US embassy cable - 05ANKARA1880

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001880 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU 
SUBJECT: MERSIN FLAG INCIDENT OVERSHADOWS GENERALLY 
PEACEFUL NEVRUZ CELEBRATIONS 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY POL COUNSELOR JOHN W. KUNSTADTER FOR REASONS 
1.4 (B) & (D). THIS IS A JOINT AMCONSUL ADANA/AMEMBASSY 
ANKARA CABLE. 
 
1. (C) Summary:  Nevruz celebrations in southeastern Turkey 
on March 20 and 21 were significantly larger than in previous 
years and, with some minor exceptions, peaceful.  While local 
authorities in some cases objected to the use of the Kurdish 
spelling &Newruz,8 officials approved most petitions of 
local organizing committees - many comprising DEHAP members - 
to arrange gatherings.  Police were generally respectful of 
freedom of assembly rights, despite large-scale 
manifestations among celebrators of support for the PKK 
terrorist group and its leader, Abdullah Ocalan.  The scale 
of pro-Ocalan slogans illustrates that more progressive 
Kurdish political views have made little headway in turning 
Kurdish public opinion away from the PKK, despite Turkey's 
trajectory during the past year on its path to the EU and 
signs last summer that southeastern society was fed up with 
the conflict associated with PKK.  The relatively peaceful 
Nevruz was largely overshadowed by an incident in Mersin in 
which a number of Kurdish youth attempted to trample (and 
some claim burn) the Turkish flag, resulting in a Turkish 
General Staff characterization of the youth as "so-called 
citizens," and a nation-wide frenzy of pro-flag 
demonstrations.  We have heard credible claims that the flag 
incident was staged by police provocateurs; it was certainly 
capitalized upon by an energized nationalist movement poised 
to find a Nevruz incident to exploit.  End Summary. 
 
Nev-What? 
--------- 
 
2. (U)  Nevruz is a celebration of spring, dating back 15,000 
years, according to some legends, culminating on March 21. 
It has a variety of different spellings, depending on where 
one celebrates it, including Nowruz, Newruz and Norooz. 
(Note:  This cable uses Nevruz for purposes of consistency. 
The Kurdish version spelling is Newruz, which has emerged as 
an issue as there is no "w" in the Turkish alphabet.  End 
note.)  It is celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, 
Azerbaijan and other central Asian republics.  In Turkey, 
many now associate the holiday with the Kurdish community 
here, but it has not always been so politicized.  Nevruz was 
reportedly celebrated in Turkey during past decades by taking 
the day off, picnicking and engaging in outdoor activities. 
Official celebrations of Nevruz used to consist largely of 
receptions where government officials and representatives of 
other Turkic nations got together to break eggs to bring in 
Spring. 
 
3. (SBU)  According to one observer, Kurds in southeast 
Turkey became more aware of Nevruz in the early 1990s, after 
northern Iraqi Kurds seeking shelter entered Turkey and 
subsequently celebrated it in a distinctive way - many in 
southeast Turkey then reportedly associated the holiday with 
"Kurdishness."  The LES Political Assistant, an ethnic Kurd 
in Adana, shared the Kurdish legend that characterizes Nevruz 
as "Kurdish Independence Day" for the community:  this story 
is quite different from other regional explanations of Nevruz 
which call it a celebration of spring, as well as a 
celebration of the coronation of King Jamshid of Indo-Iranian 
lore.  The Kurdish version illustrates how oral tradition can 
affect the politics of a celebration.  In this story, the 
Persian tyrant Dahak has visited a doctor to see how to 
decrease his pain from two scars on his shoulders.  The 
doctor instructs him to cover the scars with brains, and 
Dahak orders two Kurdish children to be killed each day.  Two 
Kurds find a way to be hired as cooks at Dahak's palace, and 
are able to save one of the two children ordered to be killed 
each day, replacing that child's brains with lamb brains for 
Dahak's scars.  They send the one child they are able save 
"up in the mountains" to keep them safe.  (Note:  Presently, 
many in the Kurdish nationalist community in Turkey refer to 
the PKK militants in northern Iraq as "the children in the 
mountains."  End note.)   Finally, the son of a Kurdish 
blacksmith is summoned to be killed at Dahak's palace, but 
the blacksmith objects and leads a mutiny to dethrone the 
king on March 21. 
 
4. (SBU) As the holiday became politicized in the early to 
mid-1990s, and claimed by the Kurds as their own holiday, 
Nevruz gatherings became possible flashpoints for conflict 
between security officials and the Kurdish "street" - largely 
sympathetic to the PKK terrorist group ) in southeast 
Turkey.  Up until 2004, police often reportedly put pressure 
on authorities not to give permissions for celebration 
gatherings and when they were held, authorized or 
unauthorized, scuffles and conflict were known to break out 
between authorities and the "celebrants." 
 
Huge Crowds in Diyarbakir 
------------------------- 
 
5.  (C)  According to some Kurdish observers, 2004 marked the 
first year that Nevruz was celebrated widely in the southeast 
with few problems, but they characterized 2005's celebrations 
as the biggest and best ever.  In meetings in southeast 
Turkey last week, directly following Nevruz, poloff heard 
from contacts that they generally considered the March 21 
celebration, especially in Diyarbakir, to have been a 
success.  Estimates of the number of participants in 
Diyarbakir AND URFA range in the tens of thousands.  Scenes 
shown on television make it easy to believe that number was 
achieved, if not exceeded.  The Diyarbakir celebrations 
featured concerts, international visitors, folk 
presentations, and general revelry for the entire day.  The 
Norwegian Ambassador,s attendance created controversy:  he 
allegedly flashed the &V8 sign traditionally associated 
with the PKK, and said that the fact that people chanted 
pro-Ocalan slogans showed how far freedom has progressed in 
the Southeast.  (Note:  Consulate Adana declined the 
Diyarbakir Mayor,s invitation to attend.  End note.)  In 
addition to the bigger than ever celebrations in the 
southeast, this year also had a new development in terms of 
official celebration of the event, according to some.  Beyond 
receptions and speeches, official celebrations of the holiday 
included a more outdoors and folksy component of the 
celebration:  in Istanbul, the Governor and Garrison 
Commander reportedly even jumped over the Nevruz fire in a 
scene broadcasted widely by national television news 
programs.  President Sezer in Ankara sent messages of peace 
and brotherhood to all those who celebrated the holiday and 
many officials highlighted that this holiday belonged to all 
Turks in their public remarks. 
 
