DARFUR/NATO: FURTHER DETAILS ON TURKISH AIRLIFT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 004070 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2005 TAGS: MOPS MARR PREL TU SU NATO EUN SUBJECT: DARFUR/NATO: FURTHER DETAILS ON TURKISH AIRLIFT SUPPORT FOR AU MISSION REF: A. ANKARA 3198 ¶B. ANKARA 3618 Classified By: Counselor for Political-Military Affairs Timothy A. Bett s for reasons 1.4 (a),(b),and (d). ¶1. (C) On July 13, PolMilOff called on COL Halit Yilmaz, TGS J3 NATO Branch Chief, to discuss Turkish airlift support for Darfur. Yilmaz confirmed that Turkey will provide one C130 from Sept. 20-29. Its mission--along with the Danes--will be to lift equipment from Kenya and/or Chad to Darfur to support the AU Mission. He understood that the equipment will come from South Africa and will be lifted by the Dutch (perhaps commercially?) to Kenya and Chad for forwarding to Darfur. Yilmaz noted that Turkey was placing "limited caveats" on the mission; he added that the Turkish C130 will have no self-defense capability and that it must land on runways (he explained that some C130s do not require runways to land, but this one does). ¶2. (U) Khartoum minimize considered MCELDOWNEY