MFA HINTS TURKEY COULD NOT PURSUE COMPREHENSIVE FTA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000898 SIPDIS STATE ALSO FOR E, EB AND EUR STATE PASS USTR FOR NOVELLI AND BIRDSEY E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2013 TAGS: ETRD PREL TU SUBJECT: MFA HINTS TURKEY COULD NOT PURSUE COMPREHENSIVE FTA REF: A. (A) ANKARA 0706 ¶B. (B) STATE 22326 (U) Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch. Reason: 1.5(b,d) ¶1. (SBU) MFA Deputy U/S Alev Kilic told DCM February 4 that, while his comments should not be taken as the "final word" on the FTA issue, a U.S.-Turkey Free Trade Agreement did not appear to be legally possible within the parameters of Turkey's Customs Union agreement with the EU. He suggested, however that a "quasi-FTA" or "preferential" trade agreement might be possible. Under such an agreement, Turkey could lower tariffs on products on which it had already negotiated lower tariffs with the EU. ¶2. (SBU) Per ref B, DCM responded that the USG position was clear: free trade agreements must be "comprehensive," and certainly could not exclude agriculture. He asked for clarification of Turkey's position. Kilic said he did not have the details, but promised that trade experts would put together a technical paper to explain Turkey's ideas. 3, (C) Comment: It may well be that Turkey cannot pursue a bilateral FTA. It is useful and important that we continue to put the onus on the GOT to say "no," so that everytime Turks complain that we are not doing enough to promote trade we can remind them that the decision not to expand trade was made in Ankara, not Washington. PEARSON