VZCZCXRO0234
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAK #0258/01 0380839
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070839Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0872
INFO RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 2069
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1623
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TREASURY FOR JONATHAN ROSE 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PHUM KPAO SOCI TU
SUBJECT: INROADS SLOW FOR LIBERTARIAN THINK TANK IN TURKEY 
 
 
ANKARA 00000258  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  The Association for Liberal Thinking (ALT), is an 
Ankara-based think tank established in 1994 to promote classical 
liberal (i.e. libertarian) thought in Turkey.  In an effort to 
maintain autonomy, ALT has no direct links to any political party or 
movement, receives minimal funding from discreet sources, and boasts 
no formal membership.  With arguably limited influence among 
mainstream academics and politicos in Turkey, ALT received 
substantial press recently when its President Atilla Yayla drew 
harsh criticism, as well as a suspension from teaching at Gazi 
University, for allegedly insulting Ataturk during a panel 
discussion at an academic conference in Izmir.  Yayla is now under 
investigation for potentially violating Turkey's law against 
"insulting Ataturk." ALT says the lukewarm reception from the 
business community to its philosophy of economic freedom and 
prosperity through free trade, limited government, and liberal 
democracy owes to the statist mentality prevalent in economic and 
political circles in Turkey.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
PROMOTING FREE TRADE AND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Located in cramped office space with minimal decor in 
Ankara's low rent district, ALT's connections to the Cato Institute, 
Heritage Foundation, and Canada's Fraser Institute seemed 
implausible at first glance. In discussing their organization's 
goals and mission, however, ALT's Vice President Bican Sahin and 
General Coordinator Ozlem Yilmaz, underscored their desire to 
sustain a network of academicians in Turkey and abroad to promote 
the benefits of a free market economy and limited government. 
Insisting that ALT is not an "activist think tank," Yilmaz explained 
to Econoffs during a recent meeting that ALT seeks to maintain 
relations with all Turkish political parties without being an 
extension of any single one. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Lacking formal membership, ALT relies on support from 
like-minded intellectuals, many of whom are professors and 
economists.  According to Yilmaz, Erdal Turkan, a retired economist 
and chairman of the Association for Competition in Turkey, and 
Mustafa Erdogan, a newspaper columnist and constitutional law 
professor at Ankara's Hacettepe University, are two of ALT's biggest 
supporters.  Stressing the importance of maintaining autonomy, 
Yilmaz described the organization's funding as "small amounts from 
varied sources," including individual donations, revenues from 
publications, and contributions from some Turkish companies. 
 
¶4. (SBU) ALT's mainstay for promoting liberal values in Turkey is 
through the publication of three quarterly journals and more than 
150 translaed books from foreign authors on political, social, and 
economic issues.  ALT President AtillaYayla edited the 
organization's single Englis publication in 1999, "Islam, Civil 
Society and Market Economy."  In addition to publications, ALT 
partners with other organizations to sponsor workshops, seminars and 
symposiums throughout Turkey.  Most recently, ALT organized a 
workshop in Ankara with Muslim and non-Muslim participants to 
discuss in a relaxed forum how different social groups could live in 
harmony under a system of limited government.  Last year, ALT 
partnered with the National Endowment for Democracy to train civil 
society organizations in the Southeastern city of Diyarbakir. 
 
------------------------------ 
EMBATTLED PRESIDENT SPEAKS OUT 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) As an advocate of liberal democracy, ALT strongly supports 
the EU accession process as a tool for strengthening freedom of 
expression and freedom of religion in Turkey.  (The prospect of 
bureaucratic and regulatory control from Brussels once Turkey joins 
does, however, give them pause.)  Yayla, a professor of political 
philosophy and political economy at Gazi University, came under 
attack for statements he made during a panel discussion on "Social 
Influence of the Relations between EU and Turkey" on November 18, 
2006 in Izmir.  Branded a "traitor" by one newspaper for his alleged 
remarks about Ataturk (see below), Yayla was suspended from teaching 
at Gazi University, a public institution in Ankara, pending the 
outcome of the rector's investigation.  In addition, though no 
formal charges have been filed against Yayla (Note: Yayla is not 
accused, for example, of violating Turkey's controversial Article 
301 law on insulting Turkishness under which the late Hrant Dink was 
convicted), the Izmir prosecutor has opened a file to investigate 
whether Yayla's remarks constitute an "insult to Ataturk's memory," 
which is prohibited under another section of Turkish law.  Dismissal 
from his position at Gazi would likely be justified under an article 
in Turkish law requiring academicians "to educate Turkish students 
in accordance with Ataturk's principles." 
 
