TURKEY STILL SEEKS CLARITY ON POST-SHARM WORKING

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001199 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2017 TAGS: PREL EAID ENRG EPET TU IZ SUBJECT: TURKEY STILL SEEKS CLARITY ON POST-SHARM WORKING GROUPS REF: A. ANKARA 1085 ¶B. ANKARA 614 Classified By: POLCouns Janice G. Weiner for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) MFA Undersecretary (D-equivalent) Apakan told the Ambassador May 15 that GOT Special Envoy Celikkol will soon travel to Baghdad. Celikkol hopes to finalize arrangements with the Iraqis on the Neighbors-plus working groups agreed at Sharm el-Sheikh and also consult with Amb. Crocker. Apakan reiterated what Celikkol told us May 8 (ref a): Turkey is prepared to host all three WGs (security, energy, refugees) if Iraq desires. While Celikkol believes holding all three WGs simultaneously would be preferable, it is prepared to host energy with the understanding that the refugees and security WGs will meet later. Apakan told the Ambassador that these thoughts have been conveyed to the Iraqis. ¶2. (C) On energy, Turkey hopes that the working group will review Iraq's energy needs, including for petroleum products and electricity. Turkey also thinks it would be useful to have a trilateral U.S.-Turkey-Iraq session on gas to follow up the March 9 meeting (ref b). ¶3. (C) Celikkol's staff confirmed to us May 17 that he will travel to Baghdad May 27-28. They expressed concern that the GOI appears not to be following up or consulting on the WGs, and hope Celikkol will be able to learn more during his Baghdad meetings. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON