Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ISTANBUL2071
2005-12-07 14:42:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Istanbul
Cable title:  

AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD'S DECEMBER 4 MEETINGS WITH

Tags:  PREL PGOV SY IZ TU SYRIA 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 002071 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2025
TAGS: PREL PGOV SY IZ TU SYRIA
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD'S DECEMBER 4 MEETINGS WITH
FOREIGN MINISTER GUL - IRAQI ELECTIONS, SYRIA, IRAN

REF: A. STATE 219157

B. BAGHDAD 4802

C. ANKARA 7027

D. ANKARA 7098

Classified By: Consul General Deborah K. Jones, Reasons 1.4 (b and d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 002071

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2025
TAGS: PREL PGOV SY IZ TU SYRIA
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD'S DECEMBER 4 MEETINGS WITH
FOREIGN MINISTER GUL - IRAQI ELECTIONS, SYRIA, IRAN

REF: A. STATE 219157

B. BAGHDAD 4802

C. ANKARA 7027

D. ANKARA 7098

Classified By: Consul General Deborah K. Jones, Reasons 1.4 (b and d).


1. (C) Summary: During a very cordial hour-long lunch
sandwiched between U.S. meetings with a team of Iraqi Sunnis
-- conducted in Istanbul and orchestrated and observed by the
GOT -- Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told visiting
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Khalilzad that Turkey had counseled
the Sunnis that their non-participation in Iraq's electoral
process suited Iran's strategic purposes. Positing that
Sunni Arabs were the critical middle bloc that held Iraq's
Sunni Kurds and Shi'a Arabs together, Gul said he had urged
the Sunnis to accept the December 15 election date, despite
encouragement from others (possibly the Egyptians and Saudis)
to seek postponement. Gul said he would follow up with
others during this week's OIC summit in Mecca to encourage
support for Sunni participation. On Syria, Gul said he had
used his recent trip to Damascus to urge full cooperation
with the Mehlis investigation. Cautioning against radical
transition in that country, which would lead to "a vacuum and
chaos," Gul suggested the Syrians need both pressure "but to
see a way out." Thus, "the U.S. should continue to push and
(Turkey) will continue to pull." Gul characterized the
recent visit of Iranian FM Mottaki as that "of an old friend"
and said the latter was "relaxed on Iraq." Ambassador
Khalilzad thanked Gul for Turkey's role in facilitating the
U.S.-Sunni meetings and reiterated there would be no delay in
elections and no fixed timetable for U.S. withdrawal.
Khalilzad reiterated U.S. concerns about Syrian interference
in Iraq and its noncompliance with UN resolutions, and agreed
that Sunni non-participation played into Iranian hands. In
response to the Minister's brief allusion to PKK activities,
Ambassador Khalilzad suggested that a more stable situation
in the Sunni heartland would enable more security resources
to be deployed in the north. Gul was joined by Turkish MFA
Director General for the Middle East Oguz Celikkol, the Prime
Minister's advisor Professor Ahmet Davutoglu, and the Prime

Minister's press counselor Nabi Avci. End Summary.


2. (C) Gul and Khalilzad also met briefly prior to the start
of the U.S.-Sunni bilats (reported septel). Gul reviewed the
issues raised by the Iraqi team during the previous evening's
meeting with Gul and his advisors, and stressed Turkey's
desire to contribute to the effort to ensure that all Iraqi
groups participate in the electoral process. He noted that
he and his advisors had made a special effort to convince the
Sunnis to lower the profile of their initial demand that the
December 15 polls be postponed and to focus instead on
technical issues that could be addressed in the run-up to the
election. Here Gul suggested that the Iraqi Sunnis might
have been receiving "bad advice" from the Saudis and
Egyptians with respect to delaying the elections. Khalilzad
expressed appreciation for Gul's initiative in organizing the
meeting and stressed that the U.S. shares the goal of broad
participation. He underscored election postponement is not
under consideration.


3. (C) During the lunch, Khalilzad characterized his morning
dialog with the Iraqis as open and frank, noting that "while
we can't deliver on everything," the Sunnis had raised a
number of legitimate technical concerns which could be
pursued, including the question of international monitors.
He added that discussion of a withdrawal timetable had been
raised, but that he had stressed that an artificial timetable
would be counterproductive; both sides needed to focus
instead on achieving the conditions necessary for withdrawal.
At the end of the day, the Ambassador speculated, the Sunnis
would want the U.S. to stay (which he added is not our
intention),a point with which Gul concurred. Khalilzad
stressed that the U.S. goal is an Iraq that works and in
which all elements of society participate; the Sunnis could
not continue to dwell in the past or dream of a return to the
status quo ante. Gul agreed, stressing that only the
participation of "all three pillars" of Iraqi society would
create a healthy polity and suggesting that the Sunni Arabs
held commonalities with Iraq's Kurds, as Sunnis, and Iraq's
Shi'a, as Arabs, that were necessary to hold the country
together.


