This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 0142 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/NGA 
AND PRM 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT:  SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY HOPEFUL FOR 
          CHANGE BUT EXPERIENCING LITTLE 
          IMPROVEMENT 
 
 
(U) This cable is sensitive but unclassified; 
please protect accordingly. 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: A cross-section of GOT 
officials, NGOs, and businessmen in Turkey's 
Southeast reveals little, if any, change in 
economic or social conditions.  Lower-level GOT 
officials, unaccustomed to and uncomfortable 
with meeting foreign diplomats, paint an 
unrealistic picture, touting the Southeast as a 
model for other developing countries.  Many of 
these officials assert that economic conditions 
are improving and were not affected by the 
recent war in Iraq and that human rights 
violations rarely occur.  However, according to 
our NGO contacts, the economic situation 
remains stagnant and social conditions have not 
changed since the third EU reform package was 
passed in August 2002.  Kurdish contacts 
anticipate a resolution of Kurdish-Turkish 
tensions.  However, they associate this 
resolution with increased US participation and 
continue to think that the rise in awareness of 
the Kurdish problem in the international arena 
is a major step in compelling Ankara to begin 
serious efforts to mend ties with citizens of 
Kurdish origin.  End summary. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Mid-Level Civil Servants Report An Easy Life, 
Fear of Superiors, and a Party Line . 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) Poloff met with a wide variety of 
provincial education and health directors, sub- 
governors, and local NGOs and prominent 
citizens in Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Hilvan, and 
Diyarbakir between May 13-16.  While most of 
our scheduled appointments were eager to meet 
with us, some provincial education and health 
directors did not appear or sent their deputies 
to meet with us.  As it was explained, either 
the directors were "in another meeting" or they 
did not have the permission of their superiors 
to meet with us.   Often, the deputies were 
enthusiastic to discuss their roles, 
workplaces, and issues relating to working in 
the Southeast.  Aside from these contacts, many 
of those who did meet with us gave an 
identical, too rosy picture of conditions in 
the Southeast: in the health system, almost 
every child is immunized, birth control and 
population control is taught, there are no 
language or communication barriers, and there 
is adequate health care in each village; in the 
education system, all children are provided 
schooling and high school attendance is on the 
rise, there are no language or communication 
barriers, and technology is the only thing 
lacking in their schools. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
... But Lower Level Contacts Bemoan Bureaucratic 
    Nightmares 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) In contrast, the deputies assigned to 
speak with us often portrayed a different 
picture.  In Diyarbakir's Social Security 
Hospital, the hospital director spoke of 
bureaucratic nightmares in which he had been 
corresponding with his central ministry in 
Ankara in order to fix a broken piece of 
equipment for three months and still had yet to 
receive the funding to repair it.  According to 
procedures, all appointments must be made 
through an appointment system; however, many 
women speak only Kurdish and are unable to 
obtain an appointment on their own.  Often, 
these women must rely on a male family member 
to translate and choose not to receive medical 
care if the condition is of a private nature. 
The central headquarters also seems to place a 
higher emphasis on new buildings, rather than 
staff; Sanliurfa's State Hospital is expected 
to move into a new 500-bed hospital in August 
2003 but, according to its deputy chief doctor, 
"while it will be nice to have a new facility, 
it is even more important to have a full 
staff."  Nurses are in high demand and the 
shortage is so great that ten nurses (of the 
100 employed at this hospital) miscarried due 
to the strenuous load of hours they worked. 
Sanliurfa's deputy chief doctor summed up the 
situation by stating, "the only efficient 
system within the GOT is the military; if the 
GOT adopted a similar system to healthcare, we 
would have the capability to utilize our 
resources to effectively care for our 
patients."  Many of our health contacts also 
expressed optimistic skepticism for the 
Ministry of Health's plans to refresh Turkey's 
healthcare system: "we have heard it before but 
will be pleased to see it happen this time." 
 
