TURKISH MFA SUGGESTS SYRIANS BEHIND ASSASSINATION

S E C R E T ANKARA 006961 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2014 TAGS: PREL PTER TU SUBJECT: TURKISH MFA SUGGESTS SYRIANS BEHIND ASSASSINATION OF REPORTED PKK MEMBERS IN N. IRAQ Classified By: POLCOUNS John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (S) POLOFF met with Turkish MFA First Secretary Celal Dogan on 10 December to discuss US-Turkish relations and counterterrorism issues. Dogan is assigned to the MFA's Directorate of Intelligence and Research and works on PKK issues. During the course of the meeting, Dogan asked POLOFF whom the USG thinks was behind the 29 November 2004 assassination of several PKK/KONGRA-GEL and Democratic Party Union (PYD) officials in northern Iraq. POLOFF limited his reply to noting that the stories he had read in Turkish newspapers about the assassination were attributed to Turkish military sources. Dogan suggested to POLOFF that Syria might have been behind the assassination because Syria was having problems with its Kurdish population. ¶2. (S) Post notes there are other reports that Arab insurgents may have carried out the killings. EDELMAN