US embassy cable - 03ISTANBUL1014

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISTANBUL 001014 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, TU 
SUBJECT: GENC (YOUNG) PARTY MACHINATIONS IN KIRKLARELI 
PROVINCE 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General David Arnett for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
 
 
 
1. (C) Genc (Young) Party is in the process of attempting to 
build a Turkey-wide base of support, seeking to co-opt local 
politicians and appeal to broadly-nationalist sentiment. 
Conversations with political leaders in one rural province 
suggest that the combination of political ambition, murky 
business dealings, and strong-arm tactics has left some of 
the target audience wary of Cem Uzan and his party. 
 
 
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Genc Comes to Kirklareli 
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2. (U) Kirklareli is the capital of the province of the same 
name in Trakya (European Turkey), a city of 53,000 people, 
with an economy centered on farming and border trade with 
Bulgaria.  Kirklareli has a long history of center-left 
voting, and CHP took the largest share in the last elections. 
 AK and Genc Party, both competing for center-right votes, 
took second and third.  Longer-standing parties that 
previously did well in the province (such as MHP, DYP, ANAP, 
and DSP) were badly defeated, taking on average just a few 
percent of the vote. 
 
 
3. (C) Genc Party has sought to consolidate and build upon 
its base in Kirklareli in the wake of the November election, 
establishing a party headquarters, courting local 
politicians, and publicizing its populist rhetoric.  The 
strategy, it appears, can only take Genc so far, as evidenced 
by the comments of contacts in Kirklareli.  The province, 
though a political backwater in itself, may be indicative of 
a large segment of the rural and newly-urban voters who have 
displayed some reticence toward Genc. 
 
 
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By Any Means Necessary? 
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4. (C) In the run-up to the November 2002 election, Kirkareli 
sources report that Genc Party used particularly aggressive 
tactics to attract voters there, including: forcing employees 
of Telsim, Imar Bankasi, and other Uzan family businesses to 
join Genc, using Uzan media outlets (including cell-phone 
text messaging) to drive home the Genc message, increasing 
profits to Uzan sub-contractors and distributors who visibly 
supported the party and providing free cement for home 
building to poorer segments of the population from the Uzans' 
nearby Halapasa Cement Factory. 
 
 
5. (C) According to Kirklareli Mayor Cengiz Bagdan, many 
local politicians were also approached to join Genc, himself 
included.  Bagdan professes no interest currently in leaving 
nationalist MHP, though he admits that may change as local 
elections get closer. 
 
 
6. (C) Separately, Sait Lutfu Gur, Chairman of the Chamber of 
Tradesmen and Craftsmen, confirmed Genc Party's aggressive 
politics.  Gur believes, however, that the nationalist 
rhetoric of Genc combined with strong-arm tactics has little 
resonance in this area of Turkey.  Kirklareli's economy was 
more lightly affected than elsewhere by economic crises, and 
has significantly less unemployment.  Benefiting from free 
trade, Gur and his colleaugues passionately argued for a 
reduction in trade barriers as the best way to help the 
Turkish economy, which runs against some of Genc's more 
strident xenophobic rhetoric. 
 
 
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Comment 
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7. (C) Rural, statist, and moderately conservative, 
Kirklareli has many traits similar to other Genc strongholds. 
 Some of Genc's more unseemly strong arm tactics have kept a 
lid on any budding enthusiasm there, especially when coupled 
with Kirklareli's pro-trade, left-of-center attitudes. 
ARNETT