Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ANKARA5553
2003-09-03 15:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:  

TURKEY'S U/S ZIYAL: QUALMS ABOUT IRAQ, URGENCY ON

Tags:  PREL PTER MARR MOPS CY TU IZ NATO 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 005553 

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2013
TAGS: PREL PTER MARR MOPS CY TU IZ NATO
SUBJECT: TURKEY'S U/S ZIYAL: QUALMS ABOUT IRAQ, URGENCY ON
PKK/KADEK, NEED FOR NATO SUMMIT DATES AND DESIRE FOR MORE
ACTIVE US ROLE ON CYPRUS


Classified by Ambassador Eric Edelman. Reasons 1.5 B and D.


-------
Summary
-------


C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 005553

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2013
TAGS: PREL PTER MARR MOPS CY TU IZ NATO
SUBJECT: TURKEY'S U/S ZIYAL: QUALMS ABOUT IRAQ, URGENCY ON
PKK/KADEK, NEED FOR NATO SUMMIT DATES AND DESIRE FOR MORE
ACTIVE US ROLE ON CYPRUS


Classified by Ambassador Eric Edelman. Reasons 1.5 B and D.


--------------
Summary
--------------



1. (C) Turkish MFA Undersecretary Ziyal invited Ambassador
for a meeting Sept. 3 to discuss Iraq, the PKK, the NATO
Summit dates and Cyprus. Ziyal worried that the situation in
Iraq was not improving and that Lebanonization remained a
possibility. He raised Turkey's unhappiness with the Iraqi
ministerial selections, in particular with FM Hoshyar Zebari,
and the "insignificant" portfolio given to the Turkmen
minister. On behalf of FM Gul, Ziyal offered a facility in
Diyarbakir for training Iraqi police. According to Ziyal, FM
Gul said that the PKK/KADEK remain very comfortable in
northern Iraq, and that a strong US message of
determination to eliminate them from northern Iraq was
needed. Ziyal told the Ambassador that Turkey needed the US
to decide on NATO Summit dates, as prolonging the silence
procedure was putting the GOT under great pressure. Finally,
on Cyprus, the Turks said they sought a solution, but were
concerned that the transparency of the upcoming "TRNC"
election was already being called into question, which was
not in anyone's interest; and that the numbers of Greek
Cypriot returnees would be too large to accept. The Turks
asked for a more active direct US role in bringing about a
Cyprus solution. End Summary.


-------------- --------------
Iraq - Lebanonization and Views on Turkish Troops
-------------- --------------



2. (C) Ambassador called on MFA Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal
Sept. 3 at Ziyal's request. Also present on the Turkish side
were Deputy Undersecretaries Baki Ilkin and Nabi Sensoy.
Ziyal said Turkey saw Iraq primarily as a political issue
with a strong military component. "We have qualms," he said.
His personal view was that the situation was not improving,
that it reminded him of Beirut in the early 1980s, and that

he hoped the Shi'a would not end up trying to break away.
This would amount to the Lebanonization of Iraq, he said.
Ziyal believed one major problem was that the coalition
forces were reacting rather than leading and guiding
developments. The Ambassador assured Ziyal that Iraq was
dominating Washington's attention and that POTUS would not
waiver for one second in his committment to stay the course.
In a one-on-one with the Ambassador at the end of the
meeting, Ziyal said Turkey had a very mixed picture based on
its information-gathering efforts with the Iraqi tribes and
others. On a possible Turkish deployment, in private Iraqis
were saying they would welcome the Turks so long as they were
not too publicly linked with the US or better yet independent
of the US. In public, however, Iraqis were saying the Turks
would be targets and get killed. The Turks were also being
urged to bring a social/humanitarian effort to the field so
their presence would not be purely military in purpose. The
Ambassador asked what Ziyal thought was meant by "independent
of the US," and noted that the US would insist on a unified
command. Ziyal replied that the Turks understood the need
for a unified command structure, but that Turkey could not be
seen as "agents of the US."


