BULGARIAN PRESIDENT OFFERS TO "HELP" WITH SYRIA

S E C R E T SOFIA 000190 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017 TAGS: PREL PINR SY BU SUBJECT: BULGARIAN PRESIDENT OFFERS TO "HELP" WITH SYRIA Classified By: Ambassador John Beyrle, reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Action request: see paragraph 4. ¶2. (C) Presidential Foreign Policy Advisor Zlatin Trapkov recently invited us to discuss U.S. policy in Iraq generally and toward Syria's role specifically. Trapkov said he had been asked by the President to convey the message that Bulgaria was willing to use its historically close -- though admittedly somewhat atrophied -- ties with Damascus to engage the Syrians on Iraq. Trapkov pointed out that Bulgaria had close relations with Syria in the past and still has good contacts there. A number of the MFA's currently-serving Arabists studied there, for example. Bulgaria also did considerable trade with Syria, much of it involving in-country engineering, so numerous Bulgarians spent time there in the past. ¶3. (S) Trapkov implied that the Bulgarian intelligence services have a similar reservoir of talent. He said Bulgaria was willing to "pass a message" to the Syrians or otherwise "be more active" there in support of Coalition objectives in Iraq. We told him we thought the message would be "stop meddling in Iraq and Lebanon," but that we would ask for Washington's guidance and get back to him. ¶4. (C) COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST: Bulgaria knows the Syrians well, still has contacts and is offering to help out in any way it can. We have the sense that this may be part of a push by Parvanov toward renewed diplomatic activism in his second term, which we may be able to use to our advantage in some cases. It may also reflect uneasiness with the perception that "the U.S. won't talk to Syria." We assume the Department is not looking for third countries to pass messages to Syria on our behalf, but that a more general Bulgarian "demarche" in Damascus -- or a Parvanov to Assad communication that made the right points -- would be something we could welcome. We would appreciate the Department's guidance on how we can channel the President's offer in a useful direction. BEYRLE