TURKISH VIEW OF PKK TALKS WITH IRAQ

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 002662

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2017
TAGS: PREL PTER IZ TU
SUBJECT: TURKISH VIEW OF PKK TALKS WITH IRAQ


Classified By: AMBASSADOR ROSS WILSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (c) Summary: Turkish MFA Apakan gave Ambassador on
October 27 a disappointed account of the talks in Ankara the
day before with the Iraqis regarding the PKK. He did not
dismiss the ideas brought from Baghdad, but said Turkey needs
actions that will have an impact now. Apakan noted that the
Iraqis were professional and approached the topic with great
seriousness, but made clear the limits of their capabilities.
The participation of KDP and PUK representatives in the
talks was handled as well as could be expected, and the
government here is being excoriated by the media for allowing
them in. For Apakan, the next steps are Secretary Rice's
visit, the Istanbul Iraq Neighbors Ministerial, and PM
Erdogan's meeting with the President November 5. He appealed
for the President's staff to equip him with tangibles on the
PKK to discuss with ERDOGAN that will help save a rapidly
deteriorating relationship. End Summary


2. (c) Apakan said that both private ministerial talks and a
full delegation lunch and discussion covered the same issues.
Iraq presented three proposals: for aerial surveillance of
the border, to establish/re-establish border posts, and to
set up a Turkey/Iraq/MNF-I military coordination cell. The
Iraqis claimed that PKK front offices have been closed and
Makhmour camp cleared of PKK. They also apparently said they
will try to help Turkey recover its soldiers held hostage by
the PKK if they can. The Turks gave their version of the
facts on front offices and Makhmour. Apakan said Turkey has
pictures of the border and other information sharing
arrangements with the US and that the border station and
cooperation cell proposals are not responsive actions. In
any case, they will take a long time to realize. Missing
were real time action items that would show tangible support
to Turkey on the deeply emotional issue here of cross-border
commando raids on Turkey.


3. (c) According to Apakan, Babacan complained about "some
groups" in northern Iraq who openly support the PKK through
their political statements and other actions. PUK rep and
KRG minister Ahmet said that Turks and the Iraqi Kurds had
been friends, but now there are gaps; if Turkey would speak
with and recognize the Iraqi Kurds, then it should be
possible to solve this problem. Apakan told Ambassador that
Turkey regards this as a "recognize us and then we can talk"
threat, and Turkey will not accept it. He noted with sarcasm
that the KRG cannot say that the terrain is harsh, the PKK
difficult, and effective action against it virtually
impossible and then argue that if there were dialogue
everything would become possible and all problems would be
solved.


4. (c) The presence of KDP and PUK representatives had been a
problem, Apakan acknowledged, referring to Ambassador's
conversations with Iraq Coordinator Celikkol and others. The
Iraqis on this issue had insisted that Turkey accept the
unity and totality of their delegation. Ultimately, Turkey
arranged for initial substantive conversations tete-a-tete
among relevant Turkish and Iraqi ministers and then, in the
large group, opted essentially to ignore the presence of the
offending members. It looked to Ankara like they had
accommodated the PUK and KDP presence and allowed them to
speak, but for the Iraqi Kurds, we assume there was snub
enough to rankle.


5. (c) Assessing the overall tone, Apakan called the
discussions useful. The Iraqis came in good faith and did
their best. Apakan said Iraq is and will remain a country
Turkey wants to be on friendly terms with. It recognizes
that the central government and really all the Iraqi
authorities lack resources fully to confront the PKK,
especially given the other terrorist problems they face. The
Turkish delegation expressed no anger, made no threats, and
was sad that Iraq is not in a position to help it. The
Turkish press release on the talks, he asserted, tried not to
blame Iraq, and he believed that Iraq's formal statement
similarly avoided assigning blame ) though, at least here,
the unattributed commentary by Turkish officials is harshly
critical. Apakan said that at the talks' conclusion, the
Iraqis asked again what steps Turkey would like to see.
According to Apakan, the reply was simple: stop the PKK's
terror attacks across the border and end its presence in
northern Iraq.


Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/

WILSON