TURKISH MFA, TURKMEN FRONT ALLEGE KDP AND BADR

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 004012 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER TU MOPS IZ SUBJECT: TURKISH MFA, TURKMEN FRONT ALLEGE KDP AND BADR BRIGADE INVOLVEMENT IN TALAFAR REF: A. MOSUL 79 ¶B. ANKARA 3405 Classified By: Counselor for Political-Military Affairs Timothy A. Bett s for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) During a long June 30 discussion on the situation in the northwest Ninewah province town of Talafar, Ankara Iraqi Turkmen Front representative Ahmet Muratli alleged to PolMilOff that KDP leader Masoud Barzani was fomenting sectarian violence in the town through payoffs and encouragement to tribal leaders. Muratli could not produce evidence for this claim, but outlined what he believed was Barzani's interest in controlling Talafar in his bid to stretch the KDP's influence to Sinjar and the Syrian border. Muratli claimed that Barzani has long wanted to extend his control to Sinjar, near the Syrian border, as the town has a large Kurdish population. In doing so, Barzani could consolidate his control to the Syrian border and control cross-border trade. Additionally, through controlling Sinjar Barzani would eliminate any advantage Turkey would seek to gain by opening a second border gate with Iraq at Ovakoy, on the extreme western side of the Turkey-Iraq border. (Turkish officials have forthrightly told us they prefer Ovakoy since Turkish trucks would pass through only a very small patch of KDP-controlled territory.) ¶2. (C) PolMilOff also discussed Talafar with MFA Iraq Desk Officer Hakan Cakil. Cakil did not raise Barzani, but said he had seen reports that the Badr Brigade was actively supporting the Shia side of the sectarian conflict there. Cakil and PolMilOff agreed that--if these reports are true--this would be a serious development, but PolMilOff added that he had not seen such reports. Cakil added that the Turks perceive significant anger and concern in the Arab world on the Kirkuk issue. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: Muratli and the ITF are prone to exaggeration. We suspect the ITF to be the source of much of the information that fed the exaggerated and downright false reporting during September 2004 CF counterinsurgency operations in Talafar. We have made a concerted effort to pass on real-time, accurate reporting on the situation there to the GOT since then, and the official and press reaction to the difficult situation there now has been muted by comparison ¶4. (C) COMMENT, CONT.: While Cakil did not parrot the ITF allegations to us, we are struck that both the Turks and local Turkmen groups have said they are worried about Talafar, and share the concern that the violence there seems to have also taken on a sectarian dimension (see refs). END COMMENT. ¶5. (U) Iraq REOs minimize considered. MCELDOWNEY