SCENESETTER: U.S. VISIT OF TURKISH DEPUTY PRIME

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006621

SIPDIS

PLEASE PASS TO DHS AND FEMA
DEPARTMENT FOR USAID ADMINISTRATOR AND OFDA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2014
TAGS: EAID OVIP PGOV PREL TU
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER: U.S. VISIT OF TURKISH DEPUTY PRIME
MINISTER MEHMET ALI SAHIN, DECEMBER 1 - 3


Classified By: DCM Robert Deutsch for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin is leading a
six-person Turkish delegation to visit the U.S. December 1-3
at the invitation of the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). We
understand he will also meet U/S Grossman at State and USAID
Administrator Natsios. (Delegation list in para 6.) Sahin
has been tasked by Prime Minister Erdogan to restructure
Turkey's capability to respond and manage disasters and
emergencies like the 1999 earthquakes. Sahin, who is
considered politically and personally close to Erdogan, is
also responsible for Turkey's policy on charitable, civic,
educational and other foundations, including those
established for non-Moslem religious groups designated by the
Lausanne Treaty. We should use the opportunity of his visit
to press him on the problems of Greek Orthodox properties and
to discuss the government's views on U.S.-Turkey relations
and the upcoming EU decision on Turkey's accession.
Following Erdogan's lead, Sahin has also been one of the
Turkish officials who have jumped on the anti-U.S. media
bandwagon on Fallujah operations in Iraq. We need to tell
him that such statements reverberate negatively in the U.S.
and could damage the relationship.


2. (SBU) Sahin began his political career in the Islamist
Milli Gorus (National View) movement. He was twice elected
to Parliament in 1995 and 1999 from Islamist parties, and was
a founding member of the AK Party. In 2002, he was elected
again to Parliament on the AKP ticket. His background
indicates that early in his career he shared strong Islamist
views. However, his attitudes appear to have moderated
considerably in recent years. For example, he has been one
of the more helpful and understanding Turkish politicians
regarding U.S. goals in Iraq.


3. (U) As Deputy Prime Minister in the AK Party government,
Sahin handles a diverse portfolio of issues, including:
relations with parliament; the state personnel office,
including oversight of collective bargaining with public
sector employees; the Youth and Sports Directorate General;
the Football Federation; and foundations. Prime Minister
Erdogan recently tasked him with restructuring Turkey's
emergency capabilities.


4. (U) The Director General of Turkey's Emergency Management
Agency (TEMA) Hassan Ipek will accompany Sahin and has worked
closely with FEMA to organize the visit. Ipek hopes that
Sahin's visit will convince him to recommend that Turkey
restructure its system on the U.S. FEMA model. TEMA is a
General Directorate in the Prime Ministry and was founded in
1999, immediately after the 1999 earthquakes near Istanbul
that left 18,000 dead and nearly 400,000 buildings damaged
revealed the serious shortcomings in Turkey's disaster
management capabilities. TEMA maintains the country's
24-hour crisis management center and coordinates all foreign
disaster assistance. Through the Prime Minister, TEMA
coordinates disaster response through regional crisis
management centers and other Turkish ministries. However,
Ipek has identified several weaknesses that he hopes to
correct: TEMA has no separate budget and no direct control
over the disaster response capabilities of other government
agencies. And relations between TEMA and the military's role
in disasters is not clearly defined.


5. (C) Although Sahin's visit is focused on meetings with
DHS and FEMA officials and visits to FEMA facilities, he is
close to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. This is an
opportunity, particularly at State, to raise other important
issues with him.

-- Anti-U.S. statements regarding Fallujah: In a November 25
statement before Parliament Sahin said that Fallujah
operations "give the impression of a massacre." This
followed similar statements by Prime Minister Erdogan and
other senior officials and a bout of anti-U.S. hysteria in
the press. We should tell Sahin flat-out these are
outrageous distortions and that such incorrect and misleading
statements risk eroding support for Turkey in the U.S. and
significantly injure bilateral relations. We should urge
Sahin to publicly correct his statement.

-- Religious properties: The issue of non-Muslim religious
properties falls directly under his Foundations portfolio.
We should emphasize the importance of reaching a solution to
allow the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and other
non-Muslim groups to regain properties expropriated by the
State over the years. A Turkish court recently reached a
decision effectively expropriating an historic Greek Orthodox
orphanage; tax authorities recently notified a Greek Orthodox
hospital in Istanbul that it owes back taxes despite being a
non-profit institution. The longstanding closure of the
Greek Orthodox Halki seminary remains unresolved. The Greek
Orthodox community has dwindled to fewer than 3,000 people,
and the future of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which has
been in Istanbul since Byzantine times, is in jeopardy. We
should let Sahin know that these issues get noticed in the
U.S. and Europe, and resolving them would ease doubts about
Turkey,s commitment to religious freedom and positively
impact Turkey's image for religious tolerance, improve
relations with the U.S. and bolster Turkey,s EU bid.

-- EU Integration: In the run up to December 17, we should
also urge Sahin to make sure the GOT is careful with its
rhetoric and does not paint itself into a corner. Turkey
should keep focused on the strategic objective. As long as
it gets a clear date to begin negotiations for a successful
objective of full membership without singularization of
Turkey, it should view the result positively. However, Sahin
should be encouraged to take steps now to continue
demonstrating Turkey's political will to implement EU values
and standards.


6. (U) Turkish Delegation:

Mehmet Ali Sahin, Deputy Prime Minister
Hassan Ipek, Director General, TEMA
Murat Kul, Aide to Sahin
Aydin Demir, Aide to Sahin
Dr. Derin Ural, Director Center of Excellence for Disaster
Management
Dr. Faruk Karadogan, President, Istanbul Technical University
EDELMAN