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

011459Z Oct 03

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 006163 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2008 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: VIEW FROM THE HEARTLAND III: KURDS IN 
SOUTHEAST SAY EU REFORMS NOT IMPLEMENTED 
 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 6140 
     ¶B. ANKARA 5566 
 
 
(U) Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.5 b and 
d. 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Kurds in the southeast insist recent human 
rights reforms have not been implemented, and that practices 
such as torture, lack of attorney access for detainees, and 
restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language continue 
unabated.  Even if the reforms are implemented in the rest of 
Turkey, they doubt they will see real change in the 
southeast.  Even under the best of circumstances, it will 
take time for the GOT to fully implement the reforms.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
¶2. (U) Embassy Human Rights Officer and EUR/SE Desk Officer 
traveled to the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir, Batman, 
Sirnak, and Mardin September 23-26 and met with human rights 
activists, security officials, mayors, governors, attorneys, 
doctors, and religious leaders.  Adana PO also participated 
in portions of the visit as part of a longer orientation 
tour.  This report, as well as reftel A, is based on these 
meetings. 
 
 
----------------------------- 
Double-Standard for Southeast 
----------------------------- 
 
 
¶3. (C) Turkish human rights advocates and outside observers 
have praised the wide array of EU-related human rights 
reforms adopted by the Turkish Parliament since mid-2001 and 
also point out the slow pace of implementation.  EU officials 
have told the GOT Turkey's candidacy will depend heavily on 
its ability to implement the reforms it has adopted (reftel 
B).  A number of GOT contacts say they accept this challenge, 
and the GOT has established a minister-level committee to 
monitor implementation.  In this light the gap between law 
and practice is acutely felt in Turkey's troubled, 
Kurdish-dominated southeast, where human rights abuses appear 
to remain common.  Our Kurdish contacts asserted to us there 
is a double standard between the southeast and the rest of 
Turkey.  Even if the reforms are implemented elsewhere, 
southeastern Kurds doubt whether they will see any change in 
the region.  "People here have been disappointed so many 
times that they don't believe promises," said Nezahat 
Dagtekin, director of ART Radio/TV in Diyarbakir.  "They 
believe what they can actually see." 
 
 
¶4. (U) Our contacts reported a general lack of progress in a 
number of human rights fields.  For example: 
 
 
------- 
Torture 
------- 
 
 
¶5. (C) Representatives of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) 
office in Diyarbakir, which operates a torture treatment 
center, told us that legal reforms designed to crack down on 
torture have not caused a decrease in the practice.  They 
said torture cases have dropped significantly since the 
height of the PKK conflict in the mid-1990s, but only because 
the number of detainees has decreased.  Physicians at the 
treatment center showed us pictures of patients with obvious 
injuries they said were caused by torture in detention.  They 
claimed that all the patients came to the HRF center after 
being examined in detention by a doctor who falsely reported 
observing no signs of torture.  Necdet Ipekyuz, president of 
the Chamber of Doctors in Diyarbakir, said police and 
Jandarma often remain in the room when doctors examine 
detainees, in violation of privacy regulations, thereby 
intimidating doctors who would otherwise report evidence of 
torture.  These views were mirrored by other human rights 
activists with whom we spoke, with the exception of members 
of the Batman Human Rights Association (HRA) and Bar 
Association, who reported a sharp decrease in torture cases 
in the province.  However, our Batman contacts said that 
authorities continue to protect police when torture incidents 
occur.  HRF representatives said recent amendments decreasing 
the maximum detention period from 10 days to seven days has 
forced police to use torture methods that do not leave 
telltale marks.  As a result, there is a greater reliance on 
methods such as: slapping, exposure to cold, sleep and food 
deprivation, and threats and mock execution.  There is a 
reduced use of: electric shock, beating on the soles of the 
feet (falaka), pressure hose, and hanging by the arms. 
 
