GPOI SECTION 505 AGREEMENT: HELD UP IN TGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 002509 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR PM/PPA-FEATHERSTONE AND EUR/RPM E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2016 TAGS: KTIA MARR MASS PREL PGOV KPKO TU IT GR SUBJECT: GPOI SECTION 505 AGREEMENT: HELD UP IN TGS REF: STATE 2902 Classified By: Counselor for Political-Military Affairs Timothy A. Bett s for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request -- please see para. 3. ¶2. (C) We delivered reftel demarche upon receipt and have followed up numerous times with the Turkish MFA, who never responded substantively. Finally, on May 4, MFA Deputy Director General for Security Policy Serdar Kilic told us that the Turkish General Staff had conveyed to him its concern over language in the proposed agreement which commits -- or would appear to commit -- Turkey to certain obligations as a presumed participant in the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI). Kilic noted that GPOI appeared to be a U.S. initiative, and while Turkey certainly welcomes the USG's contributions to SEEBRIG's deployment to Afghanistan, the GOT was unclear whether signing the Section 505 Agreement as drafted would entail further obligations than the end-use transfer provisions therein. Kilic emphasized that this was only an informal response to our demarche, and he would provide a more formal response at a later date. ¶3. (C) Action request: We recommend the Department consider altering the language of the Section 505 agreement to remove reference to GPOI -- for example, the agreement could instead refer to the U.S. provision of articles and services for use by SEEBRIG or, more specifically, SEEBRIG's deployment to Afghanistan. Alternatively, the language could be changed to retain reference to GPOI, but also to clarify that Turkey would not be committing itself to obligations beyond the end-use transfer requirements of the agreement. We believe this would alleviate TGS's concerns. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON