RESPONSE FROM KAPTANOGLU SHIPPING COMPANY

UNCLAS ANKARA 006789 SIPDIS DEPT FOR INL/C/CP-MCAWTHORNE, EB/TRA/OTP-DHAYWOOD, EUR/SE DEPT PASS TRANSPORTATION DEPT ROME FOR ICE ROTTERDAM FOR LCDR MBEE SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EWWT CVIS ETRD PREL TU SUBJECT: RESPONSE FROM KAPTANOGLU SHIPPING COMPANY Ref: (A) State 258406 (B) Ankara 6764 Sensitive But Unclassified. Please Handle Accordingly. ¶1. (U) In two faxes sent December 3, Tansel Karademir, Operations Manager of H. Ismail Kaptanoglu Ship Management and Trading company, responded to Embassy's demarche to MFA warning of Coast Guard security concerns and possible action against the shipping company. Karademir wrote that the company had not previously been aware of the September 30 Coast Guard warning letter, and that it is doing its best to be responsive to the security problems raised in that letter. Karademir stated that the company is working on a detailed response, which will be ready sometime during the week of December 6, and offered to meet with U.S. officials in Ankara or in Washington on this. Embassy has faxed a copy of the letter to EB/TRA/OTP and EUR/SE. We suggested that Karademir get in touch with Lt. Commander Michael Cunningham, the point of contact listed in the September 30 letter. ¶2. (SBU) Econoff contacted Basat Ozturk, head of the MFA Maritime Department, on December 6 to thank him for his intervention with Kaptanoglu. Ozturk told us that he had ensured that senior officials at both MFA and the Maritime Undersecretariat, as well as the company itself, were informed of the seriousness of the security problem. He urged Washington agencies to give Kaptanoglu the opportunity to respond before deciding on any further sanctions against the company. ¶3. (SBU) Embassy understand that Washington agencies are scheduled to discuss this case via conference call December 7. As in ref B, Embassy suggests giving the company an additional week to address Coast Guard concerns prior to imposing additional sanctions. Edelman