TURKEY'S BSEC BILATERALS: ARMENIA, GREECE, GEORGIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001685 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2027 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM GG GR TU SUBJECT: TURKEY'S BSEC BILATERALS: ARMENIA, GREECE, GEORGIA REF: ANKARA 1505 Classified By: Ambassador Ross Wilson, reasons 1.4 b, d ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Turkey held 38 bilaterals on the margins of the 15th Black Sea Economic Cooperation Commission (BSEC) June 25 summit (SEPTEL) in Istanbul. Key among those were FM Gul's meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Oskanian and PM Erdogan's meetings with Greek PM Karamanlis, and Georgian President Saakashvili. The Gul-Oskanian bilateral produced no breakthroughs, with both sides publicly sticking to their long-established positions. PMs Karamanlis and Erdogan affirmed their desire to continue the positive track of Greece-Turkey relations, with particular emphasis on progress in bilateral economic relations. Karamanlis pleased his hosts by reaffirming Greece's support for Turkey's EU membership. He also visited Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos, and claimed that current restrictions on human rights and religious freedom prevent the Patriarchate from fulfilling its spiritual mission. Erdogan encouraged Saakashvili to allow Turkey to run ferries directly to Sukhumi while Georgia pledged to release an imprisoned Turkish captain and several Turkish boats seized in Georgian waters. Separately, we learned Turkey plans to re-schedule an unofficial visit by de facto Abkhaz "president" Bagapash to Turkey. Turkey hopes to use its ties with both sides to re-start talks between Sukhumi and Tbilisi. END SUMMARY. GUL-OSKANIAN: NOTHING NEW...YET -------------- ¶2. (C) MFA Deputy U/S for Caucasus and Central Asia Unal Cevikoz told Ambassador that the 15-20 minute meeting between Oskanian and Gul was cordial. Oskanian told Gul that President Kocharian did not attend BSEC because he believes no progress has been made in TU-AM relations since the last time he visited Turkey, eight years ago. Both sides agreed it was important to keep channels of communication open, but took no specific steps to re-establish contacts. Turkey considers the ball to be in Armenia's court: either it responds to Turkey's proposal on commissions, offers a counter-proposal, or offers to meet. ¶3. (C) Ambassador encouraged Cevikoz to try to restart the process after Turkey's July 22 parliamentary elections. Cevikoz said he told his GOAM counterparts on the BSEC margins that he is prepared to go to Yerevan for talks after elections. Cevikoz also told us that he is pushing within GOT to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, rather than first opening the border -- a step that Turkey has repeatedly said it cannot take without progress by Armenia on Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Cevikoz, Gul has expressed intent, but been noncommittal to this approach. ¶4. (C) Separately, MFA Head of Department Suleyman Gokce told us, based on his recent consultations in Washington with Hill staff, lobbyists and think tanks, he believes the momentum for an Armenian Genocide Resolution (AGR) is growing. He suggested that the over-arching Armenian priority to see AGR through is precluding Armenia from taking any positive steps on relations that will hinder this effort. KARAMANLIS OFFERS SUPPORT ON EU, GOOD LUCK ON ELECTIONS -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) MFA Head of Department Gulsun Ergun told us that Karamanlis firmly endorsed Turkey's EU accession and highlighted for Erdogan the progress made in economic relations. This was Karamanlis's first trip to Turkey, but no mention was made of an Ankara stop to reciprocate Erdogan's Athens visit. A Greek embassy contact stressed the complications of such a trip; Turkey's inability to guarantee that a PM visit would take place without incident (e.g., what Greece would consider a violation of its domestic airspace or another provocative act),precludes the government -- in a tight election season of its own -- from taking such a step. ¶6. (C) Karamanlis also wished Erdogan good luck with the upcoming election - a sincere wish, according to our Greek Embassy contact. Greece-Turkey relations have undoubtedly improved under Erdogan's AKP, but Greece remains unconvinced of Turkey's democratic bona fides, especially with regard to civilian control of the military, he said. While the current government's Islamist orientation is a potential concern to Greece and the small Greek community here, AKP's efforts to promote religious freedom will, they hope, support the religious freedoms of minority groups as much as Muslims. In his meeting with Patriarch Bartholomeos, Karamanlis noted the Ecumenical Patriarchate had a leading role at an international level due to the Patriarch's leadership. He said the Patriarch could not fulfill his "high spiritual mission" in the face of ongoing restrictions on human rights ANKARA 00001685 002 OF 002 and religious freedom. TURKEY SEEKING TO ENHANCE ITS ROLE IN GEORGIA AND ABKHAZIA -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) Deputy U/S Cevikoz told the Ambassador that Erdogan and President Saakashvili discussed ferries between Turkey and Sukhumi. The outcome was an undertaking by the Georgians to release several captains and a ferry boat that were arrested/impounded for violating Georgian territorial waters during previous voyages to Sukhumi. There was no progress on agreement to allow future ferries to go through Georgian waters. Cevikoz told the Ambassador that Turkey plans to re-schedule an unofficial visit by de facto Abkhaz "president" Bagapash to Turkey, previously postponed due to his health problems. Turkey hopes to use its ties with both sides to re-start talks between Sukhumi and Tbilisi. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON