US embassy cable - 03ANKARA2368

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002368 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2008 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU, OSCE 
SUBJECT: TURKISH PARLIAMENT'S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE: ILL 
INFORMED AND SO FAR INEFFECTIVE 
 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 2353 
     B. ANKARA 1423 
 
 
Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.5 b and d. 
 
 
1. (C) Summary: The parliamentary Human Rights Committee does 
not play a significant role in the development of reform 
legislation, and the public comments of its Chairman to date 
have focused on supposed human rights violations outside 
Turkey.  Committee members are generally not well informed on 
Turkish human rights issues and lack specific ideas for 
promoting reform.  Some hold extreme Islamist and 
anti-American/xenophobic views.  End Summary. 
 
 
2. (C) The GOT over the past couple of years has adopted 
several extensive, bold packages of human rights reform 
legislation as part of its drive for EU membership.  The 
ruling AK Party has continued this effort since coming to 
power in the November elections.  However, the parliamentary 
Human Rights Committee plays virtually no role in this 
process.  Our  meetings with 13 of 25 Committee members 
indicate that the Committee is ill-prepared to promote human 
rights in Turkey.  Here's why: 
 
 
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Turkish Parliamentarians Are Not Lawmakers 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
3. (C) The Committee played virtually no role in drafting or 
revising any of the human rights reform packages adopted by 
Parliament over the past two years.  The drafts were prepared 
by MFA officials in consultation with other ministries, 
particularly the Justice and Interior ministries.  The 
parliamentary Constitutional and Justice committees made some 
revisions to the drafts, but Human Rights Committee members 
acknowledge they did not.  Turkish MPs have the right to 
introduce legislation, but traditionally the bureaucracy 
drafts most bills.  Human Rights Committee members do not 
appear to have any knowledge of or interest in the 
legislative process; none of the members with whom we spoke 
has plans to introduce legislation. 
 
 
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Ineffective Leadership 
---------------------- 
 
 
4. (C) While the Committee's lack of influence over 
legislation is nothing new, the Committee has in the past 
served as an effective soap box for promoting human rights 
reform.  In 2000, Committee Chairwoman Sema Piskinsut 
released a series of highly critical reports documenting 
torture in prisons and detention centers throughout Turkey. 
Prosecutors sought to have her parliamentary immunity removed 
in order to prosecute her for refusing to release the names 
of her sources.  However, current Chairman Mehmet Elkatmis 
has so far focused on calling attention to supposed human 
rights problems outside Turkey.  In his comments to the 
press, Elkatmis has: 
 
 
-- Accused the U.S. and UK of committing "savagery" and a 
"massacre" in Iraq and suggested leaders of the two countries 
could be tried on war crimes (reftel A). 
 
 
-- Criticized the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. 
 
 
-- Promised to investigate allegations of unspecified ill 
treatment of a Turkish prisoner in Sweden.  (Note: A Swedish 
diplomat told us the GOT has not responded to Sweden's offer 
to transfer him to a Turkish prison.  End Note.) 
 
 
-- Promised to investigate allegations in the Turkish press 
that the German Government is conducting medical experiments 
on Turkish prisoners.  (Note: German diplomats say these 
allegations appear to be fueled by recent suicides among 
Turkish prisoners in Germany, as well as the fact that asylum 
seekers in Germany are required to take a medical exam.  One 
Committee member told us there were "rumors" that the USG was 
using Guantanamo Bay prisoners for medical experiments.  End 
note.) 
 
 
5. (C) We have not seen Elkatmis make public statements 
calling attention to human rights abuses in Turkey.  Elkatmis 
denied to us that he is focusing on problems outside Turkey, 
noting that the Committee recently visited southeastern 
Turkey and will soon release its report on conditions there. 
We have not yet seen the report, but Elkatmis told us it 
reflects his conclusion that it is now "impossible" to commit 
torture in detention centers because cameras have been 
installed. 
 
 
6. (C) The Committee's two vice chairmen do not compensate 
for Elkatmis' shortcomings.  Cavit Torun, an AK member, holds 
the most extreme Islamist and anti-Western views of the 
Committee members we've met to date.  During our meeting, 
Torun accused the USG of supporting the PKK and launched an 
anti-American diatribe, deflecting all attempts to address 
human rights in Turkey.  Mehmet Serif Ertugrul, of the 
opposition CHP party, is better informed, but offered no 
specific ideas about how the Committee should operate. 
 
 
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No Focus or Sense of Mission 
---------------------------- 
 
 
7. (C) Many members view the Committee as an NGO-like body 
whose role is to serve as the nation's moral conscience, 
rather than an element of the government responsible for 
making specific contributions to human rights reform in 
Turkey.  Several averred to us that Committee members are not 
GOT representatives, but rather advocates of human rights 
worldwide.  Some of the AK members are only capable of 
discussing human rights in broad Koranic terms addressing the 
need for brotherhood among men.  They appear to have no 
interest in day-to-day human rights matters in Turkey -- one 
told us he had never heard of the highly publicized case 
against five German democracy foundations (Reftel B), while 
another was unaware of an incident involving police beating a 
protestor in Ankara on live TV. 
 
 
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Fear of Outsiders 
----------------- 
 
 
8. (C) Some of our Committee interlocutors display the most 
extreme symptoms of the classic Turkish fear of all things 
foreign.  This is particularly problematic in the human 
rights field, where Turkey needs to engage the EU, U.S., and 
others in order to progress.  Two Committee MPs told us they 
reject the Western human rights model, only to retreat when 
asked whether they support Turkey's EU candidacy (both said 
yes).  Other views expressed by members include: 
 
 
-- The Peace Corps volunteers who served in Turkey until the 
early 1970's wanted to learn about all elements of Turkish 
culture only in order to find weak points to exploit. 
 
 
-- The U.S. turned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan over to Turkey 
not for Turkey's benefit, but only to spare its allies Italy 
and Greece the embarrassment of having him on their hands. 
 
 
-- The Western powers forced Turkey to spend money on the 
military during the Cold War in order to protect themselves 
and prevent Turkey from developing economically. 
 
 
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Comment 
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9. (C) We will continue to engage Committee members in an 
effort to encourage a more constructive, focused approach to 
human rights issues. 
 
 
PEARSON