¶6. (SBU) Yayla penned an eloquent and thoughtful response in the 
 
ANKARA 00000258  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
International Herald Tribune on December 6, 2006 to the brouhaha his 
statements engendered.  Based on his own experience, he argued that 
freedom of expression marked the "defining line between a civilized 
and uncivilized country."  Explaining the context of his remarks in 
Izmir, Yayla reiterated his statement that despite official 
propaganda to the contrary, "the single party era from 1925-1945, 
headed mainly by Ataturk, was not as progressive as it is claimed 
and was, in some respects, backward."  The gist of his response 
trumpets the importance of freedom of expression for everyone, but 
especially for academics whose job it is to question, criticize and 
evaluate.  For his criticism of Kemalism to an audience of 37 
participants in Izmir, Yayla must now secure his personal safety 
through the services of a bodyguard the authorities are providing. 
 
 
-------------------------------------- 
BUSINESS COMMUNITY'S STATIST MENTALITY 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Yilmaz lamented Turkish entrepreneurs' failure to embrace 
limited government, free speech and free trade to promote economic 
prosperity and freedom.  The Turkish business community, she 
explained, instead of supporting free and open trade and competition 
tends to look to big government as a source of protection and 
subsidies.  In particular, she singled out the Turkish 
Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) as being very 
statist-minded despite being one of the most influential 
non-governmental organizations comprised of Turkey's most prominent 
business people, like the Koc and Sabanci families.  She offered 
MUSIAD, a counterpart to TUSIAD established in 1990, as an example 
of industrialists and businessmen more open to the idea of limited 
government.  MUSIAD's 8000 members belong to small to mid-sized 
companies, tend to be more conservative and religious, supporting 
Muslim business values and building strong trade ties with the 
Muslim world.  Yet, ALT felt even MUSIAD's commitment to competition 
was skin-deep. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) ALT's ability to reach and influence a wider cross-section 
of Turkish intellectuals, politicians and business circles is 
hampered by its lack of formal membership and lack of significant 
benefactors to fund its message of limited government, free trade, 
and civil liberties.  More academic than activist, even if it were 
to shore up members and substantially increase funding, ALT's 
influence would likely still be limited because the organizations' 
officers appear more focused on offering up abstract ideas than 
proposing concrete solutions.  Nonetheless, through its networks of 
contacts, ALT coul possibly pull together a diverse audience o 
attend events at which issues varying from freedom of expression and 
religion to free trade, property rights, and accountable government 
could be discussed. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Though Turkey is changing and the business community is 
more open to free-market thinking than it was a decade or two ago, 
Turkey's long tradition of state intervention in the economy, 
including protected markets and state-owned enterprises, dies hard. 
The fact that ALT remains independent of all political parties is a 
reflection of the fact that none of the political parties supports a 
free-market, small-government philosophy, although AK Party comes 
closest.  MUSIAD's smaller-scale, more religious membership of 
"outsiders" is more sympathetic to these ideas than the corporate 
elite at TUSIAD.  This may help explain AK Party's greater openness 
to pro-market thinking, since MUSIAD is more representative of AK 
Party's base, but as Yilmaz pointed out, the AKP and MUSIAD are not 
free of populist tendencies.  Indeed, many secularists see AKP and 
MUSIAD as just another special interest group using the cover of 
pro-market policies to seek government benefits. 
Wilson