NORTHERN IRAQ: TGS SUGGESTS USING PMF AS TRAINING

S E C R E T ANKARA 007526 SIPDIS DEPT. FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/NGA E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2013 TAGS: PTER PREL MOPS MARR PINR TU IZ SUBJECT: NORTHERN IRAQ: TGS SUGGESTS USING PMF AS TRAINING UNIT OR IN NEW IRAQI ARMY REF: ANKARA 6804 (U) Classified by Ambassador Eric Edelman. Reasons 1.5 b and d. Recommendation at para 4. ¶1. (S) During talks with VCJCS Pace December 3-4, Turkish General Staff Chief Gen. Ozkok and Deputy Gen. Basbug suggested that the "Peace Monitoring Force (PMF) can be used as a training unit or a security force in the new Iraqi National Army." Earlier, a senior Turkish officer voiced a similar suggestion to the Office of Defense Cooperation Chief. ¶2. (S) Comment: While the notion of an intact PMF serving as a unit in the new Iraqi army is clearly problematic, the fact that TGS made the suggestion, without linking PMF's future to PKK/KADEK issues or the future of Turkish Special Forces in northern Iraq, hints at a possible way forward on ending the PMF presence in northern Iraq. We defer to CPA and CJTF-7 as to the viability of either Turkish suggestion. End comment. ¶3. (S) Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq have wanted to end the PMF presence for years (see reftel),and have passed an act of the Kurdish parliament calling for an end to the force. We understand US commanders in the field also seek an end to this armed unit operating in the coalition AOR outside of coalition command. We recently asked Iraqi Turkmen Front reps in Ankara if any ITF or PMF members had sought to enlist in the new Iraqi army. The ITF reps did not think so, but said that Turkmen enlistment would be an important factor for integrating Iraqi Turkmen into the structures of the new Iraq. ¶4. (S) Recommendation: Assuming the coalition would not want to keep the PMF intact, a concerted effort to encourage Iraqi PMF members to enlist in the new Iraqi army could help bring the PMF to closure. We believe it is worth seeking TGS support for such an effort if the PMF's over 400 trained (and armed) Iraqi Turkmen and Assyrians could be reasonably assured of selection into the new Iraq army or other Iraqi security structures should they choose to enlist. We would first need to publicly declare that the coalition welcomed application for enlistment from current (and previous) members of the PMF. We could then inform the TGS and the PMF that Iraqi PMF members must choose to enlist by a date certain, after which the PMF would cease to exist and its members not applying for enlistment would disarm and disband. We offer this suggestion as food for thought. ¶5. (U) Baghdad Minimize Considered. EDELMAN