Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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05ANKARA2564 | 2005-05-05 08:26:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Ankara |
1. (U) This is an action request. See para 4 and 5. 2. (C) PolMilCouns raised the CWC host country agreement (HCA) with MFA Deputy Director General for Disarmament and Arms Control Bulent Meric and provided the revised text of the agreement on April 22, as instructed ref a. Meric said that the GOT had long been ready to move forward with the text agreed to in 2000, but had been waiting for the USG to follow up. (His understanding of the negotiating history had the ball in our court in 2000.) He agreed to review the new language. Given the demands of the NPT Review Conference on the GOT's arms control bureaucracy, he thought it unlikely Ankara would be prepared to receive a USG team in late May to discuss the latest draft. In response to the question about a challenge inspection POC, he commented that that should be specified in the HCA, but until we have an agreement, we direct all communications on this to his office. 3. (C) On May 3 (following receipt of ref b), we followed up with Meric. He said that MFA's legal experts had concluded that the revised text was "absolutely different," requiring a completely new legal review and interagency clearances. He said that this process would take time. When again pressed about meeting a delegation in late May, Meric said the Turkish side could not be ready that quickly. He thought late June was the earliest the GOT would be ready given the need to compile different agencies' comments on the latest draft. When asked whether the same would be true if we used the 2000 text, he said no -- the necessary reviews were in hand and MFA could agree to that language today. 4. (C) Comment and action request: We did not deliver the points in ref b as written because they did not seem to take into consideration ref a in that they promised yet another draft, even before we have received Turkish comments on the ref a text. Please advise whether we should tell the Turks to disregard the ref a text. We did however press for a May meeting. Unfortunately, the Turks do not want to talk with us until they have had a chance to gather interagency comments and develop a coordinated position. We recommend that the DOD delegation drop Turkey from its May itinerary. A visit here in late June or thereafter would be more productive. End comment and action request. EDELMAN |