US embassy cable - 05ANKARA3112

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 003112 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU, OSCE 
SUBJECT: HIGH COURT RULES FOR CLOSURE OF TEACHERS' UNION 
 
REF: 04 ANKARA 6837 
 
Classified by Deputy Polcouns Charles O. Blaha; reasons 1.4 b 
and d. 
 
1. (U) Summary: A Turkish appeals court ruled May 25 for the 
closure of Egitim Sen, the country's largest teachers' union, 
on the grounds that the union's bylaw violates the 
Constitution by advocating education in "mother tongues," 
which would include Kurdish.  The union will appeal the 
ruling to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).  Union 
leaders might avoid closure by removing the controversial 
language from the bylaw while the ECHR case is pending. 
Egitim Sen representatives say the union is opposed by both 
the State, which views the use of Kurdish as a threat to 
national unity, and the ruling AK Party (AKP), which resents 
the union's strongly secular stance.  Egitim Sen has close 
relations with teachers' unions abroad, and European contacts 
say EU states are watching the case closely.  End Summary. 
 
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Union Will Appeal to ECHR 
------------------------- 
 
2. (U) The Turkish High Court of Appeals ruled that the bylaw 
of Egitim Sen, the trade union representing 30 percent of 
teachers in Turkey, violates the Constitution by advocating 
the right of citizens to be educated in their mother tongue. 
The 45-0 ruling was issued by the Court's Grand Chamber, its 
highest body.  The ruling cannot be appealed further within 
the Turkish judiciary. 
 
3. (U) Oya Aydin, attorney for Egitim Sen, told us she will 
file an appeal June 2 with the ECHR.  She will ask the ECHR 
to issue an immediate, "precautionary" ruling that would 
prohibit the GOT from closing Egitim Sen while the broader 
ECHR case is ongoing.  However, she said precautionary 
rulings are normally reserved for matters of life and death, 
and it is unlikely the ECHR will grant her request. 
 
4. (U) Aydin predicted that the union will hold an emergency 
board meeting to temporarily remove the article on mother 
tongue education from the bylaw.  This would nullify the 
closure order and allow Egitim Sen to maintain operations. 
If the ECHR rules in the union's favor, a process that would 
take 3-4 years, the language could be re-inserted into the 
bylaw.  If Egitim Sen fails to revise its bylaw, and if the 
ECHR fails to issue a precautionary ruling, then the union 
will be closed within two months. 
 
---------------------------- 
Labor Court Sides With Union 
---------------------------- 
 
5. (U) The Grand Chamber ruling against Egitim Sen capped a 
see-saw legal battle between the appeals court and an Ankara 
labor court that rejected the charges against the union.  The 
labor court in September 2004 ruled that the case against 
Egitim Sen violated the rights of free expression and 
association.  The court stated in its decision that such 
cases "can only be launched in countries like Colombia but 
not in the juridical framework of the European Union."  The 
labor court further asserted that education in mother tongues 
would strengthen, not threaten, national unity.  The High 
Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, maintaining that 
under the European Convention on Human Rights freedom of 
association can be restricted "for the protection of national 
security, territorial integrity, and public order." 
Nevertheless, the labor court in February 2005 stood by its 
original decision, at which point prosecutors took the case 
to the Grand Chamber. 
 
6. (U) At issue is an article of the Egitim Sen bylaw in 
which the union "defends the right of individuals to receive 
education and develop their culture in their mother tongue." 
Prosecutors charged that the bylaw article violates Article 3 
of the Constitution, which states that Turkish is the 
official language of the nation, and Article 42, which states 
that, "no language other than Turkish will be taught as a 
mother tongue to Turkish citizens."  Union attorneys argue 
that the bylaw does not challenge Turkish as the official 
language, and does not violate Article 42 because it is 
merely an expression of the union's view, not a call to 
action. 
 
