IRAQ NEIGHBORS SET DATES FOR ISTANBUL MINISTERIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002318 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT. FOR NEA/I AND EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2017 TAGS: PREL IZ TU SUBJECT: IRAQ NEIGHBORS SET DATES FOR ISTANBUL MINISTERIAL Classified By: Ambassador Ross Wilson for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Iraq's neighbors have agreed on the date for the next Expanded Neighbors ministerial, to be held November 1 in Istanbul. The ministerial will be preceded by a senior officials meeting, probably on October 31, during which work on the communique will be finalized. According to Turkish officials, the neighbors were unable to come to agreement on establishing a Baghdad-based neighbors process secretariat during their September 9 meeting. GOT officials are looking to work closely with us in coordinating preparations for the ministerial in hopes of achieving concrete results, especially on political reconciliation. END SUMMARY DATE FOR ISTANBUL MINISTERIAL SET -------------- ¶2. (C) GOT Iraq Coordinator Amb. Oguz Celikkol told the Ambassador September 11 that representatives of Iraq's neighbors approved the timing of the next Expanded Neighbors ministerial, which will be held in Istanbul October 31-November 1. The ministers themselves will meet November 1, while senior officials will gather October 31 to work on a final communique. If it appears in the run-up to the meeting that gaining agreement on a communique is problematic, Celikkol said the GOT might suggest beginning the senior officials' meeting on October 30. The GOT may also propose a working dinner for the ministers on the evening of October ¶31. Invitations for the meetings from FM Babacan are already being prepared and should go out shortly to all those who participated in the first ministerial at Sharm-el-Sheikh including the neighbors, P-5, other G-8 members, plus representatives from the office of the UNSYG, the European Commission, and the Arab League, among others. ¶3. (C) Celikkol indicated the GOT will be looking to coordinate closely with U.S. officials in preparing for the ministerial in hopes of achieving concrete results, especially on political reconciliation. Celikkol said PM Maliki and other GOI officials will likely be more receptive to joint Turkish-U.S. ideas for the ministerial than from Turkey alone. Celikkol noted he looks forward to discussing plans for the meeting with Amb. Satterfield and others during his upcoming visit to Washington. He also hopes that Amb. Satterfield will be able to visit Ankara in October, before the ministerial, to coordinate and finalize preparations. ¶4. (C) Celikkol said the GOT has no problem with Iraqi President Talabani participating in the ministerial. It will be up to the Iraqis to decide who can best represent them -- Talabani or PM Maliki, or both. Celikkol noted that Egyptian President Mubarak had opened the first ministerial at Sharm, which had been attended by Maliki. The GOT will determine the participation of President Gul and PM Erdogan once attendees become more clear. SEPTEMBER 9 BAGHDAD NEIGHBORS MEETING -------------- ¶5. (C) In addition to agreeing on dates for the ministerial, Celikkol said the neighbors heard reports from each of the three working groups, the results of which will in turn be reported on to the ministers in Istanbul. However, most of the discussion focused on the GOI proposal to establish a secretariat to help organize the work of the neighbors SIPDIS process. Celikkol noted that while the U.S., U.K., and Turkey all supported the Iraqi proposal to establish such an entity in Baghdad, none of the Arab neighbors did. Celikkol said the Arabs believe Iraq's MFA can handle the work of coordinating the process. He thought some perhaps opposed it because of their lack of representation in Baghdad (e.g., the Saudis and Egyptians) and the difficulty they might have in staying plugged into the neighbors process run through a secretariat there. Celikkol provided a copy of the final SIPDIS communique from the meeting (full text in para 6). ANKARA 00002318 002 OF 002 ¶6. BEGIN TEXT: Communique Issued by the Chairman of the Meeting: At the invitation of the Government of Iraq, the Second Meeting of Iraq's Neighboring Countries was held in Baghdad today, September 9, 2007 at the expert level. This expanded meeting also included Egypt, Bahrain, and representatives of the League of Arab States, the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC),the European Union, in addition to representatives of the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council (P5),and the world's major industrial economies (G8). The meeting was launched by Iraq's Prime Minister, Mr. Nouri al-Maliki who gave the opening speech, and it was chaired by Iraq's Foreign Minister, Mr. Hoshyar Zebari. The main objectives of this meeting included following up on the process and maintaining the momentum achieved by it, as well as ensuring the neighboring countries' support for the Iraqi Government's efforts to ensure its sovereignty, its independence, its unity, without interference in its internal affairs, and their cooperation to help Iraq overcome its current difficult situation, and to consider and discuss Iraq's needs from its neighbors and from the international community. This meeting follows on the conclusion of the meetings of the three Working Committees on energy, displaced persons, and security. These Committees were set up by the Foreign Ministers of Iraq and its neighbors, meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on May 4, 2007. Participants in today's meeting reviewed the results achieved by the Working Committees, in order to submit a report on these results to the next Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Neighboring Countries. Participants also discussed the next extended meeting of Foreign Ministers in Istanbul, to be held on October 31 and November 1, 2007, as well as the idea of developing a mechanism to support the Extended Meetings of Neighboring Countries and to work on implementing the measures decided by the countries participating in this process. In closing, the participants expressed their gratitude to the Iraqi Government for the successful preparation and hosting of this meeting. Baghdad, September 9, 2007 END TEXT Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON