TFLE01: UPDATE ON EVACUEE PROCESSING IN TURKEY

					  UNCLAS ANKARA 004354 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC ASEC TU LE CY
SUBJECT: TFLE01: UPDATE ON EVACUEE PROCESSING IN TURKEY 
 
REF: A) ANKARA 4252, B) ANKARA 4326 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
					

1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Of the 1,700 evacuees received in Turkey,
approximately 700 remain on the Incirlik Air Base as of July 28,
awaiting chartered aircraft. All three of the flights scheduled to
depart July 28 were canceled. These repeated cancellations and
delays are seriously undermining morale on the ground. Conoffs at
Incirlik sent approximately fifty-five humanitarian parole requests
to DHS for processing and recommended against parole in only four
cases. DHS officers (2 from Frankfurt and 2 from Rome) are
scheduled to arrive July 28 at circa 2100 hours to assist with any
additional processing at Incirlik. Incirlik's base commander
expects all evacuees awaiting DHS processing to be off base by
August 2. End Summary.




2. (SBU) All three flights scheduled to depart Incirlik July 28 were
canceled. Evacuees are growing weary of delays and cancellations,
and their morale and patience is quickly deteriorating. Yesterday,
thirty Amcits marched into our control room demanding to speak to
"whoever was in charge of the operation" after receiving news of yet
another flight cancellation.



3. (SBU) Evacuees to Turkey were typically well funded, and to date
Conoffs have not had any loan requests. The one remaining medical
case, involving evacuation of an Amcit with an oxygen tank, was
resolved when said Amcit decided to purchase his own ticket with
cash on a commercial carrier.



4. (SBU) Conoffs submitted fifty-five humanitarian parole requests
to DHS, recommending against parole in only four cases. Thus far
Conoffs have received two positive responses from DHS for onward
travel from humanitarian requests and hope to have all pending cases
resolved by COB in Washington July 28. DHS officers (2 from
Frankfurt and 2 from Rome) are scheduled to arrive tonight at circa
2100 hours to assist with any additional processing at Incirlik.



5. (SBU) Incirlik base commander expects all evacuees awaiting DHS
processing to be off base by August 2. We do not currently
anticipate the need to house any evacuees at Incirlik beyond August
2ND.

Wilson