VZCZCXRO2323
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDA #0043/01 3090735
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 040735Z NOV 08
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4679
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 1222
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0137
RUEHKB/AMEMBASSY BAKU PRIORITY 0017
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHFSC/USOFFICE FSC CHARLESTON SC PRIORITY 0027
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 1033
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI PRIORITY 0013
RUEHYE/AMEMBASSY YEREVAN PRIORITY 0012
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1284

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000043 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY:  PM ERDOGAN'S VISIT TO THE SOUTHEAST PROVOKES 
WEEKEND PROTESTS AND VIOLENCE 
 
ADANA 00000043  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  Thousands of Kurds turned out to oppose Prime 
Minister Erdogan's visit to the southeastern cities of Van and 
Hakkari and to protest AKP's lack of movement forward on the 
Kurdish issue.  Suspension of municipal services such as garbage 
collection and public transportation accompanied violent clashes 
between rock- and Molotov-throwing demonstrators and law 
enforcement wielding tear gas and water cannons.  A 
DTP-organized sit-in in Diyarbakir drew over 15,000 activists in 
two days.  With local elections in March, the DTP will likely 
continue staging protests to provoke harsh reactions and 
"us-against-them" emotions between Turks and Kurds.  End summary. 
 
 
 
Van Halts Municipal Services, Shops Remain Shuttered, and Mass 
Protests Greet the PM 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U)  Television images of Erdogan's November 1 visit to Van 
showed angry throngs of protesters throwing stones and Molotov 
cocktails at what appeared to be outnumbered riot police in 
Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of the city.  Police responded 
with tear gas and water cannons, and by shooting into the air to 
disperse the crowds.  Protesters set fire to cars and broke 
glass windows in area shops.  Pro-Kurdish local dailies report 
five civilians were wounded in the clashes, one seriously, along 
with eight police officers.  Our contact at the Van Human Rights 
Association reports 51 have been detained by police, and many 
protesters who sustained injuries on Saturday are too frightened 
to seek medical attention at hospitals for fear of being 
arrested.  In DTP-held sectors of the city, municipal services 
such as garbage collection and mass transit were halted, 
according to news sources. 
 
 
 
Alleged Percussion Bomb Rocks AKP's Hakkari Province 
Headquarters on Eve of PM Visit 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U)  Local media report a percussion blast hit AKP party 
headquarters the night before PM Erdogan's November 2 visit to 
Hakarri province, injuring two passers-by.  In advance of his 
arrival in Yuksekova district, Jandarma teams reportedly foiled 
what nationalist media are calling an "assassination attempt" on 
Erdogan's life by seizing over 20 kilograms of explosive 
materials, hand grenades, and guns from a suspected PKK hideout. 
 Security forces took no chances with Erdogan's movement in the 
city, creating a perimeter of 200 special-forces troops and 
moving him in a Sikorsky helicopter.  As in Van, press reports 
that over 3,000 pro-Kurdish protesters clashed with police using 
rocks and Molotov cocktails.  Throngs of protesters chanted 
"Murderer Erdogan" in front of shops that were closed in 
protest; municipal services were also halted in Hakkari by the 
DTP mayor, forcing the governor's office to collect garbage 
along the route that Erdogan was to travel.  In remarks to the 
crowd, Erdogan dismissed allegations of Ocalan's mistreatment in 
Imrali prison as "lies" and accused the DTP of manipulating 
Kurds for political gain.  He also announced that if people 
didn't like the country they were living in or the government, 
they should get up and leave. 
 
 
 
Thousands Support DTP's Two-Day Sit-In Protest in Diyarbakir 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
------------------- 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U)  On Monday morning DTP parliamentarians, provincial 
 
ADANA 00000043  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
council members, mayors, as well as 32 NGOs concluded a 48-hour 
sit-in organized to call attention to the urgent need for a 
solution to the Kurdish issue.  The demonstration occurred 
without clashes or violent incidents, according to a local 
contact.  Media reports protesters carried banners in Kurdish 
and Turkish reading "Enough is Enough!", "We demand a democratic 
solution for the Kurdish issue," and, "The solution does not lie 
in [military] operations, but rather in dialogue."  Women 
wearing traditional Kurdish garb carried flags bearing the 
Kurdish colors red, yellow and green; protesters chanted 
pro-Ocalan slogans and demanded improved prison conditions for 
their leader.  This attempt to use civil disobedience may be a 
way for the DTP to seek a (flimsy) political cover for the 
violence they are encouraging elsewhere. 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
------------- 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU)  One Diyarbakir contact told us the tensions in the 
southeast are at their highest level since Ocalan's capture in 
¶1999.  The DTP feels threatened by the AKP's electoral success 
in the region and in the lead-up to the March local elections is 
ramping up the protests to provoke harsh reactions by the 
security forces thereby feeding social ruptures between Turks 
and Kurds.  The AKP has been careful in the past to avoid sowing 
ethnic divisions, but Erdogan's "love-it-or-leave-it" statement 
- while aimed at PKK terrorists - is liable to turn off many 
Kurds, who will undoubtedly point out that Kurds were living in 
what is now southeast Turkey for centuries before the Turks 
arrived. 
GREEN