TURKS ANNOYED WITH IRAQI AND IRANIAN INTERIOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 004230 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2015 TAGS: PREL PTER KCRM TU IZ IR BA EG SY KU SA JO SUBJECT: TURKS ANNOYED WITH IRAQI AND IRANIAN INTERIOR MINISTERS' CONDUCT AT JULY 18-19 NEIGHBORS' MEETING REF: A. ANKARA 4215 ¶B. ANKARA 4186 ¶C. ANKARA 3844 ¶D. ANKARA 2912 Classified By: Counselor for Political-Military Affairs Timothy A. Bett s for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Iraq's Interior Minister, Bayan Jabr, seemed to take his lead from the Iranians at the July 18-19 meeting of Iraq's neighbors' interior ministers. Jabr annoyed the Turks by ignoring their advice to steer clear of the press, especially on the PKK issue; his private assurances to the Turks on PKK were disappointing to the Turks. According to the Turkish MFA, Jabr failed to call out Syria or any other neighbors for supporting the insurgency, at least in the plenary session. The ministers tasked Turkey to draft a "multilateral protocol in the field of security." Saudi Arabia will host the next meeting; timing is undecided but our contact guessed the meeting would be in early 2006. Full text of communique in para. 8. End summary. ¶2. (C) On July 20, PolMilCouns and PolMilOff called on MFA Director General for Security Affairs Hayati Guven to get a readout of the July 18-19 meeting of Iraq's neighbors' interior ministers (senior officials met July 18, the ministerial itself was on the 19th). Guven shared with us a copy of the communique (text in para. 8) and noted that Turkey (which proposed the idea) has been tasked to draft a "multilateral protocol in the field of security" for the next interior ministers' meeting; Guven said the protocol would not only cover terrorism but also drug trafficking, organized crime, and mutual legal assistance. Saudi Arabia will host the next neighbors' meeting, which Guven surmised would be in early 2006. ¶3. (C) Guven reported that the Iranians had proposed--and the Iraqis seconded--a permanent secretariat for the neighbors' interior ministers process. Guven termed this idea "not very appealing;" he did not see the need to institutionalize the current arrangement, which he thought was more appropriately temporary. He admitted that the Iraqi minister's support put Turkey in a difficult position, so he feels himself obligated to at least discuss this proposal in the draft protocol. ¶4. (C) Guven stated candidly that the Iraqi Minister, Bayan Jabr (SCIRI),"created a lot of problems for us." He noted 
that Jabr enthusiastically seconded every Iranian proposal. According to Guven, Turkey and many of the other neighbors were reluctant to forcefully challenge these proposals because they wanted to appear supportive of the Iraqis. The Iranians were especially focused on adding a statement to the communique that the process of bringing Saddam and other former regime leaders responsible for crimes against the Iraqi people "and war crimes against Iran and Kuwait" must be accelerated. Guven noted that even the Kuwaitis were not pushing this kind of language, but the ministers agreed to add the paragraph under Iranian and Iraqi pressure. ¶5. (C) Guven said the Turks had strongly advised Jabr's delegation to deal carefully with the press; instead, the minister called a press conference immediately upon his arrival and held two more during his short visit. The Turks were especially concerned that Jabr be cautious about answering questions on the PKK issue, which has been all over the news in recent days (see refs a and b). Jabr pained the Turks by announcing the upcoming PKK trilateral talks (which the Turks had hoped to keep quiet--ref c) and by candidly stating that the Iraqi government really does not control northern Iraq, where the PKK is active. He added that the Iraqi parliament would have to approve any cross-border operation against the terrorist group. ¶6. (C) Jabr further annoyed the Turks by providing little reassurance on the PKK to Turkish Interior Minister Aksu during their bilateral. According to Guven (who sat in), Jabr said that only after the constitutional drafting process, referendum and December elections for a new legislature, the new parliament may/may adopt "a declaration" stating that Iraq does not want any such terrorist group to reside there. (NOTE: This is far weaker than the positive rhetoric PM Ja'afari offered on his recent visit to Ankara (ref d). END NOTE.) ¶7. (C) Guven reported that in the Jabr-Aksu bilateral, the Iraqi minister did mention terrorists crossing into Iraq from Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, but added "it is difficult to blame those governments for this." According to Guven, Minister Jabr mentioned no countries by name during the ministerial meeting, thus missing an opportunity to send a strong message to unhelpful neighbor regimes. ¶8. (SBU) Text of Interior Ministers' Meeting Communique (as provided, original was in English). Note internal paragraph numbering. BEGIN TEXT Final Communique of the Second Meeting of the Ministers of the Interior of the Neighbouring Countries of Iraq Istanbul, 18-19 July 2005 Upon the invitation of Turkey, the Second Meeting of the Ministers of Interior of the Neighbouring Countries of Iraq was held in Istanbul, on 18-19 July, 2005. The countries that participated in this Ministerial Meeting were the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Iraq, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Arab Republic of Syria and the Republic of Turkey. Mr. Michael von Schulenburg, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq, also attended the Meeting. Expressing their full solidarity with