--------------
Iraqi Ministers
--------------



3. (C) Ziyal said it appeared to him that the Iraqi
ministers had been selected somewhat arbitrarily, with
certain ministerships awarded on a sectarian basis. He asked
if the Shi'a Minister of Interior would have authority over
the Kurdish areas. It would be important for him to have
such authority, in Turkey's view. Ziyal also wondered if the
Assyrian Minister of Transportation would prevent the Kurds
from charging fees on trucks coming into Iraq or transitting
Kurdish areas. Ziyal complained that the Turkmen minister
was not given a significant ministry, that Turkmen were only
given one-fifth of what Kurds were given and that the Turkmen
deserved more. Ziyal said FM Gul wanted the Ambassador to
know that Turkey was unhappy with the selection of Hoshyar
Zebari as Foreign Minister and that Zebari had made a number
of remarks that were insulting to Turkey before and after the
March 1 decision on US forces deploying through Turkey. The
Ambassador responded that he was well aware of Turkey's
concerns and had conveyed them to Washington and Baghdad, but
that the ministerial selections were the result of
negotiations among the Governing Council (GC) members, and it
was therefore not surprising that the results reflected the
composition of the GC. The Ambassador urged the Turks to
look at Zebari's appointment from the angle that having a
Kurd speaking for Iraq is a positive reflection of a Kurdish
commitment to an intergrated Iraqi state. The Ambassador
noted that he had advocated an early visit to Ankara by
Zebari as the best way to clear the air and move forward.



4. (C) In the one-on-one, Ziyal repeated that Zebari had
offended many in Turkey with his statements, but agreed that
an early visit by him would be useful. Ziyal said he had
originally wanted the first Iraqi ministerial visit to
include meetings with many of Turkey's leaders, but now he
would have to determine just what the traffic would bear. In
any case, Ziyal said, Zebari will have to understand that he
will have a high hurdle to pass in order to get a good
hearing in Turkey. In private, Ziyal also agreed that the
Ambassador had a legitimate point about the value of having
Kurds in Iraq's central government.


-------------- --------------
New UNSCR, ITF, Israelis, Police Training in Diyarbakir
-------------- --------------



5. (C) Ziyal complained that the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF)
was still considered by some to be a "fifth column," and that
this assumption should be dropped. The ITF, he said, was
making a real effort to reach out to all of Iraq and to all
Iraqi Turkmen. Ziyal was also concerned about reports that
there were Israelis in Iraq. He urged the US to be very
careful on this point, stating, "if it's true, this could
blow the lid off of things in Iraq." Ziyal said FM Gul had
seen that the US planned to train Iraqi police in Hungary and
wanted the US to know that Turkey had a police training
facility in Diyarbakir that it was willing to make available
for the training of Iraqi police much closer to Iraq. The
Ambassador said we appreciated the offer and would pass it
back to Washington. Ziyal said a new UN resolution on Iraq
would be helpful for many countries, including Turkey. In
the one-on-one Ziyal also said he had been pushing hard to
open a new border gate and trying to get the PM to go to the
area to see first hand the capacity problem at Habur, which
Ziyal expected to grow worse in the coming year.


