US embassy cable - 03ADANA73

UNCLAS ADANA 0073 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND DRL 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, TU, ADANA 
SUBJECT:  GAZIANTEP PARLIAMENTARIANS EXPLAIN 
          THE FAILED RESOLUTION 
 
1.  (SBU)  In a March 12 phone call with Consul, 
Gaziantep newspaper publisher Aykut Tuzcu (please 
protect) a reliable and trustworthy contact, 
relayed the explanation offered to him by three 
Gaziantep parliamentarians for the failure of the 
Turkish parliament to approve the proposed 
resolution to allow sending of Turkish troops and 
receiving of American troops in its March 1 vote. 
 
 
2.  "We voted against the resolution," they said, 
"even though we supported it."  Why?   The 
parliamentarians said that no one in the Turkish 
parliament had focused on or truly understood the 
technicality of needing an absolute majority, 
i.e. a majority of all votes cast (for, against, 
abstentions).  Thus, some parliamentarians, 
including themselves, reckoned that they had a 
vote to "waste." 
 
 
3.  Why, though, vote against something that you 
support?  "Because," they said, "we wanted to 
send a signal to the country and the world that 
Turkey is a democracy, and that it can't be 
`bought' by the United States." 
 
 
 
 
4.  The embarassing pandemonium that followed the 
vote - in which all networks inaccurately 
reported at first that the resolution had passed 
- was a consequence of the fact that not only 
parliamentarians, but also the press, are hazy on 
Turkish parliamentary procedure, and lends 
credence to this explanation. 
HOLTZ