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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000307 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2020 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PTER TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: BDP TAKES THE HIGH ROAD 
 
REF: ANKARA 164 
 
Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady for reasons 1.4(b,d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY.  In a February 23 meeting, Peace and 
Democracy Party (BDP) Co-Chairman Selahattin Demirtas struck 
a surprisingly moderate tone while outlining the goals and 
methods for the party.  The conversation with Demirtas and 
other BDP leaders notably lacked any discussion of the PKK or 
its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.  This could be in response 
to Ocalan's directive, delivered through his lawyers on 
February 19, that BDP distance itself from the PKK and its 
political arm, the KCK, in order to be effective in the 
democratic sphere.  Demirtas claimed that the BDP planned to 
support the ruling Justice and Democracy Party's (AKP) plans 
to reform the Turkish Constitution, but worried that the AKP 
might not support reforms aimed at helping Turkey's Kurds. 
He said the BDP is trying to be a party to represent all of 
Turkey, not just Kurds in the southeast, but that the ten 
percent electoral threshold prevents it from making gains 
outside its historical southeast stronghold.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BDP Strikes Moderate Tone 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) In a February 23 meeting, newly elected Peace and 
Democracy Party (BDP) Co-Chairman Selahattin Demirtas struck 
a surprisingly moderate tone with us while outlining the 
goals and methods for the party over the next few months. 
While the BDP national convention on February 1 was full of 
rhetoric supportive of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party 
(PKK), our conversation with Demirtas and other BDP leaders 
notably lacked any discussion of the PKK or its jailed leader 
Abdullah Ocalan.  Demirtas complained that the former 
Democratic Society Party (DTP) had some limitations when it 
tried to break out of the southeast region and appeal to a 
larger Turkish base.  The BDP, however, would focus on all 
issues, not just Kurdish ones, both inside and outside the 
Parliament.  At the same time, Demirtas continued, there are 
still problems facing Turkey's Kurds and the BDP would keep 
fighting to resolve them. 
 
¶3. (C) On February 19, jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan 
issued a statement through his lawyers carried by the pro-PKK 
Firat News Agency that called on the BDP to distance itself 
from the PKK and its political arm, the KCK, in order to be 
more effective in the democratic sphere.  The BDP should not, 
however, be critical or hostile toward the KCK, according to 
Ocalan.  It is likely that Ocalan is the source of the 
notable and sudden change in BDP rhetoric, both by Demirtas 
and by MP Sebahat Tuncel, who was also present at the meeting 
and is usually open in her support of the PKK. 
 
BDP Will Support Constitutional Reforms 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Demirtas stated that the BDP was ready to provide 
support to the AKP's attempts to pass constitutional 
referenda, specifically those that would change the Political 
Parties Law, and lower the electoral threshold to enter 
Parliament.  However, BDP support would come at a price. 
Demirtas stressed that the AKP would have to show some signs 
of goodwill, such as: stopping police intimidation of BDP 
branch offices, allowing the BDP to receive state funds for 
election campaigns, convincing the media to treat the BDP 
like a normal party, and releasing BDP members who have been 
detained.  (Note: Over 1,500 BDP members from across the 
country have been detained in connection with ongoing 
anti-KCK operations.  End Note.)  He complained that the 
international community continues to support the AKP and the 
government despite how it has been treating the BDP.  This 
tacit approval of oppression of the BDP, Demirtas argued, 
only strengthens the government's hand against them. 
 
¶5. (C) One of the most important issues for the BDP between 
now and the general elections planned for 2011 is to lower 
the electoral threshold to enter Parliament from ten percent 
to five or six percent.  This would allow the BDP to enter 
parliament as a party (instead of a group of independent MPs, 
as they did in the last elections) and to have more impact 
 
ANKARA 00000307  002 OF 002 
 
 
after the elections, Demirtas stated.  The BDP also plans to 
potentially form a "joint front" with the Socialist People's 
Party (SHP) during the elections, especially in the western 
provinces, according to Demirtas.  After the SHP convention 
on March 13, discussions would begin in earnest on such a 
coalition.  MP Sebahat Tuncel stressed that a coalition could 
help them overcome the "psychological threshold" that kept 
them from winning in many western provinces, where people had 
a negative view of Kurds and, by extension, their party. 
 
¶6. (C) Demirtas told us that the BDP leadership plans to 
travel to the U.S. in late March to open their representative 
office in Washington and hold high-level meetings with USG 
officials.  The delegation will likely include Co-Chairs 
Demirtas and Gulten Kusanak, BDP MP and former DTP Co-Chair 
Emine Ayna, and BDP MP Sinan Onal. 
 
¶7. (C) In a separate show of moderation, the BDP organized a 
panel discussion on February 24 on "Military Guardianship and 
Secularism" in Turkey.  Chairman Demirtas and numerous 
Kurdish intellectuals spoke on the panel, and none of them 
mentioned the PKK, Ocalan, or the more subtle "will of the 
Kurdish people" (Note:  This is a well-known codeword for 
Ocalan's will.  End Note)  Generally, this sort of panel 
would have been be peppered with such comments. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (C) It is premature to conclude that the BDP has turned a 
corner and decided that the path to democratic politics means 
distancing itself from the terrorist PKK.  However, it is 
encouraging that this was the first time we have met with the 
BDP (or with its predecessors the DTP and DEHAP) when neither 
Ocalan nor the PKK was raised.  It is also notable that the 
BDP would consider supporting some constitutional reforms 
offered by the AKP, giving the AKP enough votes in theory to 
move constitutional amendments to a referendum.  But we doubt 
BDP will get very far with the "signs of goodwill" that it 
will demand in return.  Still, BDP seems to taking the first 
steps toward becoming a legitimate and peaceful party, even 
if its distancing from the PKK may be at the direction of the 
PKK itself. 
Jeffrey 
 
           "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s 
gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"