US embassy cable - 03ANKARA2800

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002800 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY'S OPPOSITION CHP CONTINUES TO TRY TO HAVE 
IT BOTH WAYS ON RELATIONS WITH THE U.S. 
 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 674 
     B. ANKARA 1634 
 
 
(U) Classified by Political Counselor John Kunstadter. 
Reason: 1.5 (b,d). 
 
 
1. (C) Summary: In private conversations with us, opposition 
CHP M.P.s assert they value U.S.-Turkey relations and claim 
the party is the United States' "best friend."  Publicly, 
experienced CHP deputies continue to pursue an anti-American 
line that belies their private assurances. End Summary. 
 
 
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Privately "Our best friends in Turkey"... 
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2. (C) Reftels noted opposition CHP's unhelpful and often 
anti-American stance with regard to U.S. Iraq policy.  In 
private meetings over the last month, however, CHP M.P.s have 
expressed overwhelming support for continued Turkish-U.S. 
relations.  Our contacts include: CHP vice chairman Sinan 
Yerlikaya; Foreign Affairs Committee member and former 
ambassador to NATO Onur Oymen; Human Rights Committee member 
Engin Altay; Ataturk's right-hand man Ismet Inonu's 
granddaughter and Ankara deputy Gulsun Bilgehan; and pro-U.S. 
Kurdish M.P. Esat Canan. 
 
 
3. (C) As if from talking points, these deputies all offered 
the following: 1) they profess to be the United States' best 
friends in Turkey; 2) they have been eager to explain away 
CHP's anti-war policy, in part, as merely "opposition 
politics;" and 3) they hearken back to the history of 
U.S.-Turkey relations to suggest that these relations cannot 
be spoiled by "temporary misunderstandings."  Indeed, in an 
April 25 conversation, Bilgehan evoked the 1946 visit of the 
battleship Missouri to Istanbul as the beginning of a strong 
relationship that "will not be broken."  Rationalizing in a 
bizarre way, Canan, who in previous private meetings has 
lambasted CHP for its Iraq policy, told us April 29 that the 
party could not support the AK government on Iraq, because AK 
had followed the wrong policies in its relations with U.S. 
 
 
4. (C) In an April 28 meeting with CODEL Wexler, Oymen 
underscored the importance CHP places on relations with the 
U.S. and agreed that Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee 
should look into ways it can positively reinforce 
Turkish-U.S. ties to the public.  Commenting on Parliament's 
newly formed Turkish-U.S. Friendship Group, whose board in 
the initial election -- now apparently voided -- was entirely 
CHP, Oymen quipped, "this means CHP likes the U.S. more than 
the government party." 
 
 
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...But in public it's another story 
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5. (C) What CHPers feed to the press is another story. 
Mainstream press coverage of the Wexler-Oymen discussion 
focused on two minor points the CHP deputy made during the 
one-and-a-half hour meeting.  Oymen suggested that the U.S. 
remove a "welcome to Kurdistan" sign at the Iraq border and 
replace it with one reading "welcome to Iraq."  While 
pointing out Turkey's sensitivities to U.S. pressure, Oymen 
asked why former Secretary Christopher visited Syria 22 times 
but never Turkey.  The media have portrayed these statements 
as CHP standing up to the U.S. bully. 
 
 
6. (C) In a series of April articles in Turkey's leading 
mainstream dailies, CHP deputy and foreign affairs committee 
member Sukru Elekdag, who was ambassador to Washington for 10 
years, harshly criticized U.S. Iraq policy.  He called the 
war "immoral, illegal, and disgusting."  Moreover, he 
suggested that Turkey might re-orient its foreign policy 
towards its Arab neighbors if the U.S. does not respect 
Turkey's interests in N. Iraq.  Yerlikaya unconvincingly 
dismissed Elekdag's statements, because the former ambassador 
is not a member of the party's Central Administrative Board 
and therefore not part of CHP leader Deniz Baykal's inner 
circle.  "In any case, he is 80 years old.  How can we keep 
quiet a man of such experience and stature?" Yerlikaya tried 
to ask rhetorically.  In any event, Baykal continues to be 
quoted as saying things highly critical of the U.S. 
 
 
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Comment: Same ol' CHP 
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7. (C) CHP's contradictory public and private faces reflect 
the party's desire to have it both ways.  We continue to 
emphasize to our interlocutors that this is unacceptable. 
PEARSON