Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05PRAGUE1455
2005-10-12 13:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Prague
Cable title:  

IRAQ PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI'S VISIT TO CZECH

Tags:  PREL EFIN ETRD EZ IZ 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 001455 

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EUR/NCE FOR FICHTE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2015
TAGS: PREL EFIN ETRD EZ IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI'S VISIT TO CZECH
REPUBLIC IS HEAVY ON SYMBOLISM BUT LIGHT ON SUBSTANCE


Classified By: Political Officer Scott Harney for reasons 1.4 (b+d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 001455

SIPDIS

EUR/NCE FOR FICHTE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2015
TAGS: PREL EFIN ETRD EZ IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI'S VISIT TO CZECH
REPUBLIC IS HEAVY ON SYMBOLISM BUT LIGHT ON SUBSTANCE


Classified By: Political Officer Scott Harney for reasons 1.4 (b+d).


1. (C) Summary. Iraqi President Talabani's visit to Prague
focused on symbolism and achieved little in the way of
concrete improvements to the robust Czech-Iraqi relations.
The GOCR promised to continue supporting transition efforts,
and will take steps to increase business ties. Negotiations
are planned for late October on debt forgiveness. FM Svoboda
intends to visit Baghdad early next year. The Iraqis are
apparently interested in purchasing Czech-made L-159 subsonic
fighter aircraft. Talabani praised Czech-Iraqi ties and the
work of the coalition in Iraq. End summary


2. (SBU) Iraqi President Jalal Talabani chose to begin his
first state visit to Europe since he took office with the
Czech Republic. Prague remains for Talabani a potent symbol
of democracy; the Czechs hosted Talabani when he was a
student activist trying to explain the cause of democracy in
his country. The Czech again sponsored him when he was a
"Peshmergah," fighting for freedom and democracy in Iraq.
So, when he arrived on October 3 for a three-day visit as
Iraq's first democratically elected president, he was
expecting a bit more interest than he received.


3. (C) Members of the Iraqi Embassy privately expressed their
disappointment with their perception that the Czech response
to his visit was less than enthusiastic. Thamer al-Adhami,
Minister Counselor at the Czech Embassy in Prague said that
the embassy felt that the Czech response was a bit cool.
Adhami said that attendance was poor at the events and said
that he did not feel that the press coverage was sufficient.
Indeed, except for Wednesday's edition of Czech daily
newspaper Lidove Noviny, the Talabani visit stayed off the
front pages of Czech newspapers. Privately, many Czechs
bristled at the comparison of Iraq's fight for democracy with
the Czech "Velvet Revolution." During an official luncheon
sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Talabani
reportedly joked that democracy caused Czechoslovakia to
split apart, but said that he hoped that in Iraq democracy

will bring unity. Czech Minster of Foreign Affairs Cyril
Svoboda cooly answered that it was not democracy that split
former Czechoslovakia, but there were many deeper, historical
causes.


4. (SBU) As for substance of the meetings, Al-Adhami said
that he was satisfied, saying it was primarily a courtesy
visit. Talabani did not discuss any sensitive issues,
including the issue of Iraq's debt to Prague. The 26-member
delegation instead met with government and business leaders
to encourage Czech business participation in Iraq. Talabani
noted that at a recent trade fair in Kurdistan, no Czech
companies attended, primarily due to security concerns.
Al-Adhami said that the Czech government has allocated funds
for the reconstruction of Iraq, particularly for projects
that the Czechs had originally been involved with, including
a tractor factory and oil refinery in Basra. However,
Al-Adhami said that biggest challenge has been to get the
Iraqi side to make use of the allocations.


5. (SBU) At a state dinner on October 3, Talabani spoke
warmly of Czech support for coalition activity in Iraq,
including an explicit call for continued coalition engagement
in Iraq. On the second day of his visit to the Czech
Republic, President Talabani came down with flu and did not
attend several events, including a meeting with the mayor of
Prague, as well as a planned meeting with the Iraqi
expatriate community in Prague. Despite his illness,
Talabani did take time for a private meeting in his hotel
room with former Czech President Vaclav Havel on the evening
of 4 October. Al-Adhami said that Talabani remains grateful
for Havel's support for the opposition movement in Iraq
during the reign of Saddam Hussain.


6. (C) Several members of the delegation, led by Iraq
Military Advisor General Tawfiq Samara'i, visited the offices
of Aero Vodochody, makers of the L-159 subsonic fighter
aircraft. The delegation was given a tour of the plant and
then given a demonstration of the L-159. Members of the
delegation said the visit was very successful, however the
embassy would not say whether or not the GOI is interested in
purchasing the aircraft (Comment: Embassy Prague has learned
from Iraqi Embassy sources that Iraq is examining a possible
purchase of L-159s for its air force. GOCR officials have
previously sought USG support for L-159 purchase by the GOI.)


7. (U) During a press conference at Radio Free Europe,
Talabani stressed the Kurds will remain in strong alliance
with the Shiite and said that he did believe that the Kurds
would ever have their own country. He also spoke in support
of the controversial ruling by the National Assembly that
would require that two-thirds of all registered voters, not
just two-thirds of actual voters, to oppose the draft
constitution in at least three governorates in order to
reject the new constitution in next week's referendum.
However, press reports indicated that a few hours later,
Iraq's National Assembly contradicted Talabani's statement
and voted to reverse this last-minute change, after the
United Nations had criticized it as unfair to Iraq's Sunni
Arab minority. At one point during the press conference,
Talabani was asked in Persian about Iraq's relationship to
Iran. Talabani answered that when he was with the
opposition, the opposition was friendly to both America and
Iran. He said that he was convinced that Iraq today can keep
its friendship with two opposite poles at the same time.


8. (C) Pavel Mrazek, Iraq desk officer for the Czech Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, said that other than Talabani's
poorly-received joke during the Ministry's luncheon, the Iraq
trip was uneventful, though did lay the groundwork for
future, substantive meetings. FM Svoboda promised Talabani
that he would visit Iraq in early 2006, after the elections.
Also, later this month, representatives from the Czech
Ministry of Finance plan on meeting with their Iraqi
counterparts in Amman, Jordan to discuss the issue of Iraq's
debt to the Czech Republic. Mrazek predicted that the GOCR
will adopt the recommendations of the Paris Club meeting and
cancel 80 percent of Iraq's debt and restructure the
remaining amount. The Czech MFA also expressed is intention
to open a commercial office in Irbil early next year. Mrazek
said that the MFA plans on staffing the office with Iraqi
local staff and having the commercial counselor from Czech
Embassy in Baghdad regularly visit the office. Mrazek said
the MFA assured the Iraqis that the Czech Republic would
continue to provide training for Iraqis in numerous fields,
particularly law enforcement. (Note: The GOCR has proposed
to extend the deployment by nearly 100 military police
trainers through 2006, and is confident of parliamentary
approval.)
CABANISS