TURKEY'S NSC SECGEN LOOKING FOR WASHINGTON

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 005350

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY'S NSC SECGEN LOOKING FOR WASHINGTON
INVITATION

REF: A. ANKARA 2553


B. ANKARA 3892

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Nancy McEldowney, reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (U) During an August 26 meeting with EUR DAS Bryza,
Turkish National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General
Yigit Alpogan raised the possibility of a visit to Washington
this fall to meet his NSC counterparts. Alpogan first
mentioned his interest in such a visit during the Charge's
initial courtesy call with him in July (ref b),saying he had
cancelled his planned early June visit to Washington to avoid
competing with PM Erdogan, FM Gul and DCHOD Basbug, who
traveled to Washington on the occasion of the annual
American-Turkish Council (ATC) conference. Alpogan welcomed
an invitation to visit anytime from the end of October
through the end of the year.


2. (C) Comment: As Turkey's first civilian NSC SECGEN and a
longtime diplomat, Alpogan has impressed us as a suave
interlocutor with a clear policy-supporting role but whose
ability to shape policy remains unclear. As head of the NSC
Secretariat, he has the nominal government lead in wrangling

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with the Turkish military over government-proposed changes to
the country's National Security Policy document that would
re-define the internal and external threats to the country
and strip away some elements of the military's traditional
role as protector of Turkey's unitary, secular structure. A
visit by Alpogan to the US would provide an opportunity to
show him the role of the NSC in shaping US policy and perhaps
to influence the role of Turkey's NSC, which appears to be a
work in progress.
MCELDOWNEY