ISAF: TURKEY AND FRANCE TO HOLD MIL-MIL TALKS ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 004781 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2015 TAGS: MOPS MARR PREL TU AF FR NATO SUBJECT: ISAF: TURKEY AND FRANCE TO HOLD MIL-MIL TALKS ON SHARED COMMAND OF ISAF CENTRAL REGION REF: A. ANKARA 4095 ¶B. ANKARA 3413 Classified By: Political-Military Counselor Timothy A. Betts for reason s 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) MFA Deputy Director General for South Asia Aydin Evirgen told PolMilCouns and Deputy PolMilCouns on Aug. 9 that a French military team would arrive in Ankara within days to hold talks with the Turkish General Staff (TGS) on the modalities of the proposed shared command of ISAF Central Region. According to Evirgen, France was considering positively the proposal to share the command with Turkey but has not yet taken the political decision to do so. That decision would be based on the outcome of the mil-mil talks. (MFA DDG for NATO Affairs Fatih Ceylan told polmilcouns Aug. 11 that France and Turkey had an agreement in principle to share the command, that a French military team would visit the week of August 15, and that he was confident the two would be able to settle on the details soon.) Evirgen said Turkey expected agreement to be finalized in August and a joint announcement made at NATO. The timing of the shared command was still under review but would be sometime in the second half of 2006. ¶2. (C) Looking beyond the shared central region command, Evirgen said that Turkey had not ruled out eventually leading a central region PRT, but Ankara would not seriously consider it until after a decision had been made on the shared central region command with France. Additionally, according to Evirgen, Turkey expects to continue supporting the Afghan Military Academy through the graduation of its first class (i.e., for at least four years),and is evaluating development project opportunities for the $100M pledged by the Prime Minister following his May visit to Afghanistan. Expressing some skepticism about the pledge, Evirgen cautioned that the bureaucracy would begin no new projects until the money "was in the bank." He said that Turkey was already contributing to the construction of six schools, including a large secondary school in Kabul and a vocational school for girls in Samangan. ¶3. (U) During his recent visit to Kabul, Evirgen had discussed counter-narcotics programs, including alternative livelihood projects for poppy farmers and increased counter-narcotics training for Afghan police in Ankara. Evirgen expressed his hope that Turkey could eventually provide training at the Afghan counter-narcotics police training center being set up in Kabul. Turkey also plans to contribute to NRC counter-narcotics efforts. MCELDOWNEY