
questionable appointments; the minister responded by saying 
he cannot remove the new appointees, but instead created new 
positions and filled them with more appropriate applicants to 
offset the problem. 
---------------------------- 
Most MOJ Officials Oppose EU 
---------------------------- 
 
5. (C) Arikan said the problem extends far beyond the 
Undersecretary's insubordination.  Despite the GOT's public 
commitment to Turkey's domestically popular EU membership, 
and despite the raft of EU-related legislative reforms 
adopted by Parliament over the past three years, the majority 
of MOJ civil servants openly oppose EU membership.  "They 
don't even try to hide it anymore.  It's unbelievable," she 
said.  She recalls once confronting Kasirga over his 
obstructionist approach to EU reforms, only to have him reply 
mockingly, "You know what I think of the EU."  Arikan said 
her staff at the EU General Directorate is knowledgeable and 
committed.  But officials in other MOJ departments routinely 
complain about her office, griping that they have excessive 
work because the EU General Directorate "agreed to EU 
demands."  Sema Kilicer, political officer at the European 
Commission Representation to Turkey, told us separately that 
she has noticed a similar attitude among bureaucrats at MOJ 
and other GOT ministries.  Kilicer opined that the GOT will 
ultimately not be able to meet the demands of adopting the 
80,000-page EU aquis unless there is a change of attitude in 
the bureaucracy. 
 
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EU Reforms Blocked 
------------------ 
 
6. (C) The lack of support for EU reform has prevented the 
MOJ from amending numerous regulations to meet EU standards. 
Technically, these reforms can be done quickly because they 
do not require parliamentary approval.  But they are being 
blocked.  For example, the EU (and other international 
observers) has repeatedly maintained that the GOT's High 
Council of Judges and Prosecutors restricts judicial 
independence.  The EU has noted that the Justice Minister 
chairs the Council, which controls the career paths of 
justices, and that the Council is located in the Justice 
Ministry and does not have a separate budget. 
 
7. (C) The GOT has in theory accepted the need for Council 
reform, but Kasirga has refused to forward memos from 
Arikan's office proposing amendments to the Council 
regulation.  This, Arikan said, is the ministry's typically 
duplicitous approach.  The ministry has frequently invited 
European Commission experts from Brussels to come to Ankara 
to advise MOJ on regulatory reform.  MOJ officials almost 
always appear to accept the experts' recommendations during 
meetings.  When the visitors depart, however, they proceed in 
a different direction, either doing nothing or making 
amendments that contradict EU requirements.  When Arikan asks 
colleagues why they drafted amendments contrary to EU advice, 
they typically reply, "that's how the director wanted it." 
Arikat averred that this approach is unprofessional, and 
ultimately doomed to failure.  The GOT can on occasion insist 
on diverging from EU norms, but it has to explain itself. 
"You can refuse to do some things -- not many, but some," she 
said.  "But you have to give reasons.  You have to 
communicate." 
 
--------------------------------------- 
"Shocked" By FM's Reply to EU Criticism 
--------------------------------------- 
 
8. (C) As reported reftel, the EU has criticized the GOT for 
failure to advance its candidacy since the December Summit. 
Some are quietly questioning the GOT's, and AKP's, commitment 
to EU accession.  Arikan said she wants to believe that the 
AKP leadership is sincere in its EU mission, but she is 
concerned about recent developments.  In the past, the GOT 
has held an interministerial meeting after each EU Summit and 
progress report to coordinate efforts to address the issues 
raised by the EU.  However, the GOT failed to hold such a 
meeting after the October progress report and December 
Summit.  As a result, each ministry is deciding for itself 
how to proceed.  Arikan also acknowledges she was "shocked" 
by FM Gul's blunt reply to recent comments by Ambassador 
Kretschmer, head of the European Commission Representation to 
Turkey, on the lack of GOT post-Summit progress.  A clearly 
irritated Gul snapped, "Who the hell does that guy 
(Kretschmer) think he is to criticize the Government?" when 
asked about Kretschmer's remarks, using a Turkish expression 
that is exceptionally rude.  "That comment was really 
confrontational, not diplomatic at all," Arikan said. 
Kilicer said officials from the MFA contacted the European 
Commission office and the Dutch Embassy (representing the 
Luxembourg presidency in Ankara) to say that Gul had been 
"provoked" by reporters and had spoken "emotionally." 
 
----------------------- 
EU Needed As "Catalyst" 
----------------------- 
 
9. (C) Many Turks, including GOT officials and members of the 
general public, doubt whether the EU would ever accept Turkey 
as a member, regardless of whatever reforms are adopted. 
Arikan shares these doubts -- like many of our contacts she 
points to the recent French constitutional amendment 
requiring a national referendum on future EU members as a bad 
omen.  But more important than accession is the reform 
process itself.  As she sees it, Turkey needs to bring its 
laws, regulations, and practices up to EU standards.  Whether 
or not that leads to EU accession is a concern to be 
addressed in the future.  "The EU is an important catalyst 
for reform.  If you remove that catalyst, we will not 
progress," she said. 
 
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Comment 
------- 
 
10. (C) Arikan is watching the EU accession process from the 
inside, far removed from the political hyperbole that has 
surrounded Turkey's candidacy.  Her experience reveals a 
bureaucracy unprepared for the next, longer and more 
technical phase of the accession process.  We have heard 
reports of similar skepticism in other ministries, including 
the MFA: Danish DCM relayed to us March 8 the statement of 
Turkish MFA Deputy U/S Bozkir to a Dutch colleague that only 
30% of the MFA supports the EU candidacy.  The GOT will have 
time to adapt, and it is too early to predict how the process 
will end.  But Turkey appears headed for a slow start when 
accession negotiations begin in October. 
 
EDELMAN