 
--------------- 
Attorney Access 
--------------- 
 
 
¶6. (C) Our contacts agreed that authorities have not 
implemented a January reform extending the right of immediate 
attorney access to all detainees.  Sezgin Tanrikulu, 
president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, said Diyarbakir 
police rarely contact the Bar Association concerning 
detainees, and estimated that only 5 percent of detainees in 
the province consult with attorneys.  Tanrikulu said police 
do not inform detainees of their right to attorney access at 
no cost.  When detainees request an attorney, police often 
warn that if they insist on attorney access while in 
detention a court will assume they are guilty at trial. 
Other human rights activists in the southeast supported 
Tanrikulu's views, which are also consistent with what Ankara 
HRA and HRF officials have told us about the situation 
nationwide. 
 
 
----------------------- 
Kurdish Language Rights 
----------------------- 
 
 
¶7. (C) Recent reforms loosening restrictions on the use of 
Kurdish have yet to be implemented nationwide.  But our 
contacts told us the restrictions have always been tightest 
in the southeast, often extending beyond the regulations. 
Dagtekin, of ART Radio/TV, said local authorities continue to 
periodically close her station for broadcasting Kurdish 
songs, despite the fact that the Culture Ministry has 
approved the songs.  Local officials claim the lyrics contain 
separatist propaganda, but they are only traditional love 
songs, she said.  Dagtekin averred that stations in Istanbul, 
Ankara and other cities outside the region broadcast the same 
songs without drawing any reaction.  "The use of Kurdish is 
more sensitive here," she said.  Naci Sapan, president of the 
Southeast Journalists Association, said it will take time for 
local authorities to accept the idea of Kurdish-language 
broadcasts.  Even once the legal framework is fully 
established, most regional figures will avoid speaking 
Kurdish on the air, for fear of official harassment.  The 
first Kurdish-language non-music programs will likely feature 
human rights activists who have been taken to court so many 
times they have lost their fear of the State.  Then, 
gradually, the voices will multiply, he predicted. 
 
 
¶8. (C) Tanrikulu said authorities continue to prohibit the 
use of Kurdish names for children, despite a legal amendment 
intended to end the practice.  He noted that the GOT on 
September 24 issued a circular advising authorities of the 
new regulations.  At the same time, however, the circular 
prohibits the use of Kurdish letters not found in Turkish (q, 
w, x), a restriction rendering the reform meaningless in many 
cases, he complained. 
 
 
¶9. (C) We note, however, that as humiliating as this 
bureaucratic obstructionism is, Kurds are finding ways around 
it.  For instance, the words "Kurdistan" and Mesopotamia" are 
taboo.  Kurds have now started to use the word GAP (the 
normal abbreviation for the Turkish State's pharaonic dam and 
irrigation Southeast Anatolia Project) to refer to their 
homeland, and the name of the Hotel GAP in the heart of the 
capital Ankara is a source of mirth for activist Kurds who 
congregate there.  Moreover, Kurds are beginning to shrug 
their shoulders at the refusal of registry offices to accept 
names with letters not in Turkish.  Heja Elci (himself with a 
Kurdish name that his father, prominent Kurdish nationalist 
Serafettin Elci was able to bestow on him when Kurdish names 
were not taboo) insisted that the Ankara registry office 
accept "Mexar" as the name for his son.  When the office 
refused to use an "x", Elci substituted an "h", but told us 
Sept. 24 that any Kurd reading the name will pronounce it in 
the Kurdish "kh" way. 
 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
 
¶10. (C) Even under the best of circumstances, the current GOT 
does not have the influence to gain full control of the law 
enforcement bureaucracy and ensure full implementation of the 
reforms quickly, whether in the west or southeast.  Practices 
such as torture and censorship are deeply rooted among 
officials at all levels, as is the heightened fear among 
officials in the southeast that Kurdish cultural expression 
will lead to separatism.  The GOT can help expedite change by 
enhancing training for law enforcement and judicial officials 
on the new laws and sentencing police who commit torture to 
jail terms. 
 
 
EDELMAN