SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: "AL BAYAN" EXCLUSIVE WITH

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001742 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA; INR/B; RRU-NEA IIP/G/NEA-SA WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC SECDEF FOR OASD/PA USCINCCENT FOR POLAD LONDON FOR MCKUNE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: "AL BAYAN" EXCLUSIVE WITH TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER ¶1. Summary: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul claims that Ankara refused an American nuclear reactor in exchange for providing facilitative assistance to the U.S. in its confrontation with Iran. Gul noted that a military option to end the impasse is very unlikely simply because Iran possesses many important abilities and the consequences of any military adventure is unlikely. End summary ¶2. Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan" (circulation 90,000) in a 4/30 front-paged, carried an exclusive interview with Turkish Foreign minister Abdullah Gul by the newspaper's correspondent in Ankara, Muhammad Al-Shami. The headline reads: "Gul tells Al-Bayan: `We refused an (American) nuclear reactor in exchange for facilitative assistance to strike Tehran." ¶3. During the interview Gul was cited as telling "Al-Bayan" that "Ankara rejected allowing American troops to use the Turkish base of Angerlic to direct strikes against Iran despite the attraction of a nuclear reactor, however, he sounded skeptical that the U.S. would go ahead in a military option because Iran possesses many strategic cards in addition to the approaching American elections, which he predicted would lead to the loss of the ruling Republican Party." ¶4. Gul added that "American efforts to contain and strike Iran are mere illusions", noting that the Turkish position rejecting the use of its territories or its participation in any military operation against neighboring nations is strategic. Regarding the tense relations between Washington and Ankara, Gul said: "these relations have not been stabile since the ruling Justice and Development Party came to power." He added that "the tension is multifaceted and has many causes, namely the differences in positions between the U.S. and Turkey on the presence of the Kurdistan Labor Party guerillas in Northern Iraq, the American position in support of an independent Kurdish state, Turkey's support of the Palestinian issue, and the recent position with regard to Hamas' arrival to power." ¶5. On whether the recent Iranian nuclear issue added more tension to relations, Gul noted: `Yes, because we continue to reject participating in such a strike despite all American and Israeli attractions and we will never use our territories and especially the Angerlic base to launch any attack against Iran... I must say here that the occupation of Iraq was carried out without our participation, however American-Israeli pressure aims to unite Turkey and Israel together in the dispute with Iran. In other words, the U.S. Administration wants us to pursue a clear foreign policy as a satellite to the Western camp." He added that "Turkey will never do this despite all attractions, including the establishment of a Turkish nuclear reactor to counter Iran... ¶6. On the U.S. confrontation with Iran he said: "any military strike against Iran is an unlikely adventure. I expect the current escalation to stop at a certain stage, but not the stage of war, especially due to the lack of any evidence that Iran is producing nuclear weapons." SISON