IRAQ ASKS TURKEY FOR NEW EXTRADITION TREATY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 002480 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2031 TAGS: PTER CJAN PREL TU IZ SUBJECT: IRAQ ASKS TURKEY FOR NEW EXTRADITION TREATY REF: 05 STATE 149796 Classified By: Political Military Counselor Timothy A. Betts for reason s 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) MFA Director General for Security Affairs Hayati Guven informed us on May 3 that the Iraqi Foreign Ministry had sent to Turkey a note verbale the week of April 17 stating that the Turkey-Iraq Legal Assistance Treaty did not provide sufficient grounds to extradite PKK suspects to Turkey. Instead, the GOI proposed the two countries negotiate a new extradition treaty. ¶2. (C) Guven told us that MFA legal experts believe the current legal assistance treaty does provide adequate legal basis for extraditions. That said, MFA recently instructed its Embassy in Baghdad to respond that, although Turkey does not agree with the Iraqi analysis, Ankara was prepared to negotiate a new treaty if that would facilitate the extradition of PKK members in Iraq. Guven was not sure whether the Turkish response had yet been delivered. ¶3. (C) Comment: Mechanisms for extradition or rendition of terrorists were expected to be on the agenda for the next trilateral meeting on the PKK (reftel). It now appears that the Iraqis have taken the initiative bilaterally to establish a new basis for extraditions and Turkey is prepared to accommodate them. End comment. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON