EXBS: UPDATE OF NP COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE

UNCLAS ANKARA 007396 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC KSTC PARM PREL TU US SUBJECT: EXBS: UPDATE OF NP COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT REF: ANKARA 3358 ¶1. This is an action cable. See para 5. ¶2. We received a diplomatic note from the MFA dated December 14, 2005 concerning the Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the United States of America Regarding Cooperation to Facilitate the Provision of Assistance for Non Proliferation Purposes (the EXBS Agreement). This Agreement was signed on June 14, 2005 and sent to the Turkish Parliament for ratification. The MFA note states that the Foreign Relations Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly wants a change in the title of the Agreement with a view to ensuring a better understanding by the Turkish public, by the inclusion with Turkish text, the words "Weapons of Mass Destruction". The new suggested title for the Agreement would be "Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the United States of America Regarding Cooperation to Facilitate the Provision of Assistance for Weapons of Mass Destruction Non Proliferation Purposes". ¶3. The note states that the change of title could be accomplished by replacing the first page of the Agreement, since the text of the Agreement remains the same. This change could take effect with the exchange of diplomatic notes. Finally, if we agree, the received note is to be considered as consent by the GOT to the proposed amendment in the Turkish and English titles of the Agreement. We have faxed the note to the Department (EUR/SE and ISN/ECC). ¶4. Comment: Parliament was concerned about the ambiguity of the Turkish translation of "nonproliferation." This suggested title change does not effect the text or the focus of the Agreement. We recommend accepting the requested change. End comment. ¶5. Action requested: Post requests instruction as to whether we can accept the change to the Agreement title and substitute title pages as suggested by MFA or do we need to produce a new document with new original signatures. WILSON