ACTION REQUEST: CUSTOMS SCANDAL CAUSES FUEL TRUCK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004000 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2016 TAGS: MOPS PREL ENRG IZ TU SUBJECT: ACTION REQUEST: CUSTOMS SCANDAL CAUSES FUEL TRUCK STOPPAGE AT TURKEY-IRAQ BORDER REF: BAGHDAD (WEYDIG) Classified By: DCM Nancy McEldowney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request -- please see para. 2. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST: Due to a police raid and a continuing investigation of the Turkish Customs facility at Habur Gate, virtually no fuel trucks have gone from Turkey to Iraq since June 28. We understand that Coalition Forces in Iraq are concerned about their supply of sustainment fuel, and we have learned from Embassy Baghdad that civilian fuel shortages, in particular LPG, are a pressing concern. MFA and Turkey's Foreign Trade Undersecretariat (FTU) assured us July 7 that operations at Habur will resume as normal on July 10, and invited us to submit information on sustainment trucks at the border so that Turkish officials can push these trucks across ASAP. We submitted this information July 7. We seek guidance on whether we should also request priority for certain categories of humanitarian fuel for the Iraqi people. END SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST. ¶3. (C) Turkish authorities raided the Customs facility at the Habur Gate Turkey-Iraq border crossing on June 28, arresting over 30 Customs officials suspected of corruption. The raid, and subsequent crackdown on Customs operations at the gate, have resulted in virtually no fuel trucks being allowed to cross the border into Iraq over the past nine days. Turkey is a significant source of both sustainment fuel for Coalition Forces and humanitarian fuel for the Iraqi people. We understand through military channels that CF commanders in Iraq are expressing concern over their fuel supply, and we have heard from Embassy Baghdad that civilian fuels, in particular LPG, are in critically short supply. ¶4. (C) We have weighed in with senior Turkish officials on this issue, including State Minister for Foreign Trade Tuzmen (who also supervises Customs) and GOT Special Envoy for Iraq Celikkol. Tuzmen told us July 4 that he is anxious to get operations at Habur back to normal as soon as possible and that he has raised the issue within the Turkish cabinet, but as this is a law enforcement matter he does not have full authority to resume operations. ¶5. (C) From sources at the border and Customs contacts we have learned the following: --Turkish officials told U.S. and Iraqi participants at the July 5 weekly border meeting at Habur that full operations at Habur will resume "within seven to ten days." --A Turkish Customs official told us that the Customs operation at Habur will once again be at full staffing by July 10. --Two or three days ago Turkish officials took fuel samples from 150 randomly-selected fuel trucks (some are sustainment, some are carrying humanitarian fuels) to verify whether their cargoes match their manifests. (NOTE: Turkish truckers are notorious for watering down or otherwise altering their load going into Iraq and selling the real product in Turkey. Many of these same truckers purchase Iraqi fuel at subsidized prices and smuggle it back into Turkey for sale. We suspect the Customs officials were arrested for colluding in these activities. END NOTE.) Officials have sent these samples to Izmit (near Istanbul) for testing, and will not release any fuel trucks until they receive the test results. We are trying to find out how long this process is expected to take. ¶6. (C) GOT Iraq Envoy Celikkol assured the DCM July 7 that operations at Habur will resume as normal on Monday, July 10. Additionally, he and Tuzmen's Foreign Trade Undersecretariat requested that we forward ASAP to the FTU information on sustainment trucks waiting at the border (plate numbers, fuel company names, etc.) so that border officials can give these trucks priority in crossing to Iraq. Through mil channels, ANKARA 00004000 002 OF 002 we have learned that Coalition Forces can only maintain operations for seven days at current rates before they would have to implement extraordinary measures to conserve fuel for critical operations. To maintain normal ops tempo Coalition Forces need 100 sustainment fuel vehicles per day (70 JP8, 20 Diesel, 10 Mogas) to cross the border for the next 10 days to cover the void created by the current interruption in the flow. We have requested the GOT to expedite according to these guidelines and forwarded the information on the trucks FTU and MFA requested. Embassy believes 100 sustainment trucks per day should not severely disrupt humanitarian fuel shipments provided Habur does in fact return to normal from July 10. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON