TURKEY: MEK IRANIAN REFUGEES NOT WELCOME

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001927 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SE AND PRM/A E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2017 TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL TU IZ SUBJECT: TURKEY: MEK IRANIAN REFUGEES NOT WELCOME Classified By: DCM Nancy McEldowney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) We have been contacted informally by MNF-I representatives with a request to press the Government of Turkey to accept MEK (Mujahideen-e-Khalq) Iranians currently located in Camp Ashraf in Iraq. UNHCR officials have also told us that their representatives in Jordan have received similar queries from U.S. military officials. ¶2. (C) In our on-going dialogue with GOT officials on refugee issues, it has been made repeatedly clear that Turkey does not wish to accept large scale refugee influxes of any nationality, and most categorically will not accept individuals or groups of the MEK variety. ¶3. (C) We are now working intensively with the GOT to expedite the transfer of Iraqi refugees already cleared by DHS for travel to the United States. Processing these already cleared individuals as well as the other Iraqi refugees currently in Turkey is our top priority. We should not undermine this effort by introducing the MEK issue, which will inevitably engender a negative GOT response. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON