"NEIGHBORS" DISAPPROVE OF TURKISH CONDUCT IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001514

SIPDIS


STATE FOR EUR/SE (SILVERMAN, GOELLNER-SWEET),DRL/IL
(WHITE) LONDON FOR GOLDRICH, PARIS FOR O'FRIEL, LABOR FOR
BRUMFIELD


E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2013
TAGS: PGOV ELAB PREL PTER TU
SUBJECT: "NEIGHBORS" DISAPPROVE OF TURKISH CONDUCT IN
FOREIGN RELATIONS

Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch; reasons 1.5 (b)(d).



1. (C) Summary: Comments elicited during conversations with
mission representatives of neighboring countries regarding
Turkey's conduct of foreign affairs suggest little approval
or admiration exists for Turkish diplomatic maneuvers. End
summary.



2. (C) Political officer (PO),who has the Middle East and
labor portfolios, initiated a series of courtesy visits to
representatives of neighboring missions and the Turkish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Throughout all of PO's
meetings with MFA staff as well as other missions, Turks and
Arabs both affirmed they had mutually good and cooperative
relations with each other. In recent weeks, MFA contacts
have alleged that they have been primarily preoccupied with
Iraq-related issues. At the same time, contacts in Middle
Eastern embassies say that they have had no conversations
with the MFA regarding Iraq.


3 (C) Surprisingly, the Saudi Embassy provided PO with the
first peek behind the "cordial curtain" into what the
relationship between Arabs and Turks might really be. The
Saudi political counselor (strictly protect) described Turks
as "mukh nashif" an Arabic term meaning "dry brain" to
explain the Turks' legendary stubbornness in business
transactions.



4. (C) The Israeli DCM (strictly protect) confided that when
"'things' are good it is easy and when bad harder to work
with Turkey." The DCM compares the question of Turkish
admission to the EU with getting admitted to Yale or
Cambridge: wanting is not enough; an applicant must be able
to offer "something special."


5 (C) The Moroccan DCM (strictly protect),who served in
Washington for eight years, was exasperated after enduring
four rounds of negotiations for what should be a mutually
beneficial trade agreement between the Turkey and Morocco.
He fumed, "They act as if they are still Ottomans!"



6. (C) The Embassy of Pakistan DCM (strictly protect)
recently served in Vienna and described the Turks as
"warlike."



7. (C) The Embassy of India Second Secretary (strictly
protect) affirmed India's interest in assisting with Afghan
reconstruction. The secretary noted that historically India
was not warlike, which made it possible for aggressive
nations such as Turkey to invade it.



8. (C) Finally, almost simultaneous conversations with
members of the Afghan mission and the European Union's labor
officer elicited virtually the same response when asked to
describe their missions' relations with the Turks: Both
diplomats sighed, rolled their eyes, shook their heads from
side to side and waved their right hands, as to describe a
crooked river.



9. (C) Comment: Strongly held historic prejudices, reinforced
by Turkey's current negotiations with the US and others,
suggest that distaste for Turkish-style diplomacy still
persists. End comment.
PEARSON