THE TURKEY-IRAQ BORDERS CROSSING WORKS DESPITE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000648

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2015
TAGS: ETRD IZ MARR PREL PTER TU
SUBJECT: THE TURKEY-IRAQ BORDERS CROSSING WORKS DESPITE
APPARENT CHAOS

Classified By: DCM Robert Deutsch for reasons 1.4 b & d.


1. (C) Summary and Introduction: At the Turkey-Iraq border
crossing, officials and facilities are strained but still
functioning. The lines on the Turkish side waiting to enter
Iraq are relatively short and orderly, in contrast to the
apparent chaos across the Iraqi border where hundreds of
trucks wait in makeshift lots along the highway for
southbound escorts, while 10,000 more wait in a series of
muddy lots or a long line stretching over the Zakho pass.
The cause of the backlog in Iraq is a manual security
inspection conducted by the Turkish Jandarma. In the midst
of this, Iraqi customs officials, truck company expeditors
and KBR employees try to bring some order to the process
while a thousand Peshmerga patrol the area to keep the
simmering frustrations from exploding. Customs officials are
doing as much as can be expected to process the never-ending
lines of trucks and respond to special requests from the U.S.
Despite the frustration of the long waits, needed supplies
continue flowing, largely because of the coordination among
Turkish, Iraqi and U.S. officials at the border. End Summary
and Introduction.


2. (SBU) On January 12-13, Mission Turkey personnel
visited the Turkish-Iraqi border crossing at Habur
Gate/Ibrahim Khalil, the single border crossing between
Turkey and Iraq and an important route for coalition supplies
and SOMO-purchased fuels. AMCON Adana PO, Ankara econoff and
EXBS adviser, Marine Attache, along with Zakho MCT personnel
and accompanied by EUCOM LNO to TU SF and TFF, visited the
Turkish Habur gate border crossing, attending the weekly
meeting of Turkish, Iraqi and U.S. officials at the border.
There we pressed for better communication between GoT and IIG
border officials and a sustained effort to reduce the
northbound backlog of about 10,000 trucks. GoT officials
expressed a desire to cooperate on pushing southbound
sustainment loads as expeditiously as possible, but regretted
that heavy security screening causing the northbound backlog
was a direct result of the need to "protect Turkish citizens
from the security threats in northern Iraq and elsewhere in
Iraq from spilling into the Turkish Republic." Both GoT and
IIG officials noted that a dialogue on a second border
crossing was underway without elaborating on that
discussion,s progress or timetable. The northern Iraq SOMO
representative stressed that fuel imported from Turkey was
being transported regularly as far south as Baghdad and was
not "only for local consumption," a statement noted by the
Turkish MFA representative who chairs the weekly meeting.
Turkish driver representatives also complained that coalition
sustainment cargo was being prioritized for transit at their
expense and that this was increasing the already significant
hardship that they faced in the over a week to ten day-long
waiting line to return to Turkey.


3. (SBU) In parallel meetings in Iraq with the Ibrahim
Khalil Customs Director, we pressed for better communication
on the timing of cross-border pushes to alleviate the
clogging of the one-lane transit bridges north- and
southbound. We also pressed for demonstrably better Iraqi
security pre-screening to mitigate some of the GoT concerns
about the nature of potential returning trucker cargoes. The
Ibrahim Khalil Director acknowledged the need to work on
security pre-screening and said a U.S. contractor in March or
early April would deliver prototype x-ray and other
unidentified non-invasive security screening technology to
that end. He predicted that this technology would address
some GoT concerns, once it was brought on-line.


