SLOVAKIA ON TURKEY'S EU ACCESSION: A ROSIER

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000686 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2015 TAGS: PREL EU TU LO SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA ON TURKEY'S EU ACCESSION: A ROSIER PICTURE EMERGES REF: A. STATE 150087 ¶B. BRATISLAVA 660 Classified By: DCM Lawrence R. Silverman for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). (C) Foreign Minister Kukan's chef de cabinet, Peter Kmec, provided DCM August 25 a somewhat more positive picture of Slovakia's likely stance on the beginning of Turkey's EU accession talks October 3 than we had heard from other MFA officials earlier (ref B). We reiterated our strong arguments about why the EU should stick with the 10/3 date and not create new conditions or linkages, including the generally positive reactions of some of Slovakia's neighbors. We wanted to brief Kmec personally in advance of Cypriot FM Lacovou's visit to Bratislava August 30 and his meeting with FM Kukan. Kmec noted Slovakia's position that Croatia's talks should begin as soon as possible rather than being linked to war crimes issues and continued to prefer linkage between Croatia and Turkey. However, he quickly added that he thought the GOS would not make a significant lobbying effort on the issue within EU circles. We expect to get a readout from the GOS after the Lacovou visit. VALLEE NNNN