MAKHMOUR: PUSHING TOWARD CLOSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006726

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2016
TAGS: PTER PREF PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: MAKHMOUR: PUSHING TOWARD CLOSURE

REF: A. ANKARA 6614

B. GENEVA 2912

Classified By: DCM Nancy McEldowney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Turkey is concerned that the Makhmour camp
will remain open after some refugees repatriate to Turkey, or
that non-returnees will simply be moved en masse to another
camp in northern Iraq. UNHCR is struggling with how to
persuade the Kurdish Iraqi authorities to resettle
non-returnees in the dispersed fashion the GOT is demanding.
MFA has requested of UNHCR some further changes to the
Tripartite (Turkey-Iraq-UNHCR) Agreement on Makhmour; the two
sides will reconvene soon. The GOT still seems hesitant to
meet immediately with the Iraqis to conclude the agreement.
End summary.


2. (C) In a private Dec. 19 meeting, DCM urged MFA Director
General (S/CT-equivalent) Hayati Guven to conclude as soon as
possible the draft Turkey-Iraq-UNHCR Tripartite Agreement
(T.A.) to achieve durable solutions for the residents of
Makhmour refugee camp in northern Iraq. Guven would not
commit to a date for completing the agreement, but added that
he was certain the Turkish parliament would eventually
approve the deal.


3. (C) Together with UNHCR representatives, we also met with
Guven Dec. 18 to discuss the text of the T.A. Guven reported
that the Turkish General Staff told him that it had learned
that the UNHCR was planning to create another refugee camp
elsewhere in Iraqi Kurdistan for those Makhmour residents who
choose not to return to Turkey. The camp, TGS claimed, would
be located at Bradosd in the Hakurk region, near the
Iran-Iraq border. (This would place the camp firmly in PKK
territory.) The UNHCR-Turkey rep, Ana Liria-Franch, firmly
denied any such plan. As a matter of policy, UNHCR always
opposes opening refugee camps: its job is to seek durable
solutions, and it only uses camps as a last resort if
compelled to do so by local authorities or circumstances.


4. (C) Guven replied that he hoped this was the case, as
Turkey firmly opposed any plan that envisioned refugees
remaining at Makhmour or being moved to another camp (or to
Kirkuk or Mosul, he added). If any of these options were in
the cards, he emphasized, there was no need to continue
negotiations on a T.A. Both Liria-French and we agreed to
check into these reports.


5. (C) Liria-Franch noted, however, that it has been hard to
persuade the Iraqis, especially the KRG, to close Makhmour
and resettle into northern Iraq those refugees who do not
return to Turkey. UNHCR assesses that Makhmour is no longer
really a camp: it is a village. Many residents are
self-supporting, thus UNHCR's financial support has fallen
over the years. It may prove difficult to persuade people to
return to Turkey. Guven rejoined that it is not UNHCR's job
to persuade refugees to return to Turkey, only to provide
accurate information so they can pick the best option. We
told Guven that Turkey needs to discuss the local integration
issue directly with the GOI.


6. (C) Turning to the T.A. text itself, Guven noted that he
had said during Nov. 15 discussions with UNHCR in Geneva (ref
b) that Turkey would request some changes to the text. He
then requested about 10 relatively minor alterations to the
draft, most of which are technical in nature. He implied
that a number of these changes were insisted upon by the TGS.
Liria-Franch undertook to discuss these proposals with
Geneva, and to reconvene as soon as possible.


7. (C) During the discussion, both Liria-Franch and we
suggested to Guven that this project will be more likely to
succeed if Turkey were able to attract as many refugees as
possible to return. Guven responded that while the GOT cares
about its citizens, it will not offer any more incentives
than are offered already in the T.A. draft text. He noted
that the Turkish parliament will have to approve the T.A.,

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and expressed concern that the agreement as is may have a
hard time getting through -- though he assured us it would
happen.


8. (C) Liria-Franch informed Guven that Iraqi MFA
Undersecretary Hamoud had responded to UN High Commissioner
Guterres' June 1 letter to President Talabani requesting the
GOI to provide security to restore the humanitarian nature of
the camp so that UNHCR can effect durable solutions. Guven
was disappointed that the response was not from Talabani and
did not discuss the issue of integration into northern Iraq,
but endeavored to inform his higher authorities that Iraq had
responded to Guterres' letter. We urged him to agree to
talks with the GOI on the T.A. Guven was non-committal,
noting that Makhmour was not the GOT's top counter-PKK
priority.


9. (C) Comment: It appears that the GOT's position on the
Makhmour camp remains unchanged. Its highest priority is
closing the camp. GOT officials have presumably assessed
that the population is alienated from Turkey, sympathetic to
the PKK, and not inclined to return: Thus the government's
emphasis on integrating non-returnees in northern Iraq in a
dispersed fashion. We will continue to press the GOT to
discuss this issue directly with the Iraqis ASAP. End
comment.

Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/

WILSON