NORTHERN IRAQ: PAVING THE WAY FOR MULTI-PARTY

S E C R E T ANKARA 000820

SIPDIS


DEPT. FOR P, EUR, EUR/SE, NEA AND NEA/NGA;
NSC FOR AMB. KHALILZAD


E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2013
TAGS: PREL MARR PREF PHUM TU IZ
SUBJECT: NORTHERN IRAQ: PAVING THE WAY FOR MULTI-PARTY
TALKS (IV) - TURKS UNRECEPTIVE TO MEETING WITH NON-ITF
TURKMEN


REF: A. DEUTSCH-KHALILZAD TELECON 1/30/03

B. ANKARA 629 AND PREVIOUS

C. STATE 18029


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



1. (S) DCM raised possible configurations for Feb. 6
multi-party talks (per Ref A) in successive bilats
(US-Turkey),trilats (US-Turkey-KDP/PUK) and quads
(US-Turkey-KDP/PUK-Turkmen) with MFA Deputy Director General
for Middle East Affairs Safak Gokturk Jan. 31 (DG Burcuoglu
was attending a National Security Council meeting addressing
US military requests re Iraq and was therefore unavailable).
Gokturk said he would have to pass the information to more
senior levels for decision, but had the following initial
reactions. It would not be acceptable for Turkey to have a
session with the US, Turkey, the KDP, the PUK, the ITF plus
another Iraqi Turkmen party. The KDP, he said, must
reconcile itself to dealing with the ITF in a working
relationship. This point, Gokturk continued, had been
strongly raised with KDP leader Masoud Barzani by
Undersecretary Ziyal on January 9. In response to Barzani's
assertion that the ITF did not represent all Iraqi Turkmen,
Gokturk told us, Ziyal said "you do not have a choice. You
must cooperate with the ITF." If there was good will,
Gokturk added, meeting with the US, PUK, Turkey and the ITF
was something the KDP could do.



2. (S)On the possibility of two separate trilaterals (one
US-Turkey-KDP/PUK and one US-Turkey-ITF) Gokturk said that
such meetings might need to take place in the future on
specific issues, but for a session like the one we envisaged
that sought to lay out the way forward and avoid snags we
needed to have all the parties together. The symbolism, he
said, was significant, and Turkey did not want to be seen as
concerned only with Iraq's Turkmen. As PM Gul had stated, he
went on, Turkey is concerned with the welfare and security of
all Iraqis, including the Kurds who are the Turks' bretheren.
"At this kind of a meeting, sanctioned and attended by two
allies, with leaders of major groups coming here and meeting
prior to important developments, we see no place for
pseudo-Turkmen representatives in order to satisfy the KDP.
That is not a way out. I'm sure my superiors will say that
would be inconceivable.



3. (S) Acknowledging that Gokturk needed to seek guidance
from senior officials, DCM urged the Turks to give the
proposals some thought and noted that we are trying to bring
the Iraqi Kurds in to see the role the US and Turkey feel
they need to play based on our close consultations about
possible devlopments in Iraq. DCM asked that the Turks get
back to us with reactions and/or counter-proposals soonest.



4. (S) Comment: While not necessarily the last word from the
MFA, there was no flexibility on the Turkish side in this
exchange. We believe Gokturk's points accurately reflect
what his superiors will say. We may need to take another
look at ways to get all of the required parties face-to-face
and will have to do so quickly if this is to happen next
week. End Comment.
PEARSON