 
¶4. (SBU)  The education system also shares some 
language problems but the primary issue remains 
attracting girls to school and getting all 
students to continue to high school.  In 
Hilvan, there are approximately 9700 students 
attending school; of these roughly 500 attend 
secondary school while 9200 attend the 
compulsory primary school.  The Provincial 
Education director atributes this wide 
discrepancy to wealthier parents sending their 
children to school in Sanliurfa.  (Note: Hilvan 
is not known to be a wealthy province and 
poloff noticed more horses and carts than cars 
in the city center.  End note.)  Girls have 
begun to enter school but some of our contacts 
estimate that 70 percent of the region's female 
population remains illiterate.  In one of 
Diyarbakir's newest high schools, the principal 
spends approximately half of his time 
soliciting local businesses and the Ministry of 
Education for money and equipment to outfit his 
school. 
 
 
------------------------ 
Still a Man's World 
------------------------ 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Almost every NGO contacted stated that 
the human rights situation in Southeastern 
Turkey had not changed for the better after the 
EU reform package was passed in August 2002 or, 
for that matter, in the last five years. 
Kurdish language broadcasting, guaranteed under 
the EU reform package, still has yet to be seen 
in a regular, unobstructed way and activists 
often cite conflicting laws within the GOT and 
general GOT unwillingness as primary reasons. 
Prison guards often disconnect inmates and 
family members who speak in Kurdish during 
visiting hours.  Torture continues freely 
against inmates accused of being PKK- 
affiliated; although the torture inflicted is 
often more mental than physical and the 
physical beatings are confined to those that 
will leave the least lasting physical effects. 
¶6. (SBU) According to KA-MER, a Diyarbakir-based 
woman's group, suicides amongst women and girls 
are on the rise in the Southeast, especially in 
Diyarbakir and Batman.  KA-MER worries, that 
because these deaths are rarely investigated, 
many of them could be honor killings designed 
to look like suicides.  According to KA-MER's 
founder, the lack of education combined with 
economic hardships and a strict religion 
propels many families to take this drastic 
action against their daughters who have or have 
been perceived to bring dishonor to the family. 
The organization applauds the local 
municipality for its help in arranging 
replacement identification cards to women who 
have sought KA-MER's protection.  Women in 
Southeastern Turkey continue to play a 
traditional, uneducated role and remain tied to 
the male members of the family's wishes for 
food, shelter, and education. 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
A Renewed Kurdish Hope 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Kurds living in Southeastern Turkey 
describe to us a cautious hope for a resolution 
to what they see as heir main problems because 
it appears the Kurds will play a role in the 
new Iraqi government and their situation has 
been propelled to the international arena. 
However, our contacts frequently warn that, 
without US support, a resolution will not 
happen.  "We support the US war in Iraq but we 
also support the GOT's failure to pass the 
February motion allowing US troops in Iraq 
because, had the government passed the motion, 
Turkish troops would have moved into Northern 
Iraq and the Kurdish role would have 
diminished." 
 
 
----------- 
Comment 
----------- 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Officials' apprehension, or failure, to 
meet with us and the deliverance of the same 
party line given to us by many GOT bureaucrats 
portrays a strong fear of repercussion by their 
superiors.  It is curious to note how some of 
our appointments would usher us out the door 
after a few minutes of small talk in order not 
to be accused of discussing something 
inappropriate.  In meetings with higher level 
officials, including the new Diyarbakir 
governor, we were given a biased, but clearer 
view of the region: "there are still problems, 
namely within healthcare and education, but our 
situation is improving daily."  Also, we heard 
that many mid-level GOT bureaucrats often 
choose to extend their tours in the region 
because of the "easy way of life."  They are 
often provided added monetary incentives and 
enjoy an elite standing in the province.  These 
officials frequently seem satisfied with the 
status quo and seemed to prefer not taking the 
extra steps it would require to improve much of 
their territory because it could potentially 
upset their way of life. End Comment. 
HOLTZ