TURKISH VIEWS ON OECD ISSUES

UNCLAS ANKARA 002260 SIPDIS SENSITIVE PARIS FOR USOECD BRUSSELS FOR USEU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN ETRD PREL TU RS OECD SUBJECT: TURKISH VIEWS ON OECD ISSUES REF: A. SECSTATE 72019 ¶B. SECSTATE 66309 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Turkey has not yet determined its position on the U.S. task force proposal or on the Differentiated Engagement Strategy (DES) at the OECD. The MFA Department Head responsible for OECD issues, however, outlined Turkey's general approach to these issues in a way that suggests significant overlap with U.S. views: Turkey supports governance reform before enlargement. The MFA official claimed that Turkey approaches enlargement based on principles, rather than based on its relations with specific countries, including Cyprus and Russia. Turkey will not send anyone from Ankara to the April 28 meeting but three Ministers--Finance, Trade and Energy--will attend the OECD Ministerial in May. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) In an April 21 meeting, econoff passed ref A letter from A/S Wayne to MFA Department Head for Multilateral Economic Affairs Yasemin Eralp Irten. Irten said Turkey had not yet taken a position on DES or on the U.S. proposal for a task force on governance. Though Turkey was still studying these issues, she said Turkey supported DES and enlargement in principle and generally agrees with the U.S. on the need to reform governance before considering enlargement. Turkey has always supported enlargement, according to Irten, but wants it to be based on well-defined criteria and to take into account financial considerations. ¶3. (SBU) Irten claimed that Turkey's approach to enlargement avoided country-specific considerations in favor of general criteria. This was true even for countries such as Cyprus or Russia. In a brief discussion of Russia's increased pressure to join the OECD (ref B),Irten suggested it would be desirable for Russia to join the WTO first, or at least at the same time it joined the OECD, rather than first join the OECD. ¶4. (SBU) Irten said no one from Ankara will go to Paris for the April 28 OECD meeting. At the Ministerial, Finance Minister Unakitan is expected to lead the delegation on the first day, but will be replaced by Trade Minister Tuzmen the second day. Energy Minister Guler will also attend because of the energy issues on the agenda, she said. EDELMAN