TURKEY CONSIDERING SUPPORTING PAK MI-17 HELICOPTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 006449 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2015 TAGS: AEMR ASEC EAID PGOV PREF MASS PK TU NATO SUBJECT: TURKEY CONSIDERING SUPPORTING PAK MI-17 HELICOPTER OPERATIONS REF: A. STATE 196411 ¶B. SPRING-EUR DESK OFFICERS E-MAIL OF OCT.25 Classified By: Political Military Counselor Timothy A. Betts for reason s 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C/rel NATO) PolMilCouns raised Pakistan's urgent need for MI-17 parts with MFA NATO Affairs Deputy Director General Fatih Ceylan on Oct. 26. Noting that Turkey was doing its utmost to assist Pakistan in this time of need, Ceylan promised a prompt response. Turkey would do what it could, he said. He instructed his staff to provide both our points (ref A) and the lists of required parts (ref B) to the Prime Ministry, TGS and the Interior Ministry immediately. ¶2. (C) Comment: Turkey's National Police and Jandarma have small numbers of MI-17s that we have heard have had chronic maintenance problems due to lack of spare parts. Thus, Turkey is unlikely to be able to provide more than a token contribution to this requirement. End comment. MCELDOWNEY