PSI: INVITATION TO EXERCISE ANATOLIAN SUN FOR GCC

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001961 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR T, EUR, NEA, ISN/CPI: MSTUMPF E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2016 TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM PREL TU ZP SUBJECT: PSI: INVITATION TO EXERCISE ANATOLIAN SUN FOR GCC COUNTRIES REF: STATE 56944 Classified By: Pol-Mil Counselor Timothy Betts, reason 1.4 b/d. ¶1. (U) This is an action request --see para 3. ¶2. (C) We delivered talking points to Turkish MFA Disarmament and Arms Control First Secretary Serhan Yigit on April 11. Yigit responded that he would discuss the request with senior MFA and Turkish General Staff exercise developers. Yigit expressed concern about the short time frame remaining before the exercise in late May. Yigit also informed us that GOT still has not received any replies from some countries we previously requested to be invited to the exercise: Israel, Morocco, Republic of Korea and Tunisia. ¶3. (SBU) Action Request: Most GOT officials working on the exercise are currently attending the PSI Operations Expert Group meeting this week in Miami. We recommend that the U.S. delegation in Miami discuss our request with the Turkish delegation there. We also recommend that posts in countries to which the U.S. specifically requested invitations be sent, encourage appropriate government officials to respond to the Turkish invitation. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON