MFA PREPARED TO GO SLOW ON TROOPS AND LOAN PACKAGE

S E C R E T ANKARA 006574 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: EXEMPTION 1.6 X5 AND X6 TAGS: MOPS EFIN MARR PREL TU IZ SUBJECT: MFA PREPARED TO GO SLOW ON TROOPS AND LOAN PACKAGE REF: A. JOINT STAFF WASHDC DTG 171348Z OCT 03 ¶B. STATE 295374 (U) Classified by Ambassador Eric S. Edelman. Reasons: 1.5 (a),(b) and (d). ¶1. (S) Following Cyprus Special Coordinator Weston's meeting with MFA Under Secretary Ugur Ziyal on October 20, the Ambassador went one-on-one with Ziyal to discuss both the potential Turkish troop deployment to Iraq and the conditionality in the $8.5 billion financial assistance package. Regarding the troop contribution, the Ambassador informed Ziyal that the Joint Staff had sent reftel message to pass the message from Centcom on al Anbar vs. Salahadin and said that it was being passed to TGS as well. Ziyal was pleased to have gotten the info. He also took on board the message that things would move at a measured pace. He said that the PM was backpedalling because of the delay and this could become a self-fulfilling situation in which the Turks would not be able to provide troops down the road even if we decided we wanted them. He was also still worried about the void being filled by mischievous forces and was particularly worried about managing the press should we get to the point where the US preferred not to have a deployment. The Ambassador mentioned that press reports that Turkey was considering a force of upwards of 40-50,000 troops were not helpful. Ziyal responded that such reports were ridiculous. Turkey could not afford to sustain such a force and there was "nothing in the budget for it." He said he would put out the word in the press to that effect. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador also delivered the ref B points on the financial agreement. Ziyal said he understood. He said that President Sezer has a problem and won't sign the agreement. He thought the best thing to do was to let it sit and not talk about it in public for the time being. The Ambassador said that was fine from his point of view, but that members fo the Turkish government kept talking about it. Ziyal agreed and said he would talk to Finance Minister Babacan and get him to quiet down. EDELMAN