TURKEY'S CONTINUING OUTREACH TO IRAQI POLITICAL

UNCLAS ANKARA 002791 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV TU IZ SUBJECT: TURKEY'S CONTINUING OUTREACH TO IRAQI POLITICAL PARTIES ¶1. MFA announced on May 11 that its pre-election training program in electoral politics and governance for interested Iraqi political parties would continue. The text of the announcement is at para 2. At this point, each group that applies will come to Turkey separately. Although not mentioned in the announcement, the first group to participate since the January 30 elections was the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). ¶2. Begin informal Embassy translation of MFA announcement: In cooperation with the High Election Council and TODAIE (Turkish Middle East and Public Administration Institution) a short-term program was organized in Ankara on election systems, democratic regime institutions and implementations for Iraqi political parties and groups before the 2005 elections. Upon the request of various Iraqi political parties, it was decided to organize a similar activity following formation of the Iraqi Transitional Parliament and Government after the elections. Within this Framework, representatives of Iraqi political parties and groups will come to Turkey for a period of 1 week as of Monday May 9th 2005 to visit the political parties having representation at the TGNA (Turkish Grand National Assembly) and to attend seminars to be organized at the TODAIE, the Constitutional Court, the High Election Council and the (Ankara University) Faculty of Political Science. To date, the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Islamic Party of Iraq and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan have applied to benefit from the mentioned program. It is foreseen that the said program is open to participation of all of the Iraqi political groups participating in and supporting the democratic process. End text. ¶3. Baghdad minimized considered. EDELMAN