the people and the newly elected Government of Iraq and drawing attention to the serious security problems that this country strives to overcome, the Ministers of Interior, ¶1. Commended the spirit of cooperation that prevailed at the meeting, ¶2. Recalled the conclusion of their first meeting on 30 November-1 December, 2004, in Tehran, and the Joint Statement of the Eighth Official Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Neighbouring Countries on 30 April, 2005, in Istanbul, where specific reference was made to the need for closer cooperation on overall border security, ¶3. Affirmed the provisions of the UN Security Council resolution 1546, ¶4. Reaffirmed the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Iraq, as well as the principles of good-neighbourliness and non-interference in each other's internal affairs in conformity with the existing bilateral, multilateral, regional and international agreements, ¶5. Recognized that security and stability are fundamental requirements for economic development and progress both for Iraq and for the region, and emphasized the importance of security cooperation among neighbouring countries and Iraq to achieve and maintain peace and stability in the region, ¶6. Reiterated the importance of accelerating the process of bringing to justice in Iraq, Saddam Hussein and all those in the leadership of the previous Iraqi regime who have committed crimes against humanity to the Iraqi people and war crimes against Iran and Kuwait, ¶7. Condemned unreservedly all terrorist actions in every form and manifestation, regardless of their motives, reiterated their commitment to confront them by national, regional and international efforts, through an effective and comprehensive strategy, ¶8. Condemned in the most unequivocal terms, the brutal slaying of the Egyptian Ambassador, Head of the Egyptian Mission in Iraq, and the attacks on the envoys of Bahrain, Pakistan and Iran in Baghdad, and voiced their strong expectation that the perpetrators of these crimes are apprehended and brought to justice, equally condemned the recent terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Turkey, ¶9. Strongly condemned the terrorist acts aimed at Iraqi civilians, including children, the stabilization efforts, nascent Iraqi Security Forces, political and religious leaders and the establishments, including holy sites, as well as foreign citizens and institutions providing assistance to and in economic interaction with Iraq, ¶10. Stressed the fact that terrorism has no particular religion, race, nationality or a specific region. In this context, they underlined that any attempt to associate terrorism with any given faith would in fact play into the hands of terrorists and should be rejected, ¶11. Noted with concern increased terrorist acts and other organized crime activities in the region including drug trafficking, arms smuggling, kidnapping, extortion and trafficking in persons and the links among them, and reaffirmed their readiness to engage in cooperation in the prevention, investigation, prosecution and adjudication of organized crime and terrorism; ¶12. Emphasized the need for speedily exchanging security information within their competence concerning terrorists and their movements, organizations, planning and the ways and means of their support, ¶13. Stressed the need for taking appropriate measures to prevent terror groups to use the territory of states as bases for presence, recruiting, training, financing, planning, inciting or launching of terrorist operations against other states; and likewise emphasized the need for global cooperation among all countries in giving effect to these measures with a view to eradicating the sources and roots of terrorism, ¶14. Taking note of the relevant conclusions of the International Conference held in Brussels on 22 June, 2005, on the strengthening of the legal and institutional framework for the rule of law and public order in Iraq, and for the acceleration of the build up of the Iraqi Security Forces, so that they can assume responsibility for Iraq's national security, expressed their readiness to vigorously support this undertaking, ¶15. Reaffirmed their readiness to provide training and equipment to Iraqi Security Forces to assist the Government of Iraq, upon its request, for the restoration of stability in the country, ¶16. Expressed their determination to increase their cooperation on overall border security with Iraq, through existing agreements and other mutually agreed arrangements, including effective monitoring of borders, strict control at border entry points and cross border movements, and exchange of intelligence information with national Iraqi authorities, with the primary aim of stemming terrorist and other illegal infiltrations to and from Iraq; ¶17. Welcomed the proposal made by the Turkish Delegation to assume the drafting of a multilateral protocol in addition to and in conformity with existing agreements on cooperation in the field of security to be finalized by Iraq and its neighbours, by their next meeting, and, as a first step, decided to assign officers who will serve as contact points to follow up and implement such cooperation, ¶18. Appreciated the efforts made by the United Nations on strengthening the new political process in Iraq, and emphasized the importance of its role in following up its tasks in Iraq, ¶19. Expressed their appreciation to Turkey for hosting this Ministerial Meeting, ¶20. Welcomed the invitation extended by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to host the next Meeting of the Ministers of Interior of the Countries Neighbouring Iraq. END TEXT ¶9. (U) Iraq REOs minimize considered. MCELDOWNEY