BAKU HOSTS IRAQI TURKOMEN CONFERENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001143

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PBTS AJ IZ
SUBJECT: BAKU HOSTS IRAQI TURKOMEN CONFERENCE

Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) A delegation of Iraqi Turkomen came to Baku
September 4-5 to raise awareness about the plight of Turkomen
in Iraq. The delegation met with Deputy Foreign Minister
Khalaf Khalafov, Presidential Foreign Policy Aide Novruz
Mammadov, opposition party representatives, and other
Azerbaijani commentators and journalists. The Turkomen
delegation included representatives from the Iraqi Turkomen
Front -- including deputy chair Anvar Khavid Bayragdar, the
Justice Party, the Nationalist Turkomen Society, and a
Turkomen television station. The visit included repeated
requests for Azerbaijan to strengthen its public support for
Iraqi Turkomen against the backdrop of appeals to pan-Turkic
solidarity.


2. (C) Iraqi Ambassador Ershad Omar Ismail (an ethnic
Turkomen) told the Ambassador that representatives from the
Iraqi Turkomen Front requested the visit. The
representatives approached Ismail, asking for his assistance
in organizing the visit. According to Ismail, the Turkomen
delegation sought assistance from Azerbaijan in the health
and educational sectors, establishment of a Turkomen office
in Baku, and more public support from another Turkic country.
Civil society activist Novella Jafaroglu confirmed to us
that the Turkomen were seeking financial assistance to send
Turkomen orphans to Baku for medical treatment, an office in
Baku, and enhanced public support.


3. (SBU) The visit began with a half-day conference focused
on the plight of the Iraqi Turkomen. The Turkomen showed a
video produced by a Turkomen television station, then a
Turkomen representative delivered a 45-minute speech. The
speech appealed to pan-Turkic solidarity, while criticizing
U.S. support for the Kurds, which the representative claimed
is undermining the Turkomen community's position in Iraq.
The Iraqi Ambassador, Turkish DCM, and Azerbaijani MP Ganira
Pashayeva (a member of Azerbaijan,s delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, who is very
active on ethnic minority issues throughout the region)
attended the conference, which included approximately 125
attendees. After the conference, Turkomen representatives
conducted meetings with a range of government and
non-government representatives.


4. (C) Comment: Pan-Turkic sentiments traditionally play
very well with the Azerbaijani public, and the GOAJ has
stepped up its outreach on pan-Turkic events over the last
year both to build its international credentials and to win
greater support for its position on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Separately, the State Committee on Work with
Azerbaijanis Living Abroad, which is one instrument for
implementing the GOAJ,s interest in pan-Turkic issues, had
previously expressed concern about the plight of ethnic
Turkomen in Iraq, reporting that increasing numbers of
Turkomen were seeking refuge in Azerbaijan. We have not seen
any evidence to support this claim, nor was the issue
addressed in the delegation,s visit to Baku.
DERSE