JUMBLATT FRETS THAT SYRIA IS PAINTING HIM AS PKK

S E C R E T BEIRUT 000405

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2027
TAGS: PREL PTER LE TU IZ
SUBJECT: JUMBLATT FRETS THAT SYRIA IS PAINTING HIM AS PKK
SUPPORTER

Classified By: Jeffrey Feltman, Ambassador, per 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) Over a 3/16 lunch otherwise dominated by discussion
of Lebanon's domestic developments, Druse leader Walid
Jumblatt told the Ambassador that he was deeply worried that
Syria was implicating him with PKK terrorism. Former Syrian
VP Abdulhalim Khaddam, who met with Jumblatt earlier that
week in Paris, warned Jumblatt that the Syrians were busily
passing fabricated information to the Turks that Jumblatt
serves as a channel for arms and money to the PKK.
Describing the charges as "ridiculous," Jumblatt complained
that he has a hard enough time assembling funds for the
patronage he is expected to bestow upon Lebanon's Druse
community.


2. (S) Asked by the Ambassador on what basis the Syrians
could assemble a case that would appear to the Turks to be
even remotely credible, Jumblatt said that he assumed the
Syrians were simply playing on deep-seated Turkish worries
about the PKK. Since Jumblatt's family is reportedly Kurdish
in origin before coming to Lebanon via a few centuries spent
in Aleppo 400 years ago, Syria probably argues that Jumblatt
retains contacts and sympathy for the Kurds. Moreover,
Jumblatt has met with Syrian Kurds who, like Jumblatt, oppose
Bashar al-Asad's Damascus regime. That could very well be
sufficient to convince the Turks that he is a problem,
Jumblatt said.


3. (S) Jumblatt said that, when he returned from Paris, he
immediately tried to reach the Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon
to invite him to lunch; the Turkish EMBASSY has yet to return
his phone call, which worries him. Jumblatt said that he
does not see the PKK charges as increasing his already high
level of security concerns, but the Syrian propaganda could
very well affect Turkey's political posture toward the
Lebanese. If the Syrians convince the Turks that the March
14 leadership is supportive of the PKK, then Turkey will be
even more inclined to side with Syria's allies in Lebanon.
Jumblatt described Ankara's Lebanon policy as "suspicious"
already.


4. (S) Separately on 3/16, the Ambassador met with Mohamed
Chatah, senior advisor to Prime Minister Siniora, who serves
as Siniora's private channel to Ankara. The Ambassador
relayed Jumblatt's concerns to Chatah, asking whether Chatah
thought Jumblatt was simply displaying an unusual level of
paranoia. Shaking his head, Chatah said that he has been
asked recently by Turkish officials whether the Syrian
accusations that Jumblatt supports the PKK with arms and
money could possibly be true. The Syrians are definitely
passing such a message, Chatah said, although he was not
convinced that the Turks were buying it. Chatah said that,
based on all information and intelligence he has seen, the
Syrian charges linking Jumblatt with the PKK are baseless.


5. (S) Comment: Jumblatt has been accused of many things
by the Syrians. Recently, for example, the Iranian-funded
pro-Syrian newspaper al-Akhbar accused Jumblatt and his close
advisor Marwan Hamadeh of having met with Israeli Mossad
agents at a meeting hosted at the U.S. Ambassador's
Residence. Despite the clear security implications of such
acccusations, Jumblatt in general shrugs off such propaganda.
So we find his deep concern about the PKK charges to be
curious. We know of no reasons to find the supposed Syrian
allegations to be credible.
FELTMAN