BABACAN: NO PLANS TO SEND ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006897

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TREASURY FOR CPLANTIER
NSC FOR MERKEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2010
TAGS: ECIN PREL PGOV EU TU EU
SUBJECT: BABACAN: NO PLANS TO SEND ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL TO
PARLIAMENT

REF: A. ANKARA 6561

B. COPENHAGEN 1803

Classified By: CHARGE NANCY MCELDOWNEY FOR REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary: Minister of Economy and EU negotiator Ali
Babacan explained that the GOT had deliberately not created a
new structure to handle the EU process so as to keep all
ministries engaged. The GOT has no plans yet to submit the
Ankara Protocol Extension to parliament. Babacan reiterated
Turkey,s inability to make new concessions on Cyprus and was
focused on marketing Turkey,s image to the European public.
End Summary.

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No Plans to Submit Additional Protocol to Parliament
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2. (C ) In his first meeting with Charge since October 3,
Minister of Economy and Chief Turkish EU negotiator Ali
Babacan focused almost entirely on EU issues. (His office now
sports both EU and Turkish flags.) In reply to the CDA,s
question, he said that despite Enlargement Commissioner Olli
Rehn's comments that the Protocol should go to parliament,
the GOT had no specific plan to submit the Ankara Protocol
Extension for parliamentary ratification. In part, this was
due to parliament,s heavy agenda, especially the budget, but
also because there is nothing specific in EU documents
requiring parliamentary approval. (Comment: Most of our
contacts emphasize the AKP government,s concerns about
domestic political fallout. End Comment.).

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Cyprus: Restated GOT position
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3. (C ) Babacan,s only comment on the recently-issued EU
Commission Progress Report was that the GOT was fine with it
except for the parts about Cyprus. Babacan echoed other GOT
officials that Turkey cannot make any additional concessions
on Cyprus until the Greek Cypriots do more. On opening ports
and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels and planes, he restated
the Turkish offer that all ports and airports*including in
Northern Cyprus*be opened to EU countries and Turkey
traffic. At the end of the meeting, Babacan said the two
most important areas in which the U.S. could help Turkey were
Cyprus and the PKK.

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PKK: Erdogan-Rasmussen Incident
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4. (C ) Babacan said if the U.S. were seen to be doing
something tangible against PKK, there would be a dramatic
improvement in public perception of the U.S. in Turkey. He
said he had spoken to Olli Rehn about his statements
supporting Danish PM Rasmussen,s action with regard to a Roj
TV correspondent during Erdogan,s visit to Denmark (ref B).
According to Babacan, Rehn had made the comments after having
spoken to Rasmussen but not to Erdogan. Note: Though he said
he told Rehn he should have spoken to Erdogan first,
Babacan,s manner suggested he did not want to belabor the
issue. End Note.

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Interministerial Approach to Accession Process
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5. (SBU) Babacan preferred to refer to the "Accession
Process" rather than "Negotiations," reserving the latter
word for the individual discussions of each chapter rather
than the overall process. He described how the GOT will
handle the three pillars of the accession process: 1) the
political pillar, 2) compliance with the acquis, and 3) the
communications and civil society pillar. On the political
pillar, there was a supervisory committee chaired by DPM and
Fonmin Gul, and including Babacan, the Minister of Interior
and the Minister of Justice.


6. (SBU) On complying with the acquis, he had the lead but
would have the active participation of all relevant
ministries. He explained the GOT decision not to set up a
separate EU negotiating agency. According to Babacan, the
idea was to keep all the line ministries fully engaged. He
said he is telling his ministerial colleagues that they are
all responsible for the EU process and claimed he was trying
to keep a low profile. He said he insisted ministries send
"responsible authorities" such as Under Secretaries to the
Brussels chapter screenings, and not just Ministerial
officials responsible for EU affairs. Claiming the process
is already working well, he said this approach will make it
harder at first but in the long run will work better.

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Marketing Turkey to European Public Opinion
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7. (SBU) On the civil society/communications pillar, the
GOT has established a committee composed of Foreign Minister
Gul, Babacan and Minister of State Beshir Atalay, who was
included because he has responsibility for an existing fund
for the promotion of Turkey,s image abroad. Babacan seemed
very much aware of the importance of marketing Turkey to
western Europeans, noting that one of his majors in his MBA
program at Northwestern was marketing. He said the GOT is
beginning to brainstorm on public relations ideas with
private sector PR experts and will eventually outsource much
of the campaign to the private sector: "With my private
sector experience, I know that Governments are not good at
this." The public relations campaign will be differentiated
for different EU countries and regions and the GOT is placing
a particular importance on expanding student exchange
programs. Whereas there are now 17,000 exchanges (two-way
flow, not a stock) per annum, Babacan said the GOT plans to
increase this number to 100,000 by 2008: "A 15-year old in
France today will probably be voting on Turkey,s EU
accession."

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Comment
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8. (C) The next EU/Turkey/Cyprus flashpoint will be when the
EU reviews Customs Union implementation, including the Ankara
Protocol Extension status and the ports/airports issue, in

2006. It is not surprising, on the one hand, that Babacan
reiterated the GOT party line on the most
politically-sensitive issue (Cyprus),since he is more of an
implementer than a political heavyweight. As one of the
GOT,s most internationally-aware and business-oriented
ministers, Babacan seemed to understand the need for extra
effort on marketing Turkey to European public opinion, and
painted a credible rationale for the GOT decision to draw on
interministerial teams to handle chapter negotiations.
MCELDOWNEY