TURKS PREFER CYPRUS NOT BE A PARTY TO THE GLOBAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000780 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SE AND ISN/WMD E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2017 TAGS: PTER KGIT PREL PARM TU CY SUBJECT: TURKS PREFER CYPRUS NOT BE A PARTY TO THE GLOBAL INITIATIVE REF: ANKARA 0643 Classified By: Ambassador Ross Wilson, reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) In an April 3 meeting with Ambassador, Turkish MFA U/S Ertugrul Apakan restated Turkish objections to Cyprus becoming a party to the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GI) (reftel). Apakan and Deputy Director General for Arms Control Ahmet Gun explained that, at the February Ankara meeting, they believed there was agreement in the co-chairs' text that any newcomer to GI should be accepted by consensus. The aim was to not import political problems into the process that could distract from the efforts of the initiative. ¶2. (C) Gun indicated that Turkey welcomed new members, with the exception of the Republic of Cyprus, and had signaled this to U/S Joseph, as well as at a recent HLTF meeting in Brussels. Gun added that the addition of Cyprus would make his work on these issues with an interministerial group in Ankara quite difficult and would limit Turkey's role in the initiative. Ambassador responded that as the aim of GI is to counteract proliferation and nuclear smuggling, it is useful to have as parties countries directly affected by those issues. The concerns Turkey had expressed would be considered in Washington. ¶3. (C) Comment: Apakan did not say Turkey would pull out of GI if Cyprus becomes a party; his message was that active Turkish participation would suffer. It is essential that we find ways to keep a nation astride the Bosphorus, with neighbors that make it a likely transit country for nuclear smuggling, actively on board with GI. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON