CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): HOST COUNTRY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 003196

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SE AND AC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2015
TAGS: PARM MARR KTIA TU CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): HOST COUNTRY
AGREEMENT (HCA) WITH TURKEY ON CHALLENGE INSPECTIONS (U)

REF: A. STATE 102326

B. STATE 74868

C. ANKARA 2564

Classified By: Charge d'Affairs James R. Moore, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
.


1. (C) This is an action request. Acting PolMilCouns
delivered reftel A points and draft HCA/U MOU text to MFA
Arms Control and Disarmament Department Head Osman Yavuzalp
on June 6. Yavuzalp said the MFA had already completed the
legal review of the revised HCA/U MOU text presented by Post
in April (ref c) and that the text was with the Americas
Affairs awaiting policy consideration. Given the work that
had progressed on the new text, Yavuzalp expected that the
MFA would prefer to continue working from that text and not
the slightly modified Dec. 1999 text. However, he agreed to
review the modified 1999 text if we could provide a copy with
the minor edits and clarifications highlighted in order to
minimize the additional work required to compare it to the
original Dec. 1999 text.


2. (C) Yavuzalp was unaware of the OPCW's 41st Executive
Council Session (June 28-July 1) in The Hague and unsure
whether there would be Turkish participation. If Turkey did
sent a participant, he welcomed the opportunity to meet with
US experts on the margin of that meeting to discuss the draft
text and requested the name/title of the potential US
counterparts.


3. (C) Given the text revisions and upcoming holidays,
Yavuzalp surmised that the MFA bureaucratic review would be
completed by the end of July but that conclusion of an
agreement was unlikely before September 2005.


4. Action Request: Post requests Department provide an
annotated copy of the Dec. 1999 HCA/U MOU text highlighting
all subsequent modifications and clarifications, as well as
the names of US experts who would be willing to meet with the
Turkish delegation to the OPCW's 41st Executive Council
Session in The Hague at the end of this month, for
presentation to the Turkish MFA.
MOORE