TURKISH FOREIGN TRADE UNDERSECRETARIAT ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000262 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/NGA AND EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/10/2008 TAGS: ETRD ETTC IZ PREL TU UNSC SUBJECT: TURKISH FOREIGN TRADE UNDERSECRETARIAT ON HIGH-LEVEL DELEGATION TO IRAQ (U) Classified by Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Deutsch. Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) In a January 9 meeting on sensitive Turkish exports to Iraq (septel),Econoff raised State Minister Kursad Tuzmen's upcoming visit to Iraq (January 10 to 12) with Tevfik Mengu, Director General for Agreements at the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat. Mengu, who will travel with the delegation, acknowledged that the visit was "purely commercial", though he did not rule out that Tuzmen might bring a political message to Saddam Hussein. He said that, at last count, 324 businesspersons planned to fly with the GOT delegation, and that more would be traveling by bus. Econoff pointed out that this high-level visit comes at a time when we are trying to increase pressure on Baghdad to comply with UN Security Council resolutions. Mengu responded that Turkey was not doing anything contrary to UN resolutions, but only seeking legitimate business for its companies. He added that, in meeting GOI officials, the GOT had always taken care to reiterate the message that Iraq must comply with all UN resolutions. ¶2. (U) Tuzmen told the press January 9 that his trip was a routine effort to take a share in upcoming tenders under the Oil for Food Program. He added that he had obtained the UN's consent for this visit (sic). ¶3. (C) Emin Sirin, the Deputy Chairman of Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee, confirmed to us January 8 that TGS briefers nodded their heads when he strongly criticized the Tuzmen trip during a January 6 closed briefing for his committee on Iraq. ¶4. (C) Comment: Tuzmen's claim that the GOT is trying to develop legitimate trade through this and other visits does not accord with the fact that the vast majority of Turkish trade takes place under bilateral trade arrangements outside the Oil-for-Food program. It is hard to correlate the structure of this trade mission with the "delivery of a message", which we were originally told was the genesis of this trip. PEARSON