TURKEY: ENERGY AND NON-PROLIFERATION COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 002024 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR ISN/ECC ACHURCH, NJOHASON DEPT FOR EUR PMALIK, AFRIEDT DOE FOR NNSA ABIENIAWASKI, BPENTOLA, ASCHEINMAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/07/2017 TAGS: ENRG KNNP PARM PREL TRGY TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: ENERGY AND NON-PROLIFERATION COOPERATION HINDERED BY LACK OF US RATIFICATION OF 123 AGREEMENT REF: A. 05 ANKARA 2397 ¶B. 05 ANKARA 6248 ¶C. 05 ANKARA 7390 ¶D. 06 ANKARA 1581 ¶E. 06 ANKARA 4994 ¶F. 07 ANKARA 0257 ¶G. 07 ANKARA 1177 ¶H. 07 ANKARA 1962 Classified By: CDA Nancy McEldowney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Action request at para 5. ¶2. (C) Summary: The Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (123) Agreement was initialed by the US and GOT in July 2000. The GOT ratified this agreement in January 2005. To date, the USG has not submitted this agreement to Congress for ratification. Senior GOT officials have stressed that the lack of such an agreement is delaying progress on a number of important bilateral energy and non-proliferation initiatives, including: DOE's Sister Labs Program, the exchange of LEU for HEU reactor fuel, and commitment by the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) to nuclear fuel assurances programs (ref g). Moreover, Foreign Ministry officials have told us the government is reluctant to complete entry into force procedures for our bilateral Non-Proliferation Cooperation (EXBS) Agreement until it receives assurances the 123 Agreement is moving towards ratification. End Summary ¶3. (C) The GOT ratified the 123 Agreement in January 2005 (ref a). In September 2005, U/S Joseph told Turkish officials he hoped the 123 Agreement would soon be submitted to Congress, noting that Turkey had made good progress on bilateral non-proliferation cooperation (ref b). In February 2006, Energy Minister Guler inquired about the status of our ratification of the 123 Agreement during meetings in Washington with Energy Secretary Bodman (ref d). In January 2007, MFA U/S Akgunay met with U.S. officials and requested information concerning the status of the 123 Agreement (ref f). ¶4. (C) MFA Arms Control and Disarmament officials have told us that the GOT is reluctant to complete the procedures for entry into force of our bilateral Non-Proliferation Assistance (EXBS) Agreement, approved by the Turkish parliament in January 2007, until the U.S. provides Turkey with assurances that the 123 Agreement is moving towards ratification. This has prevented full implementation of our EXBS program and has delayed our provision of modern border monitoring and inspection equipment to Turkey at a time when we are pushing Turkey to fully implement UNSCRs 1737 and 1747 against Iran and prevent the transit of arms bound for Hamas and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, officials from the Turkish National Police, Customs, Foreign Trade Undersecretariat and TAEK frequently remind us that lack of a ratified 123 Agreement is hindering further cooperation on initiatives such as DOE's Sister Labs Program and LEU/HEU fuel exchange, as well as TAEK commitment to nuclear fuel assurances programs. ¶5. (U) Action request: Post requests information that we can share with GOT officials on the status of our efforts to obtain ratification of the bilateral Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (123) Agreement. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ MCELDOWNEY