TURKEY'S RESPONSE ON COORDINATING CONSTITUTIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 003964 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2015 TAGS: PREL EAID PGOV ECON EIND IZ TU EUN SUBJECT: TURKEY'S RESPONSE ON COORDINATING CONSTITUTIONAL ASSISTANCE TO IRAQ REF: A. STATE 124857 ¶B. ANKARA 3844 Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission James R. Moore for reason s 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request -- see para 4. ¶2. (C) PolMilOff delivered ref a demarche July 6 to MFA Iraq Desk Officer Hakan Cakil. Cakil noted plans for an NGO-organized conference in Turkey July 12-13 on the constitution (reported ref b). The co-host Iraqi NGO (the Fund for Democracy and Development) was responsible for issuing invitations for Iraqis. Cakil did not know whether any of the Iraqi invitees were members of Iraq's constitutional drafting committee, but said he would check with the Iraqi NGO. ¶3. (C) Later July 6, MFA Head of Department for Iraq Avni Botsali phoned PolMilOff to inquire whether the U.S. was asking Turkey to call off items it already has in the pipeline. In addition to the July 12-13 seminar on the constitution, Turkey had offered political party training (as it has been doing for some months now) to the KDP and to Allawi's party; Botsali added that Da'wa was also considering a Turkish offer. All of this training is to take place before July 20, Botsali noted, since after that date the university faculty the GOT uses will be on summer leave. Botsali said that for previous similar training, most Iraqi parties have primarily sent young, new party activists with a couple of older politicians to "add weight" to the group. Botsali did not believe that members of the constitutional drafting committee would be part of these delegations. He added that to turn off the party training at this late date would serve to further strain the Turks' relations with the KDP. PolMilOff responded that we would check with Washington, but added that ref a talking points (in particular the point for Ankara) did not appear to request that the GOT cancel events already in the pipeline, but rather not to add new events outside of Iraq before the constitutional deadline. ¶4. (C) Action request: If our understanding of ref a is wrong, please advise. We do not plan to press the Turks to cancel planned events unless instructed otherwise. ¶5. (U) Iraq REOs minimize considered. MCELDOWNEY