CONTINUING TURKISH CONCERNS WITH DRAFT CYPRUS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 002283 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2014 TAGS: CY GR PREL TU SUBJECT: CONTINUING TURKISH CONCERNS WITH DRAFT CYPRUS UNSCR REF: A. ANKARA 2231 ¶B. NICOSIA 687 (U) Classified by Ambassador Eric Edelman, E.O. 12958, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) MFA Deputy U/S Ilkin called Ambassador Edelman on April 21 to express continuing Turkish concerns about the effect of the current draft Cyprus UNSCR. Ilkin expressed three concerns; MFA Cyprus Department Head Bilman expressed the same concerns in a separate call to poloff. ¶2. (C) First, the draft still lacks reference to the Treaties of Alliance and Guarantee. Ilkin and Bilman both stressed that this poses serious problems for the Turkish military. These concerns can be met by changing the first phrase of the preamble to read "Reaffirming relevant UNSCRs and treaties on Cyprus." Cyprus Department Head Bilman argued this is standard UN language for Cyprus-related matters. ¶3. (C) Second, Paragraph 7 of the draft preamble contains reference to "appropriate action" which the Turks believe exceeds the UN mandate established by the Annan Plan and represents -- in their view -- an effort to sneak the entire resolution under Chapter Seven in another guise. ¶4. (C) Third, the provision in draft paragraph 10(a) allowing the UNSC committee to request "whatever further information it may consider necessary" should be dropped. Ambassador Edelman pointed out to Ilkin that this only applied to embargo provisions; Ilkin replied that the wording is overly broad. Bilman said the broadness of this provision invited manipulation and encroached on the responsibilities given to the Monitoring Committee established by the Annan Plan. ¶5. (C) Comment: We support the UNSC effort to make reasonable efforts to bring the GCs to "yes" on the referendum. However, without these fixes, our UNSC push may overload the circuits in Ankara and disrupt the balance -- in any event tenuous -- the MFA and GOT have established with the military, the President, the bureaucracy, and Parliament. We should make sure the effort to get a GC "yes" does not endanger the Turkish "yes," especially in light of Embassy Nicosia's assessment that the draft UNSCR will probably fall short of what AKEL needs to support a "yes" (ref B). Two "nos" will leave us in a much worse post-referendum position than a "yes/no." End Comment. EDELMAN