TGS: NO TURKISH TROOP BUILDUP IN NORTHERN IRAQ

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000221

SIPDIS


STATE FOR P, EUR AND EUR/SE


E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/08/2013
TAGS: MARR MOPS PREL TU IZ
SUBJECT: TGS: NO TURKISH TROOP BUILDUP IN NORTHERN IRAQ

(U) Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch, reasons 1.5, b/d.



1. (C) On January 6, Pol-Mil Counselor took a copy of that
day's mass daily newspaper "Milliyet" to Turkish General
Staff Deputy J3 MG Bekir Kalyoncu. Splashed across the front
page was a picture of 30 Turkish tanks at a base at Bamerni
in northern Iraq with a headline implying the Turkish Army
had begun a large buildup there.



2. (C) Kalyoncu called the story "bullshit." Yes, there were
30 Turkish tanks at Bamerni, but they had been there for
years. The tank battalion at Bamerni was one of four Turkish
battalions in northern Iraq, he said. The number of Turkish
troops in northern Iraq was as they had told EUCOM at the
January 4 mil-mil talks: 1500-2000. Nor was there any
buildup of Turkish forces on the Turkish side of the border,
he added. "The US knows well the Turkish force disposition
in the north. We can't keep any secrets."



3. (C) Kalyoncu went on to say that any significant buildup
of Turkish forces in Iraq would require a parliamentary
resolution. Also, Turkey had asked during the mil-mil talks
for US political support for a larger Turkish presence in the
north as well as US help in convincing the Iraqi Kurds that
Turkey had no aggressive intentions. The US had supplied
neither to date, and Turkey would not act without them. He
added that the TGS would probably discuss the issue with KDP
leader Barzani during his January 9-10 talks in Ankara.
Kalyoncu concluded by noting that he would be the one to give
the order to send additional troops into northern Iraq, and
he had no intention of doing so any time soon.
PEARSON