Viewing cable 05ANKARA4031, GOT DISCOURAGES VISIT TO SOUTHEAST BY GERMAN
Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
-
The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
-
The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
-
The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this
WikiSource article as reference.
Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #05ANKARA4031.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable.
The full text of the original cable is not available.
111408Z Jul 05
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004031
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE
SUBJECT: GOT DISCOURAGES VISIT TO SOUTHEAST BY GERMAN
PROTESTANT CHURCH GROUP
REF: ANKARA 3638
Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b and d.
¶1. (C) Summary: GOT officials tried to discourage a German
Protestant Church delegation from visiting southeastern
Turkey as part of a fact-finding mission on refugee issues.
The Turkish press reported that the MFA and national
intelligence organization (MIT) sent a letter warning
governors not to meet with the group. The letter also
reportedly accused the delegation of advocating a lifting of
legal restrictions on the PKK in Germany; German embassy
contact finds reports of the letter credible. Our German
contact said the head of the Protestant Church will write a
letter to the Turkish Ambassador in Berlin to protest the
GOT's treatment of the group. End Summary.
¶2. (U) July 7 Thomas Bagger, political and press counselor at
the German Embassy, confirmed to us Turkish press reports
about problems faced by a delegation of Protestant Church
representatives who visited Turkey on a fact-finding mission
on refugee and asylum issues. The delegation, comprising
members of a council of the Protestant Church of Germany and
the Brussels-based Church Commission for Migrants in Europe,
traveled to Ankara, Istanbul, Diyarbakir, Van, and Midyat
during their June 6-17 visit.
¶3. (U) Bagger said the problems began in Berlin when the
group was working with the Turkish Embassy on the itinerary.
Turkish diplomats were cooperative at first, then suddenly
told delegation members their plans to tour the southeast
were "unwelcome" and they should limit their contacts to
Ankara and Istanbul. The Protestant officials approached the
German Foreign Ministry for help. The German Embassy in
Ankara raised the matter with the MFA, but officials there
were unsupportive.
¶4. (C) Governors and subgovernors in the southeast uniformly
declined to meet with the 11-member delegation. The Turkish
press reported that the MFA and Turkish National Intelligence
Organization (MIT) sent a letter to the governors warning
them not to meet with the group, and alleging that the
delegation was working to remove restrictions on the PKK in
Germany and promote recognition of the Armenian "genocide."
Bagger told the press that if the existence of the letter is
confirmed, it would harm bilateral relations. Bagger told us
GOT officials both in Ankara and Berlin deny that any such
letter was sent. However, he doesn't believe them -- a
journalist whom Bagger regards as credible told him he had
seen the letter.
¶5. (C) We tried to discuss the issue with the MFA, but could
find no one who would take responsibility for the issue. We
contacted five different MFA offices, as each one referred us
to another office.
¶6. (U) In the event, the delegation met with UNHCR
representatives, bar association attorneys, and NGO officials
in the southeast. In Ankara and Istanbul the group met with
parliamentarians, security officials, and European Commission
representatives, as well as NGO leaders. AK Party MP Cavit
Torun, a member of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee,
invited the press to his meeting with the delegation. Torun
accused delegation members of seeking to exploit problems in
Turkey to convert Muslims to Christianity (Note: This was the
same meeting in which Torun said President Bush and Saddam
Hussein were both "tyrants" (reftel)).
¶7. (U) Bagger said the delegation came to Turkey primarily to
collect information on how Turkish authorities handle refugee
and asylum cases. The Protestant Church plays a major role
in providing relief for refugees in Germany. The delegation
was also interested in the return of Kurdish and Syriac
migrants to the southeast, and the situation of Christian
churches in Turkey.
¶8. (C) Bagger said the head of the Protestant Church of
Germany will send a letter to the Turkish Ambassador in
Berlin protesting the GOT's treatment of the delegation.
Bagger expects the controversy to die there, though the event
will "take its place on the list of concerns about Turkey."
-------
Comment
-------
¶9. (C) PM Erdogan and other GOT leaders have recently
expressed growing unease about visits to the southeast by
European delegations. It is natural for visitors interested
in human rights, or refugees, to tour the beleaguered region.
But the Turks tend to view outsiders' interest in the
southeast as promotion of Kurdish separatism. In the eyes of
the Turkish government and State, this Protestant group
raised fears about separatism and fed already deep and open
prejudices against "Christian missionaries".
MCELDOWNEY
Government Forum
WikiLeaks Information