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