NORTHERN IRAQ: TALABANI TRIES TO MEND FENCES WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006072

SIPDIS


DEPT. FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/NGA


E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/24/2013
TAGS: PTER PREL MOPS MARR TU IZ
SUBJECT: NORTHERN IRAQ: TALABANI TRIES TO MEND FENCES WITH
TURKEY

Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch. Reasons 1.5 b and d.


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Summary
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1. (C) Iraqi Governing Council member and leader of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Jalal Talabani, sent letters
Sept. 23 to Turkish PM Erdogan and MFA Undersecretary Ziyal
seeking improved relations between the PUK and Turkey. He
also sent a verbal message noting that Turkey and the Iraqi
Kurds are both allies of the US and that the PUK did not want
to make any problems for Turkey. On the matter of Turkish
troops deploying to Iraq, Talabani noted that the decision
rested in the first instance with the US, and in the second
with the Governing Council (GC),but it was important that
Turkish troops not enter the PUK area. He planned to invite
Turkish companies to do more business in the PUK area and
would try to foster better relations between the Iraqi Kurds
and Turkey. He returned the Turkish diplomatic passport that
he has held for several years and thanked the Turks for
making it available to him. According to the PUK rep in
Ankara, Bahros Galali, Turkish MFA contacts recieved the
letters warmly, agreed to forward them to Ziyal and PM
Erdogan, and said that Talabani was welcome to visit Turkey.
Galali told us that, if invited, Talabani might come to
Turkey in November, while he is GC President. End Summary.





2. (C) On Sept. 25, PolMilOff met with Ankara PUK rep Galali,
who said he had delivered letters from GC member and PUK
leader Jalal Talabani to the MFA for U/S Ziyal and PM
Erdogan. He provided us with his own translation from Arabic
of the letter to Erdogan (see para 3) and read for us the
letter to Ziyal. The highlights were as follows: Together
we built the first step of the relationship between Iraqi
Kurds and the GOT. We worked together against terror,
fighting the PKK and securing the border. Along with the KDP
we helped you achieve peace in Turkey. Now our relationship
is not good. Together with you, I would like to take an
initiative to improve relations between Turkey and the Iraqi
Kurds, including the KDP and the PUK. Masoud Barzani and I
went to Baghdad only days after Saddam fell to show that we
consider ourselves Iraqi. We want a unified Iraq. We do not
want an independent Kurdistan. This is our policy. We are
ready to cooperate with you. Today I am returning my Turkish
diplomatic passport. I am grateful for having had it. Now
that Iraq is free, I have two Iraqi passports - one for GC
members and one tourist passport. I am enclosing herewith a
letter to Prime Minister Erdogan.



3. (C) Text of Talabani letter to PM Erdogan (unofficial
translation):


Your Excellency The Prime Minister of Turkey and My Dear
Brother Recep Tayyip Erdogan:
I would like to send greetings from my heart and explain some
matters in this letter.
First, I would like to mention that I have been quite
criticized by Kurdish nationalists when I started having good
relations with Turkey. But I have never changed my ways and
I continue on the same path. Moreover, I had the opportunity
to establish very good relations with the deceased Mr. Turgut
Ozal. I have worked for the KDP, the PUK and Turkey to bring
our relations to this stage. We have worked against the PKK
together. We have put control points on the Turkish border
to prevent the entry of the PKK into Turkey. We have worked
for Turkey so much. Secondly, I have wanted to establish
good relations between the Iraqi family and Turkey and always
worked for this aim. Thirdly, we have had very good
relations with the Turkmen Front. We opened a Turkmen school
and moreover we have requested from them to participate in
our local parliament, but they did not. The Turkish
military, the Turkmen Front and some diplomats are witnesses
for this event and they have thanked us for that as well. We
have changed the regime of Saddam together with the Turkmen.
But unfortunately, suddenly the Turkmen Front started
propagandizing against us in the media. Fourthly, after the
Saddam regime, we have always repeated that we do not want to
establish an independent Kurdish government. We went to
Baghdad and denied the propaganda and worked there. We have
always said the following: we want territorial unity in Iraq
and we want a democratic Iraq. We have never massacred the
Turkmen. After the liberation of Kirkuk, I went there. I
said: "since Turkmen are a minority, they need to have more
rights than we do." Many people have heard my explanations.
the head of the Turkmen Front's Kirkuk office, Mustafa Kemal
Yaycili was there and thanked me as well.
I would like to explain very clearly. Some people within the
Turkmen Front made propaganda and stirred up trouble. Those
people - Sanan Ahmet Aga and Mustafa Kemal Yaycili have
worked with Saddam Hussein and (I have?) got some documents.
Because the PUK was strongly against Saddam Hussein, those
people who worked with Saddam propagandized against us.
There were two reasons to do that for Saddam: first, to
destroy relations between Turkey and the PUK and make us
enemies; and second, Saddam wanted to cast me and the PUK in
a very bad light to the Turkish public.


I cannot understand why our relations went bad. I have
always wanted good relations with Turkey. We have always
given preference to Turkish companies here and we have done
lots of work with them. We have supported them. Our
intelligence service worked with MIT (Turkish National
Intelligence Organization). We never want to have bad
relations with Turkey. We would like to live in a brotherly
manner with Turkey.


When I was in Turkey previously, some people have protested
me in front of the Ankara Palace. Despite this event, I did
not leave Turkey and moreover wanted to come again. I have
been to Moscow and I wanted to come to Turkey to refute the
propaganda. Because of events in Sulaymaniyah, the Turkish
media have pressed very hard explanations. As you know,
there were Turkish officer in there and they have already
confessed that they were trying to hit somebody. I was in
Moscow with my son at the time and I could not come to Turkey
because of the hard tone taken against us in the news.


My Dear Prime Minister, I would like to establish very good
relations with Turkey and especially with your government.
Our relations are very goof with the MFA, MIT and some people
from the military. We would like to establish good relations
in the political, economic, social and commercial fields and
we never want to see bad dealings between Iraq and Turkey.
We oppose the exitence of any terrorist groups in northern
Iraq and understand Turkey's sensitivity about this. We
would like to have good dealings with Turkmen in Iraq and we
will always continue providing support for that. I trust
your humane, democratic, and Islamic personality and I
believe that our relations will be very good. I believe you
will prevent tyrannical propaganda. I would like to open a
new page in our history to establish strong and good
relations. Finally, I wish you health and success.


Your Brother,
Jalal Talabani
General Secretary of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
End text of letter.



4. (C) Galali said that when he presented these letters to
MFA Deputy DG for the Middle East Safak Gokturk, they were
warmly received. Gokturk said he would forward the letters
and that Talabani was always welcome to visit Turkey.
According to Galali, Gokturk also noted that if Turkish
troops deployed to Iraq they would do so to help Iraq secure
peace and freedom, and to shorten the occupation. Turkey, he
said, would not come as occupyers.



5. (U) Baghdad Minimize Considered.
EDELMAN