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P 221231Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000653 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY:  FESTIVE NEVRUZ CELEBRATIONS PASS WITHOUT 
MAJOR VIOLENCE 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 559 
     ¶B. ANKARA 574 
 
1.(U) This is a joint message from Embassy Ankara, ConGen 
Istanbul and Consulate Adana. 
 
2.(SBU) Summary:  Kurds throughout Turkey celebrated Nevruz 
on March 21 in ceremonies that were festive and mostly 
peaceful, despite earlier predictions that tension in 
southeastern Turkey would lead to violent clashes with 
security forces (reftels).  At a GOT-sponsored Nevruz 
celebration in Ankara, PM Erdogan called for Turkish citizens 
to embrace diversity, and promote peace and unity.  In 
Istanbul, tens of thousands attended mostly peaceful 
Democratic Society Party (DTP) organized celebrations in 
Kazlicesme square.  As celebrants began to exit, police 
dispersed the crowd with tear gas and rubber bullets, and 
detained 70 people, after several hundred protesters chanted 
pro-PKK slogans and held Ocalan posters.  Events in 
Southeastern Turkey drew massive crowds and were generally 
peaceful, though police detained groups of pro-PKK 
demonstrators at all events.  Organizers believed the GOT's 
prohibition against celebrating Nevruz on a weekend lowered 
attendance.  Both government and security forces appear to 
have reached out to help avoid violence.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Ankara:  Prime Minister Calls for Peace, Unity 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
3.(U)  Hundreds gathered to peacefully celebrate Nevruz at 
the official Ankara ceremony organized by the Culture 
Ministry.  PM Erdogan delivered remarks during which he 
recited several poems and called for peace and unity among 
all citizens of Turkey.  After stating, "The seeds of hatred 
should burn in the Nevruz fire," Erdogan lit the traditional 
bonfire along with Ministers of State Mehmet Ali Sahin and 
Besir Atalay, and Culture Minister Atilla Koc.  The ministers 
all partook in the traditional jumping over the fire, but the 
PM passed due to a back injury. 
 
--------------------------- 
Even the TGS Made a Gesture 
--------------------------- 
 
4.(U) Even the Turkish General Staff made a gesture aimed at 
diffusing tensions, posting an unprecedented "Happy Nevruz" 
banner on their website. 
 
------------------ 
Nevruz in Istanbul 
------------------ 
 
5.(U) Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler and Istanbul Mayor 
Kadir Topbas presided over the official GOT Nevruz 
celebration in the Sultanahmet district.  The small, quiet 
official ceremony contrasted with the event organized by DTP 
and several smaller pro-Kurdish parties, where 30-50 thousand 
Istanbulites gathered in Kazlicesme square.  Before 
celebrations began, police clashed with approximately 50 
protesters who carried posters supporting jailed PKK leader 
Ocalan.  Reinforcements were able to calm the situation. 
 
6.(SBU) Celebrants performed Kurdish folk dances and songs, 
lit and jumped over traditional Nevruz bonfires.  During the 
event, a handful of demonstrators waved PKK flags and 
pro-Ocalan posters, despite admonitions by the organization 
committee against doing so.  DTP's Istanbul branch chairman 
Dogan Erbas led a minute of silence in memory of "martyrs of 
democracy," and then delivered a speech in which he demanded 
an end to the military operations in Southeastern Turkey, and 
demanded the freedom of DTP politicians recently arrested by 
security forces (ref B).  DTP Deputy Chairman Sirri Sakik 
said during his speech that Kurds do not have equal rights 
with Turks, and that "PKK is our reality, and PKK is here." 
 
7.(U) As celebrations wound down and the crowd began to 
disperse, a group of 150 demonstrators raised pro-Ocalan 
posters and shouted pro-PKK slogans as a police helicopter 
hovered over the square.  Police used tear gas and plastic 
bullets to disperse the crowd, and detained 80 people, 
 
ANKARA 00000653  002 OF 003 
 
 
including Erbas, Sakik, and six members of the organizing 
committee. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
Southeastern Turkey:  Celebrations Mostly Peaceful, Festive 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
8.(SBU) Nevruz celebrations in the southeast were, for the 
most part, peaceful and festive.  Although numbers of Nevruz 
participants this year were reportedly down from last year, 
large turnouts were reported in Mardin, Batman, Van, Tunceli, 
Malatya, Adiyaman, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Siirt, and several 
other cities.  Some snapshots: 
 
--Adana:  Adana consulate officers witnessed tens of 
thousands of people packing the Mimar Sionan Open Air Theater 
in Adana for the DTP-sponsored Nevruz celebration on March 
¶21.  People danced, shouted, and waved DTP flags. By noon, 
only two hours after the official opening of the venue, the 
Turkish National Police (TNP) told us they had arrested "as 
many as" 500 people, mostly for shouting pro-Ocalan slogans 
and carrying pro-PKK banners. 
 
