IRAQ: TURKEY'S "PEACE INITIATIVE" - NOT PREP MTG,

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000495 SIPDIS STATE FOR P, NEA CROCKER, NEA/NGA AND EUR/SE; OSD FOR LUTI AND HRHODE; NSC FOR KHALILZAD; LONDON FOR GOLDRICH; DAMASCUS FOR WALKER E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2013 TAGS: PREL MARR TU IZ PHUM PREF SUBJECT: IRAQ: TURKEY'S "PEACE INITIATIVE" - NOT PREP MTG, FM'S TO ATTEND IN INSTANBUL REF: A. STATE 16544 ¶B. ANKARA 302 ¶C. ANKARA 201 ¶D. ANKARA 461 ¶E. ANKARA 484 (U) Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch. Reasons: 1.5b and d. ¶1. (C) DDG/Mideast Safak Gokturk told Pol-MilCouns 1/21 that Turkey's "Peace Initiative" meeting would go ahead as planned on 1/23 in Istanbul. However, it will be at ministerial rather than summit level. All Foreign Ministers have agreed to attend. ¶2. (C) Gokturk was reluctant to characterize the meeting as "preparatory" since the MFA was not sure whether it would be the last such meeting. That would depend on what happened in Istanbul. ¶3. (C) Regarding the declaration, Pol-MilCouns stressed that our goal is to send the strongest possible signal to Saddam. If the statement is "balanced" with criticism of the US, it will be terribly counterproductive. Gokturk said that the declaration had not been discussed with the other countries but that Turkey would do its best to keep criticism of the US out. ¶4. (C) Finally, Gokturk went over the points his boss DG Burcuoglu had made with the DCM (reftel),adding that Iran had pressed for Kuwaiti inclusion "for its own reasons." PEARSON