TURKISH MFA OFFICIAL ON PKK DEMARCHE TO FRANCE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000528 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR MBROOKS AND DMERKEL TREASURY FOR RLEBENSON AND JSERAFINI JUSTICE FOR OPDAT E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2016 TAGS: PTER KTFN PREL TU FR SUBJECT: TURKISH MFA OFFICIAL ON PKK DEMARCHE TO FRANCE, BELIEVES U.S. IS HAVING IMPACT REF: A) STATE 13857 B) 05 ANKARA 7497 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Nancy McEldowney, for reasons 1.4(B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) Summary: We consulted with MFA Director General for Security Hayati Guven January 30 on the USG-proposed demarche to France regarding PKK. Guven promised a response in 10 to 14 days. Guven believes US diplomatic pressure on western European governments is having an impact, citing Belgium. Guven reiterated his desire for a stock-taking on US-Turkish enhanced cooperation against PKK and said it would help if he had a single counterpart as coordinator of the US effort. He urged USG officials to raise at the political level the issue of internationalizing the Turkish definition of terrorism. End Summary. -------------- Proposed Demarche to France on PKK -------------- ¶2. (C) We passed the demarche text proposed in ref a to Ambassador Guven who said he would circulate to appropriate GOT agencies and get back to us in between ten days and two weeks. He did not express any disappointment that we were not yet prepared to demarche Germany, since he admitted Turkey was not sure how much Sakine Cansiz operated out of Germany. He agreed that separate, parallel demarches with the Turkish Embassy in Paris would be fine. -------------- USG is Having an Impact -------------- ¶3. (C) Expressing appreciation for US efforts, Guven said he believed our diplomatic pressure on western European governments was having an impact. He cited the Belgian Interior Minister's recent trip to the US, after which the Belgians seemed to be making more of an effort to cooperate with Turkey both on PKK and on Turkish leftist terrorist group DHKPC. -------------- Stock-taking Request and a Plea -------------- ¶4. (C) Guven reiterated his request in December for the US and Turkey to have a "stock-taking" of the enhanced cooperation effort against PKK. He would be willing to travel to Washington to do so, if that helps. Referring back to his earliest discussions of this topic with DAS Bryza and Bryza's later non-paper, Guven said he was somewhat frustrated by not having a single counterpart at his level. -------------- -------------- Stalled Internationalization of the Definition of Terrorism -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Guven said the MASAK law (which makes improvements in the counter-terrorism finance regime) had been discussed in the parliamentary sub-commission and had moved to the commission level. Guven expressed mystification as to the exact status of the stalled but badly-needed modifications to the definition of terrorism under Turkish law. For now, Turkish law continues to define terrorism as attacks on Turkish citizens or on the Turkish state. Guven is well aware that passage of the MASAK law is not enough for Turkey to comply with its international commitments. For example, he said under current law Turkey could not prevent Hamas from passing money through Turkey, "but we are vigilant." ¶6. (C) Although, the GOT had planned several months ago to propose internationalizing the definition, and Guven said he had secured FonMin Gul's agreement on the need for these changes, he has heard nothing lately as to the status. (Note: Our understanding is that AK Party members objected to other parts of the package proposed by the Government that are unrelated to internationalizing the definition of terrorism. These members' concerns relate more to the package's proposed enhancement of police powers. End Note.) Guven thought it would be useful for high-level USG officials to raise this issue with senior GOT officials, particularly Gul and Minister of Justice Cicek. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) Guven's comments about the efficacy of our diplomatic pressure are noteworthy, given the traditional reluctance of GOT officials to thank U.S. counterparts for our efforts. We need to reflect on how to make the process work better, including his idea of a stock-taking. WILSON