--Diyarbakir:  Between 100,000 and 500,000 people attended 
Turkey's largest celebration, in Diyarbakir.  When Diyarbakir 
Mayor Osman Baydemir delivered his speech, small groups 
shouted pro-Ocalan slogans despite repeated warnings by the 
organizing committee that they should only chant authorized 
slogans.  Our contacts told us that 60-70 people were 
detained.  Crowds in Diyarbakir carried placards reading, 
"Turkish unity requires Kurdish Unity," "This spring is the 
closes to freedom," and "Nevruz is the dawn of freedom for 
the Middle East peoples."  Some of the banned slogans 
included, "The only solution in the Middle East is democratic 
confederalism," and "Your health is our health," a reference 
to the allegedly ailing jailed PKK leader Ocalan.  Contacts 
believed charges might be pressed against the former DEP 
deputy (DTP forerunner party) Leyla Zana, who mentioned in 
her speech that Ocalan was one of the three most respected 
Kurdish leaders, the other two being Jalal Talabani and 
Masoud Barzani.  DTP Chairman Ahmet Turk lit the bonfire and 
a Kurdish-origin parliamentarian from the European 
Parliament, Feleknas Uca, also participated, as did Bianca 
Jagger. 
 
--Van:  Contacts told us festivities were peaceful and 
crowds, estimated at 50-100,000, were exuberant.  Thirteen 
persons who had carried "Esteemed Ocalan" posters were 
detained.  The Deputy Chairwoman of DTP, Aysel Tugluk, 
delivered a speech in place of the recently jailed DTP 
provincial chairman. 
 
--Batman:  Turkish Air Force jets made low-level passes 
during the celebrations but the mood among the 50,000 
participants remained festive, according to our contacts. 
Four children were arrested for carrying pro-Ocalan posters, 
then released after police took their statements. 
 
--Siirt:  Contacts reported that crowds, estimated at 20,000, 
in PM Erdogan's parliamentary district hurled stones at 
police check points, and that 13 people were wounded 
including four policemen.  The police used tear gas to 
disperse the crowd.  Twenty people who displayed pro-Ocalan 
posters and carried yellow-re-green colored clothes 
resembling a Kurdish flag were detained after the 
celebrations concluded, but were later released. 
 
--Mersin:  Contacts told us that participation was lower than 
expected because the local authorities did not grant 
permission for the originally planned March 17 ceremony. 
Between 30,000 to 50,000 celebrated.  The crowd was generally 
festive, but some people were attacked by an 
ultra-nationalist group in the street where an incident 
involving the desecration of a Turkish flag occurred two 
years ago.  Fifty people at the scene were detained. 
 
9.(SBU) Comment:  The lack of violence during this year's 
Nevruz celebrations can be ascribed to several factors, 
including a conciliatory attitude from the top - the extent 
of GOT participation and the TGS website addition were 
unprecedented -- good coordination at the local level and a 
 
ANKARA 00000653  003 OF 003 
 
 
professional attitude by law enforcement on the scene.  In 
Diyarbakir, for example, civil society worked hard to 
coordinate the efforts of all parties involved in organizing 
the events -- the DTP, Diyarbakir Mayor, provincial governor, 
and Nevruz event organizers -- and make sure that organizers 
discouraged provocations by participants.  The PKK appears to 
have been on board with this policy of nonviolent propaganda. 
 The final and most important element was the TNP's 
restrained policing, which ensured that demonstrations did 
not escalate into violent clashes.  These factors together 
succeeded in lowering the temperature in the Southeast and 
elsewhere so that the violent events of last year did not 
reoccur.  End comment. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
MCELDOWNEY