CHALLENGE TO CREDENTIALS REPORT: TURKEY DEMARCHE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 007626 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2013 TAGS: IS KPAL PREL TU SUBJECT: CHALLENGE TO CREDENTIALS REPORT: TURKEY DEMARCHE REF: A. STATE 339919 ¶B. STATE 325119 (U) Classified by Political Counselor John Kunstadter, E.O. 12958, reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) We delivered ref A demarche to MFA Middle East Department Head Kemal Tuzun on December 12, stressing that this credentails challenge threatened to invite further attempts to bring territorial disputes to the credentialing process, turning a routine procedure into political wrangling, and that there were many other fora where these territorial issues could be raised. Tuzun said he would communicate our demarche to Turkey's UN delegation, noting our concerns about this misuse of the credentialing process. Tuzun strongly recommended that the USDEL raise this directly with the Turkish delegation as well. He declined to predict how Turkey would vote. ¶2. (C) Tuzun also raised the subject of Turkey's vote in support of seeking an opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about the legality of the Israeli separation barrier (ref B). Tuzun argued that the Turkish Permrep's explanation of vote, which he said strongly condemned terrorism, was more important than the vote itself. We urged Tuzun to stress the GOT's anti-terror message bilaterally to the Palestinians and other regional countries as well. EDELMAN