4. (C) Gul also raised the political challenges facing the
Sunnis, and the need for them to have "concrete things" to
present to their constituencies to bring them along. That
said, the Minister and Ambassador agreed that it is
particularly important to disabuse the Sunnis of the notion
that participating in the election is a favor to the rest of
Iraqi society. Other elements (read Iran, inter alia) are
happy to see the Sunnis outside the process, and are taking
advantage of their absence for their own purposes. Gul said
he had warned the Iraqis that they were playing into the
hands of their opponents, "who did not wish to see the real
representatives of the Sunnis." Only from within the system,
he agreed, could they influence the final shape of Iraq's
constitutional system. Khalilzad suggested that a government
of national unity might be the optimum outcome from the
upcoming elections. Gul agreed, judging that this would
offer all parties some "ownership" of the process.


5. (C) Syria and Iran: In response to Ambassador Khalilzad's
concerns over Syrian misbehavior and Iranian mischief in
Iraq, and the Ambassador's reiteration of points contained
ref A, Gul said he had delivered a strong message to Asad
during his recent meetings in Damascus, warning him to
abandon his rhetoric, cooperate with the U.N. investigation
and do more on the Iraqi border. "We must keep the pressure
on," he agreed, but "we must also show the way out," since
"dramatic change" in Syria would lead to a "vacuum and
chaos." With pressure and encouragement, he argued, the
Syrians would change: "You should continue to push and we
will pull." Gul opined that Syria's Economic Minister was
"serious" and that economic reform in Syria would bring
political changes in its wake. On Iran, Gul said Foreign
Minister Mottaki had been "relaxed" about Iraq during his
recent visit to Ankara (ref C),but agreed with Ambassador
Khalilzad's observation that the Iranians have been playing a
divisive game in Iraq, permitting extremists to infiltrate
the north of the country, while also encouraging Shiite
sectarianism.


6. (C) PKK: In a passing reference to the PKK, Gul argued
that it is "essential" that it be addressed to counteract the
perception some have that the U.S. does not view all
terrorists with the same seriousness. Khalilzad expressed
hope that when the security situation stabilizes in the Sunni
heartland, security resources could be refocused to address
PKK concerns.


7. (SBU) Press Event: At the conclusion of the luncheon,
based on a progress report on ongoing U.S.-Sunni meetings led
by Baghdad Political Counselor Robert Ford and other members
of the U.S. delegation, the Minister and Ambassador Khalilzad
agreed to a joint press conference (photo op and brief
statement) to announce the fact of the meeting and to stress
the determination of all sides to work to ensure broad
participation in the elections. In his remarks to the press,
Gul emphasized Turkey's interest in seeing an "Iraq that
moves forward" and the GOT's efforts to encourage all
groups, including those that did not participate in the
referendum, to take part in the December 15 poll. "This is a
process," he emphasized, to which Turkey is "determined to
contribute." Ambassador Khalilzad thanked Gul for his
leadership in convening the meeting, and for the "role Turkey
has played and has promised to continue playing." He
stressed that the United States is committed to work as hard
as it can to facilitate the participation of all Iraqis in
the election, and that the meeting with the Sunni delegation
was part of that process. "We want an Iraq that can stand on
its own feet," the Ambassador said, and for that to happen
"all of Iraq's communities need to agree." Tariq Hashemi,
leader of the Sunni Iraq Islamic Party and designated
spokesman for the Sunni team, also expressed appreciation for
"Turkey's role in Iraq," and noted that important issues had
been tabled for discussion, specifically the request for
cessation of bombing of civilian centers in the run-up to the
elections; the question of observers, and a request that the
election be postponed. He thanked Ambassador Khalilzad for
his open-minded attitude, and stressed the Sunnis' desire to
participate in the election, to be represented in the
assembly and government, and to have a "genuine role" in the
political process. He concluded, however, that this is
subject to a healthy environment, which he said would not be
achieved without "American consideration of our concerns."


8. (C) Comment: The bilateral U.S.-Sunni meetings, while
useful, produced no breakthroughs. The real winner here was
Prime Minister Erdogan's government, which clearly wanted to
signal to us, the Iraqis, and the Turkish public its efforts
to contribute to stability in neighboring Iraq and raise its
profile as a key regional player. End Comment.


9. (U) This message was cleared by Ambassador Khalilzad.
JONES