Ankara’s anchorman

By David Cronin

Date: 30/09/04

TURKEY'S EU ambassador has a background that defies stereotyping.

Like many of his compatriots, Oguz Demiralp hails from a devout Muslim family. But he was educated by priests and nuns in a French Catholic school in Istanbul. The clerics at College St Joseph took charge of all classes for their pupils, bar those in religious instruction. For the latter, the school's Jewish, Muslim and Christian students trekked off to separate lessons.

"This was an example of tolerance and coexistence," he says. "But it was not something limited to me. We have had a tradition of this kind of education for many centuries in Istanbul. People fail to understand this."

The multicultural and bilingual environment in which he grew up appears to have given him an outward-looking perspective, later nourished through stints working in a variety of international fora. "He [Demiralp] never thinks solely in terms of EU-Turkey relations," says Bahadir Kaleagasi, from the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD). "He first thinks in global terms and then puts it in terms of EU-Turkey relations. And he is able to do this in a very technical way.

"He has adopted a policy of keeping a low profile politically but with a very solid technical and professional background, so that his low profile does not translate into inaction or inefficiency. This is how he manages to remain calm during times of turbulence."

There appear to have been quite a few dicey moments in his career.

As a senior diplomat in Teheran during the early 1980s, Demiralp believes that he was regularly under surveillance by Armenian guerillas, who were demanding a 'homeland' comprising northern Iran, eastern Turkey and the then Soviet republic of Armenia.

This was also the time of the Iran-Iraq war. "These were not easy times," he says, with the kind of understatement that appears to be his trademark. "Both Baghdad and Teheran were bombing each other and we were exposed to Armenian terrorism. Our embassy was bombed 13 or 14 times in a period of six months. We lost one colleague and another colleague was damaged for life."

Later Demiralp had the unenviable task of representing Turkey at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, when the country was being denounced by human rights groups for its brutal repression of Kurdish separatists. The 16-year conflict in the Kurdish-dominated south- eastern region of Turkey cost around 30,000 lives and uprooted hundreds of thousands.

Asked whether he was defending the indefensible, Demiralp responds: "In such cases, diplomats have a dual function. They have to defend the interests of their country in international fora. On the other hand, they have to try to push for reforms at home. That's the role I tried to play. It has been a slow process but I can see now that there has been tremendous progress in Turkey since the late 1980s."

As chief advisor to the then foreign minister Ismail Cem in 2000-02, Demiralp was involved in securing a key human rights development - a moratorium on executions. The current government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has decided to abolish completely the death penalty in peacetime. Securing the moratorium was difficult in the face of considerable opposition from within Ankara's political elite.

In July 2002, Demiralp became the public face of Turkey in Brussels. His predecessor as EU ambassador Nihat Akyol was heavily criticized by some Turkish journalists and MEPs for being antagonistic to the European Parliament. In particular, Akyol had a tendency to fire off angry missives to deputies whenever they passed resolutions berating Turkey. Demiralp has a different style.

"When Mr Demiralp was appointed, one of the first things I said to him was 'please don't send around these letters; it gives the impression you are out of touch with reality'," says Joost Lagendijk, the Union's chairman of the EU-Turkey joint Parliamentary committee.

"The other ambassador [Akyol] was under siege. Every time something was up, he would shoot at Parliament. This ambassador is much more relaxed.

"He has only used his capacity to inform MEPs on three or four occasions when we were about to take decisions. These were instances where you would expect any ambassador from any country to try to have an input."

The Dutch Green MEP also praises Demiralp for actively pursuing the issue of Christian churches in Turkey. They had been hindered by officialdom from reopening old places of worship. Although Ankara had tried to brush aside the problem, Lagendijk says Demiralp pressed for it to be dealt with, after MEPs alerted him to their concerns.

On the other hand, Demiralp was powerless to influence the case of Leyla Zana, the Kurdish MP imprisoned for advocating separatism who was eventually released earlier this year after ten years behind bars. In an apparent move to assert its power, the traditional conservative judiciary obstinately resisted political pressure to free Zana before eventually relenting.

"What I like about him is that he took complaints seriously," Lagendijk adds. "I always knew he was more or less embarrassed about the way the whole [Zana] court case was conducted.

"Although he comes from the old establishment - where most [Turkish] diplomats come from - he sees the need for change. He arrived [in Brussels] before the new government. He doesn't vote for the [ruling] AK [Justice and Development] Party. He is more of the traditional CHP [Republican People's Party] establishment. Yet on most points, he has tended to agree with the AK Party and the AK Party leaders."

Demiralp says that his ability to strike up a warm rapport with MEPs has been helped by years of liaising with parliamentary assemblies, including those of the Council of Europe, NATO and the Conference [now Organization] for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"The two worlds [diplomacy and politics] are close to each other but are not necessarily identical," he says.

"There are nuances and I have always tried to understand this. I don't know if I understand or not but I enjoy it."

Demir Murat Seyrek, Brussels representative of the Turkish think-tank the ARI Movement, cites the recent dispute over Ankara's decision to include a ban on adultery in its revised penal code as one of the worst headaches Demiralp has faced since arriving in Brussels.

"He didn't defend this decision. He claimed there was a misunderstanding. But he has been in a really difficult situation with this kind of crisis."

Demiralp, he adds, is almost completely absorbed in his work. "Even his jokes are about politics," he says.

The ambassador has a passion for Turkish classical music. He also loves the works of Joseph Haydn, the Austrian composer. But outside international affairs and his family (he has two children), his main interest is the printed word.

He has had six books of literary criticism published, including volumes on the German Marxist philosopher Walter Benjamin and Iranian author Sadeq Hedayat.

Despite his low-key approach, Kaleagasi says Demiralp occasionally has to bite his tongue.

"He is sometimes very nervous when the Turkish case is attacked with irrational arguments. Last week, Jacques Toubon, the leader of the French right in the European Parliament, declared that the legal commitment to Turkey [on assessing the country's EU membership bid] was made in 1963 and since then the EU has changed too much.

"The reaction of ambassador Demiralp was furious. How can an MEP come out with such misinformation? This kind of thing really makes him mad. But he is very successful in staying calm."

The coming weeks may put the ambassador's stoicism under further strain.

Portrait of Oguz Demiralp, Turkey's ambassador to the European Union.