--------------
PKK/KADEK - Something Must Be Done Quickly
--------------



6. (C) Ziyal said that according to FM Gul, the PKK/KADEK was
"very comfortable" in northern Iraq. "Nothing has come of
our efforts," Ziyal said. He reminded the Ambassador that
POTUS had spoken of the need to cleanse Iraq of terrorist
elements, and that the US had discussed "eliminating" the
PKK/KADEK from northern Iraq. The reintegration law has not
had an impact, and, he said, the PKK/KADEK must be told
clearly to take Turkey's offer or suffer dire consequences.
He said Turkey was ready to discuss the issue and awaited a
US delegation that would do so. Deputy U/S Sensoy then added
that the reintegration law seemed to be unsuccessful due to
PKK/KADEK leadership telling cadres not to surrender. Since
August 6, he said, only 118 had surrendered, of whom 97 had
been released. Of those in prison, 1,702 have asked to avail
themselves of the law's benefits, and 390 had been released.
Renunciation of the unilateral cease-fire also gives the
impression, Sensoy continued, that the PKK/KADEK will not
give up their arms or take advantage of the law. We need, he
said, a strong message of determination to cleanse northern
Iraq of PKK/KADEK. They should be told to give themselves up
to Turkey. Sensoy said Turkey had asked European leaders to
take up adding KADEK to their terror list at the upcoming
Gymnich meeting in Italy. Ziyal added that there have
recently been clashes with the PKK/KADEK in southeast Turkey
for the first time in a long while. "Something must be done
about the PKK/KADEK and quickly," he said.



7. (C) The Ambassador said he hoped the USG would soon send a
team to Turkey to discuss this, and shared that Minister of
Interior Aksu told him Sept. 2 that many of the 4,500
PKK/KADEK members in Iraq were not aware of the opportunities
under the reintegration law and that an information
operations campaign was urgently needed. POTUS had been
unequivocal about ending the threat of terror in Iraq in all
its forms, which may require a military element at some
point. The situation, the Ambassador explained, was very
difficult and US forces had their hands full in Iraq. A
process of sequencing and prioritization was needed. It
would help over time, he added, if other forces were in Iraq
to take up peackeeping duties, which would free up US forces
for other operations, including dealing with the PKK/KADEK.
The Ambassador informed Ziyal that the US was also pressing
the EU very hard. It would be helpful, he noted, if Turkey
pressed the EU as hard as we have/are.


--------------
NATO Summit Dates
--------------



8. (C) Ziyal noted that the proposed dates for the NATO
Istanbul Summit (May 20-21) are in high season, that Turkey
has made block reservations and has a NATO HQ team coming
Sept. 15 to sign an MOU, but the US continues to be the only
country that has not agreed to the dates. "We're being
pressed very hard," Ziyal said. He asked the Ambassador to
do whatever he could to a positive answer asap. The
Ambassador assured Ziyal he was working hard to get them that
answer.


--------------
Cyprus
--------------



9. (C) Ziyal turned the floor over to Baki Ilkin to discuss
Cyprus. Ilkin reported that Turkey had recently been
approached by various parties who noted that the upcoming
elections in northern Cyprus must be transparent. Ilkin said
he did not understand where the concern was coming from, that
elections had been held there before and transparency was
never a problem. However, he warned, if people start talking
that way it will cast suspicion on the outcome regardless of
the results. The elections, he said, must be observed by all
interested parties. The GOT, Ilkin stressed, wants a
solution on Cyrpus, but not any solution. Turkey was trying
to come up with a text, he said, and hoped for a new US
approach with more direct US input. There would be a problem
absorbing a large number of Greek Cypriots returning north,
especially if it forced many Turkish Cypriots to leave their
homes. Both sides, Ilkin noted, were happy with the opening
up of travel between the sides, but if that led to massive
property claims across the line, the people would no longer
be happy about it.



10. (C) The Ambassador said he agreed with the point on not
casting doubt on the elections. He suggested that Denktash's
refusal to allow a referendum on the Annan plan cast doubt in
people's minds on his willingness to allow an unfettered
expression of public opinion. We were aware of the issues
involved with resettlement. The Ambassador said he hoped
Amb. Weston could come to Ankara to discuss the details in
the near future. He cited FM Gul's point that a settlement
must be made on a lasting basis and not one that papers over
problems. There would be huge up-sides to Turkey to getting
a Cyprus solution soon, and huge complications if there is
none. The Ambassador said he would pass to Washington
Turkey's desire to see the US play a more active role.



11. (U) Baghdad minimize considered.
EDELMAN