TURKEY: STILL COMMITTED TO JULY 8 PROCESS, BUT TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000959

SIPDIS

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL UNFICYP TU CY
SUBJECT: TURKEY: STILL COMMITTED TO JULY 8 PROCESS, BUT TO
WHAT DEGREE?

REF: ANKARA 711

Classified By: Ambassador Ross Wilson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The Turkish MFA Deputy Under Secretary
responsible for Cyprus Haydar Berk claims that Turkey remains
committed to the July 8 process. He said Turkey wants to
ensure, though, that the Turkish Cypriots do not shoulder the
blame for the process breaking down by agreeing to discuss
comprehensive settlement issues such as disposition of
property in the technical committees. Both Berk and, in a
separate conversation, MFA Under Secretary Apakan argued that
UNSRSG Moller has "misled" P-5 representatives and
secretariat staff in perpetuating the perception that the

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Turkish Cypriots are blocking progress. They said that
proposals forwarded by the "TRNC President" Talat to UNSYG
Ban Ki-moon in an April 3 letter are evidence of Turks'
continued commitment to the process, and Apakan was specific
that Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots regard the negotiations
as continuing. The Turkish officials also lamented the lack
of progress on direct trade with Northern Cyprus. Although
GOT officials assure it won't be the Turks who walk away from
the table, there appears to be little creative thinking going
on in Ankara on how to recapture the initiative on the Cyprus
problem. END SUMMARY


2. (C) MFA Deputy Under Secretary for Americas and the
Northeast Mediterranean (Greece/Cyprus) Haydar Berk briefed
Ambassador on the GOT's current view on moving the July 8
process forward. As he did previously (reftel),Berk placed
blame for the current impasse squarely on Cypriot President
Papadopoulos. Berk characterized Greek Cypriot (GC) moves in
recent months as merely an attempt to display a bit more
flexibility so its EU partners would not view the Cypriots as
purely obstructionist. He said the GC side had made clear
its unwillingness to engage in confidence-building
discussions by raising comprehensive settlement issues like
property that will scuttle any chance of success for the
technical talks.

TURKS WON'T TALK PROPERTY
--------------


3. (C) Berk emphasized Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots (TC)
continue to support the July 8 process and hope to get it
moving quickly. He claimed that the TC side had, in fact,
"saved the process" after the latest impasse, insisting that
talks should continue despite continued lack of agreement on
terms of reference for the technical committees and working
groups. He underscored TC opposition to GC attempts to
insert the property issue in the technical committees. Berk
noted the TCs had perceived GC flexibility on this issue when
GC negotiator Tzionis signaled "agreement to disagree" on
whether property issues could be raised in the technical
committees. With that understanding, the TCs believed talks
could proceed even if the TCs refused to discuss property
issues in the technical committees. Per Berk, the GCs later
backtracked and indicated the TCs would "pay a price" for
refusal to engage on property in the committees. As a
result, the TCs had sought a written guarantee that their
refusal to engage on property would not block the entire
process and cause them to take the blame.

MOLLER MISLEADING?
--------------


4. (C) Berk renewed the Turks' earlier misgivings about
UNSRSG Moller, whom he claimed "is misleading P-5
representatives as well as the Secretariat" in perpetuating
the perception that the TCs are blocking progress of the July
8 process. Ambassador countered that in the aftermath of
Papadopoulos' positive step in taking down the Ledra Street
wall and his seeming willingness to push ahead with meetings
of both the technical committees and working groups, there
had been a perception that "TRNC President" Talat had agreed
to press forward on talks, then pulled back. While
Papadopoulos' motivation likely was to reduce pressure within
the EU to proceed with the direct trade regulation, the net
effect had been an effective ambush of Talat, the TCs, and
Turkey.


5. (C) Berk said the Turkish side needs agreement that the
July 8 process will not be open-ended. Only a limited
timeframe can ensure the GCs do not use the process to delay
indefinitely engaging on comprehensive settlement issues.
Berk also reiterated that, while GCs voted down the Annan
Plan, it still should serve as a "basic parameter" on the
basis of which discussions should move forward. Issues
regarded as final settlement issues in Annan and decades of
earlier Cyprus negotiations cannot now be regarded as
"day-to-day community" matters for discussion in the
technical committees, which Berk and Apakan accused the GCs

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and Moller of trying to do. However prospects for true
engagement appear to be dimming. Berk noted that even Greek
Cypriots from parties that have been relatively open to
discussions with the TCs, such as AKEL, have ratcheted up
attempts to further isolate the TCs. He referenced a letter
sent by the AKEL party mayor of Nicosia to her Turkish
counterpart, refusing to attend municipality meetings where
the TC mayor is present and pointed to continued GC
objections to allowing TC universities to participate in the
Bologna process.

PROSPECTS FOR PROGRESS?
--------------


6. (C) Berk called Ambassador's attention to Talat's April 3
letter to UNSYG Ban Ki-moon as well as a TC non-paper which
lay out TC views on how to move the process forward.
However, progress over the next several months was unlikely.
Ambassador acknowledged the difficulty of moving forward
during the Turkish election cycle. Berk saw as more of an
impediment the changeover at the UN with a new Secretary
General and senior staff. Ambassador noted that we saw the
July 8 process as a way to demonstrate that there was
sufficient common ground between GCs and TCs to make it
worthwhile for the UNSYG to spend time working toward a
comprehensive settlement. Lack of progress in the July 8
process risked removing the issue from his agenda altogether.
He emphasized our hope that the GOT will urge Talat and the
TCs to keep the onus on Papadopoulos to keep moving July 8
talks ahead.


7. (C) Berk lamented the EU's continued inability to
follow-through with its commitments to ease the isolation of
the TCs. He pointed to GC attempts to maintain control over
the flow of EU aid project funding targeted for the North and
the German EU Presidency's lack of progress on a trade
regulation. This makes it all the more difficult to sell
continued Turkish concessions to a skeptical public.


8. (C) COMMENT: The current Turkish political constellation
is boxing Talat in as much as the GCs. The Turkish military
has signaled clearly that any political steps the TCs take
should be reciprocal and simultaneous, and that TGS will
remain the final protector of Turkish national interests,
including on Cyprus. The ruling AKP will risk neither
nationalist nor military backlash in the run-up to this
year's parliamentary elections. For now, it may be up to
Talat to decide how much room to maneuver he has.

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

WILSON