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