4. (SBU) In subsequent tours of transshipment and muddy
holding yards for the thousands of backlogged vehicles in
Iraq, we saw the equivalent of 50-60 miles of trucks snaking
through mud lots and four-wide lines awaiting a window to try
to re-enter Turkey. The Iraqi side is a sprawling and
milling ant farm of tanker trucks, freight vehicles,
make-shift food vendors, idled truck drivers playing
backgammon or drinking tea, cargo office huts and rutted
roads on which a handful of U.S. MCT personnel, a KBR
contractor and a couple dozen Iraqi customs administrators
try to run herd. According to the Ibrahim Khalil Customs
Director, approximately 1,000 Peshmerga provide perimeter
security for the border crossing, utilizing the natural bowl
geography as a proxy line of defense. Miraculously -- and
mysteriously -- it functions to the extent that cargoes keep
flowing. However, the northbound flow has been severely
restricted by Turkish security checks.


5. (C) Embassy Ankara EXBS adviser extensively surveyed the
southbound (into Iraq) GoT Customs process, finding it
lacking administrative support and funding, but functioning
much like most busy international border crossings. He was
not permitted to approach the Jandarma unit screening trucks
entering Turkey from Iraq. Customs officials reported that
the planned modernization of the customs facilities would
commence in March and would improve truck processing. (Note:
for the last two years this project has been a month or two
from beginning.) However, the 10-18 month project might have
a negative impact on border throughput, they added, although
they could offer little insight into how that aspect of the
project might be addressed, reflecting that was an "Ankara
issue."


6. (SBU) In a January 13 meeting with Savas Unlu, Turkish
sub-governor in charge of the crossing, the Mission Turkey
team and MCT representatives heard positive comments on the
improving cross-border information flow on the status of
incident reports involving Turkish citizens, a GoT
appreciation that recent IIG policies on exporting fuel were
meeting some GoT fuel smuggling concerns and an assertion
that the extensive inbound/northbound security was still
necessary given the "PKK and insurgent threat across the
border." Unlu also stressed that Turkey had lost "almost a
hundred citizen drivers since the start of the conflict,
making Turkey, although not a troop provider, the third
largest casualty-suffering country in Iraq."


7. (SBU) Unlu also underlined that, although the GoT
sincerely appreciates the Coalition effort to provide more
information on incidents involving Turkish citizens in Iraq
and wishes that information flow to broaden, it has seen its
citizens "dismayed by the poor manner in which those remains
sometimes return."


8. (C) Comment: Turkish and Iraqi officials on either side
of the border do a surprisingly good job in miserable
conditions and in a tense situation. The Turkey-Iraq border
has been operating 24 hours a day, full-tilt for over a year.
In that time, Turkey,s concerns about PKK infiltration from
Iraq have increased, the condition of roads and bridges has
deteriorated and more than 70 Turkish drivers have lost their
lives in Iraq. Nevertheless, our supplies are accorded
priority treatment at the borders and the supply line
continues to function. When special requests are made, both
sides have shown a willingness to help. It has been our
experience that for most problems, unforeseen events or
special requests that affect the border, the coordination
done on the ground by Turkish, Iraqi and MJLC is effective.
The movement of trucks southbound -- from Turkey into Iraq --
runs well. Turkish and Iraqi Customs officials have managed
to process about 1500 trucks per day, and when there has been
a backlog (the last time due to the December truckers
strike),they have managed to quickly reduce the backlog.
The process northbound is another issue. Truckers wait long
periods in miserable conditions to cross the border into
Turkey. Organizing the trucks into holding lots and lines is
a monumental task. Customs officials on both sides are doing
their best to organize and process the trucks, but the
backlog persists because of the manual searches conducted by
the Turkish Jandarma.


9. (C) Day-to-day cooperation between Iraqi and Turkish
customs authorities works reasonably well. The involvement
of the MCT at the weekly border meetings gives us important
insights into emerging problems and some influence on
decisions. Turkish authorities have complained about
security for their drivers in Iraq but they have done little
to reduce the backlog that is a serious frustration and
economic cost for the drivers, as well as a security risk in
itself. Embassy has raised concerns about the border
backlogs repeatedly and at all levels with the GOT. We have
seen some improvements, but the government does not seem
willing to address the biggest bottleneck -- the Jandarma
inspection at the border. End Comment.


10. (U) Baghdad Minimize Considered.
EDELMAN