The "W" Issue 
------------- 
 
6. (C)  Government officials were not universally warm and 
fuzzy in their approach to the holiday.  In Tunceli, for 
example, the Governor denied the petition of the organizing 
committee on the basis that their application referred to 
"Newruz," while there is no "w" in the Turkish alphabet. 
This seemed contradictory given the existence of a statue 
located in the city center of Tunceli that does not seem to 
have attracted the attention of officials.  The statue in a 
prominent location in Tunceli was dedicated by past municipal 
leaders to a local figure and features a large plaque citing 
the hero's name - which contains a "w."   Moreover, some 
national newspapers - including Radikal - were full of 
references to "Newruz" during the week of March 21, and do 
not seem to have suffered any consequences.  In Antalya, when 
police reportedly banned DEHAP banners using that spelling, 
marchers simply responded by using the same banners with a 
black piece of tape over the "w."  Tunceli's DEHAP Mayor 
Songul Abdil Erol stated that despite the Governor's decision 
in Tunceli, Nevruz celebrations were held without permission 
in several Tunceli neighborhoods, and while they were not as 
large as an organized celebration would have been, they were 
allowed to be carried out without interference.  In addition 
to the "w" issue, scuffles did break out in some towns during 
early celebrations in Sirnak and Siirt, but most seem to have 
involved stone-throwing and fists rather than weapons. 
Another scuffle occurred among Kurds themselves:  a major 
celebrity of Kurdish origin giving a concert at the 
Diyarbakir event had to leave under duress when he was pelted 
with rocks by some members of the crowd.  According to Abdil 
Erol, some in the crowd did not consider the singer to be 
"sensitive enough to the Kurdish issue." 
 
And then came the flag incident... 
---------------------------------- 
 
7.  (C)  The relative "success" of Nevruz celebrations were 
largely overshadowed by an incident in Mersin in which a 
number of Kurdish youth attempted to trample (and some claim 
burn) the Turkish flag during that town's "celebration." 
This resulted in a nation-wide reaction that produced a 
frenzy of pro-flag demonstrations and a Turkish General Staff 
characterization of the youth as "so-called citizens."  In 
addition to flags being placed on homes and public buildings 
around the country, schools in the Southeast were called upon 
to demonstrate in support of the flag, as well.  Upon 
returning from Elazig to Adana on March 25, for example, we 
were forced to detour around small Golbasi as the streets 
were filled with primary school children parading in support 
of the flag.  In Mersin, the policeman who saved the flag 
that had been under assault was rewarded with cash and medals 
by local authorities.  At least four youth were detained in 
the incident (reportedly aged 12, 14, 16 and 17), and the 
Human Rights Association alleges that normal procedures for 
protecting child detainees were ignored in these cases.  It 
is important to note that Mayor Abdil Erol stressed to poloff 
in Tunceli that she condemned the Mersin event in the 
strongest terms, saying the Turkish flag was her flag, too. 
Similar protestations were offered by an array of DEHAP 
figures in the press. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
8.  (C) During Nevruz celebrations themselves, police and 
officials in the region appear to have largely exercised good 
judgment and restraint.  The oversensitivity to the usage of 
"w" in some places, however, demonstrates the continuing 
official suspicion and hostility toward Turkey,s ethnic 
Kurds.  As for the ethnically-Kurdish community, there is an 
obvious feeling of pride at how well things went and how many 
people turned out.  However, the huge amount of support still 
shown for Abdullah Ocalan and the PKK demonstrates that 
Kurdish attitudes are also stuck in the past. This at odds 
with the fact that last summer many contacts indicated that 
people were fed up with the violence between the PKK and the 
government.  The fact seems to be that the few educated, 
Europe-minded leaders in Kurdish civil society have made no 
progress in turning DEHAP and Kurdish public opinion away 
from a group on the USG terrorist list.  This illustrates the 
continued lack of political courage and vision within the 
Kurdish community, including within the much-discussed 
"Democratic Society Movement" touted by Leyla Zana. 
 
9. (C)  Comment, cont'd:  We have heard credible reports that 
the special police unit in Mersin, full of 
ultra-nationalists, ran an agent-provocateur operation to set 
up the flag incident.   The incident was certainly 
capitalized on by an energized nationalist movement poised to 
find a Nevruz incident to exploit.  In any event, the 
political stalemate between the state and Kurdish Turks 
continues, rooted in both sides, commitment to political 
old-think:   Kurds are unwilling to give up symbols of the 
PKK; the state is unlikely to want to go any further in 
providing more cultural and political freedoms than those 
offered by the democratic reforms, still imperfectly 
implemented, achieved during the EU process of recent years. 
Many Kurds, both nationalist and non-nationalist pragmatists, 
insist on a general amnesty for PKK militants in northern 
Iraq as the only meaningful sign of reconciliation for moving 
forward.  This state of affairs seems unlikely to change 
anytime in the near future without some outside stimulus. 
End comment. 
 
 
EDELMAN