7. (U) State restrictions on the use of "mother tongues" are 
primarily aimed at limiting the use of Kurdish, the only 
restricted language for which there is a significant demand. 
Under recent EU-related reforms, it has become legal to open 
private Kurdish language courses, but not to teach or use 
Kurdish in primary or secondary schools. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
State Views Kurdish Education As Threat 
--------------------------------------- 
 
8. (U) Both Aydin and Emirali Simsek, Egitim Sen General 
Secretary, averred to us that the case against the union is 
 
SIPDIS 
politically motivated.  Simsek noted that the controversial 
sentence has been in the union's bylaw for 15 years, though 
it was modified slightly in 2002.  He said efforts to close 
the union began in 2003 when the Turkish General Staff (TGS) 
raised objections.  Simsek showed us a copy from the case 
file of a June 27, 2003 letter from TGS to the Ministry of 
Labor and Social Security calling on Egitim Sen to remove the 
mother tongue article from the bylaw. 
 
9. (C) Simsek said Egitim Sen is vulnerable because it has 
enemies in both the security establishment and the AKP.  TGS 
and other core State institutions consider the use of Kurdish 
a threat to national unity, and therefore object to the 
union's advocacy of education in mother tongues. 
 
------------------------------------- 
AKP Objects to Union's Secular Stance 
------------------------------------- 
 
10. (C) AKP, meanwhile, views Egitim Sen as an obstacle to 
its efforts to expand the role of religion in education, 
Simsek said.  The union's members are generally leftist and 
highly secular.  Egitim Sen has challenged a number of AKP 
proposals that the union deemed contrary to secular 
education.  For example, the union tried unsuccessfully to 
block a recent AKP plan to include visits to mosques and more 
extensive prayer instruction in high school religion classes. 
 This explains why the Labor Ministry, led by AKP appointees, 
did not resist when TGS urged the Ministry to open a case 
against Egitim Sen, he said. 
 
11. (C) Aydin said this dual opposition to Egitim Sen 
explains the unanimous decision by the high court to close 
the union -- all the Grand Chamber members are under the 
influence of either AKP or the security establishment.  She 
noted that the Grand Chamber took only 26 days to reach its 
unanimous decision to close the union.  She said she 
researched past cases, and concluded that the court normally 
deliberates for at least 80 days before reaching a verdict. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Ruling Reflects Anti-EU Backlash 
-------------------------------- 
 
12. (C) Still, she did not expect it to come to this.  After 
the February decision by the labor court to stand by its 
rejection of the case against Egitim Sen, Aydin predicted 
prosecutors would not appeal.  The case had drawn 
international attention at a time when Turkey's EU candidacy 
placed the judiciary under a spotlight.  According to Aydin, 
the Turkish State has become generally more reluctant to 
close "suspect" institutions, preferring instead to keep them 
off balance through harassment cases ending in acquittal. 
Aydin believes the State's decision to go the distance in the 
Egitim Sen case is a reflection of the broader nationalist 
backlash against the EU reforms. 
 
13. (C) Several European diplomats have told us their 
capitals have instructed them to follow the Egitim Sen case 
closely.  Egitim Sen has more than 200,000 members, making it 
not only the biggest teachers' union, but the biggest union 
of any kind in Turkey.  Its membership is not overwhelmingly 
Kurdish.  It has close ties to teachers' unions in Europe, 
which, our contacts say, are pressuring their governments to 
raise the case with the GOT.  Egitim Sen has also been in 
contact with the National Education Association in 
Washington, which has written to PM Erdogan, President Sezer, 
and Justice Minister Cicek about the court ruling. 
 
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Comment 
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14. (C) The ECHR is sure to rule in Egitim Sen's favor, a 
point the labor court made clear in its attempts to dismiss 
the charges.  But the Turks are in no mood these days to take 
their cues from Europe.  While there have been some positive 
rulings over the past couple of years by courts citing the 
European Convention on Human Rights, we continue to see 
verdicts, like this one, that openly flout EU standards. 
 
EDELMAN