TURKEY RELUCTANT TO RECEIVE, SHARE INFORMATION

S E C R E T ANKARA 000157 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2028 TAGS: PREL PTER ASEC TU SUBJECT: TURKEY RELUCTANT TO RECEIVE, SHARE INFORMATION REF: 06 AMMAN 8495 Classified By: Political Counselor Janice Weiner. Reasons: 1.4 (b)(d). ¶1. (S) Anticipating the flow through Turkey of foreign fighters and others affiliated with known terrorist organizations will increase in the future, the FBI has proactively reached out to Turkey's law enforcement and intelligence communities to initiate formal information sharing on known or suspected terrorists (KST). In April 2007, a joint FBI-CIA briefing team met separately with senior leadership from the Turkish National Police (TNP) and from the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (TNIO). The team offered both organizations direct access to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS),which contains the largest USG interagency biometric database of KST. ¶2. (S) As of late-January 2008, the Government of Turkey has yet to respond to the information-sharing offers from Embassy Ankara's LEGATT, even though the (former) proposal involves only receiving information, with no expectation of reciprocity. Separately, while Turkey was among the 14 countries that attended a "Middle East Regional Fingerprint" conference in Amman in November 2006, it was not among the five countries (Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco) which enthusiastically welcomed the Jordanian government's proposal for a regional terrorist information sharing database (reftel). ¶3. (S) Comment: The GOT may be hesitant to take part in these exchanges for several reasons. First, the programs would require a level of cooperation and transparency to which Turkey and its stove-piped bureaucracy is not accustomed. Second, Turkish authorities may not trust the integrity of the systems, despite the technical and programmatic guarantees that would be put in place, and may believe accessing them would make Turkey more vulnerable to cyber exploitation. Third, Turkish officials may be hesitant to cooperate because, in some instances, simple possession of actionable information might entail an implied obligation to take actions that could be politically difficult. It will take persistent high-level persuasion to convince the Turks of the benefits of these valuable tools for combating terrorism. The recent improvement in bilateral relations due, in part, to enhanced military information sharing may offer an opportunity to press forward with these initiatives. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON