TURKEY/IRAQ: GOT ACCEPTS POSTPONEMENT OF TRILAT

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001964 SIPDIS DEPT. FOR NEA/I AND EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2018 TAGS: PREL MARR IZ TU SUBJECT: TURKEY/IRAQ: GOT ACCEPTS POSTPONEMENT OF TRILAT REF: A. ANKARA 1939 ¶B. ANKARA 1933 ¶C. BAGHDAD 3509 Classified By: Acting POL Counselor Christopher Krafft for reasons 1.4( b,d) ¶1. (S) The GOT has accepted Iraq's request that the IZ-TU-US Trilateral meeting on security issues scheduled to take place November 14 be postponed. The delegation is now planning to travel to Baghdad November 19 and, according to GOT Special Envoy for Iraq Murat Ozcelik, will be led by Interior Minister Atalay. Other GOT officials expected to attend include: Ozcelik, Prime Ministry foreign policy advisor Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish General Staff Deputy J3 and Chief of Planning and Operations MajGen Erdal Ozturk, Turkish National Intelligence Organization Deputy Under Secretary Afet Gunes, Ministry of Interior Secretary General Yilmaz Arslan, and MFA Iraq Desk Officer Anil Inan. ¶2. (S) Ozcelik said GOT officials are hopeful the USG will be represented at the meeting by Ambassador Crocker and General Odierno. Noting Turkish fears that Iran is "trying to cut them off at every opportunity in Iraq," the Turks hope senior-level U.S. involvement in this mechanism will underscore to PM Maliki and others in his administration the importance the U.S. places on closer Turkish-Iraq cooperation. Ozcelik said he hopes to meet with Ali al-Sistani when he is in Baghdad for regular consultations later in the month to discuss Turkish concerns about Iran. He also plans to press Tariq al-Hashimi on Sunni support for the U.S.-Iraq SOFA as soon as possible. ¶3. (S) The Turks will use the extra days, according to Ozcelik, to coordinate among themselves, as well as with the Iraqis, in hopes of shaping a useful agenda for the meeting. Turkey sees the primary aim of the trilateral to be facilitating cooperation among all three parties that will lead to the isolation and eventual elimination of the PKK from northern Iraq. With that goal in mind, the GOT will be looking to discuss how to improve intelligence sharing as well as cutting logistics to PKK forces and other operational matters. Ozcelik said he hopes to have agreement within the GOT regarding a new approach to Iraq on their bilateral Counter-Terrorism Agreement and, specifically, the ongoing dispute over language in Article 4 of that agreement concerning the concept of hot pursuit. If that is successful, he would hope to have new language to propose to the Iraqis on the 19th. ¶4. (S) The GOT also must be smarter in its public outreach on the terrorism issue. Now that the GOT has decided to establish a new Undersecretariat within the Ministry of Interior to better coordinate the disparate and, at times, duplicative efforts of some GOT agencies to deal with terrorism (ref A),Ozcelik stressed the need for GOT outreach, especially to Kurds in the country's Southeast. The government must reassure them that this new mechanism is not an effort to re-hash the dark days of emergency powers in the 1990s that led to security force abuses. Military Sales -------------- ¶5. (S) Ozcelik raised a side point in the vein of U.S.-Turkish cooperation in Iraq. He provided to us a copy of an e-mail sent to him by Nail Kurt, Director General of FNSS Defense Systems, Turkey's leading manufacturer of armored vehicles, in which Kurt requests GOT assistance in raising the possibility of encouraging the purchase of the FNSS Pars (Leopard) 8x8 armored personnel carries by the Iraqi Armed Forces. Kurt indicates in his message that General Dynamics is also marketing its Stryker 8x8 vehicle to Iraq through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mechanism. Pointing out that FNSS is a joint venture with U.S.-based BAE ANKARA 00001964 002 OF 002 Systems Inc.'s Land and Armaments Group, Kurt indicates that FNSS has requested BAE introduce the Pars 8x8 vehicle for Iraq through FMS as well. Ozcelik asked that the USG consider ways it might be able to assist the Turks to become more involved in assisting Iraq's armed forces. He hopes this might include providing equal support to both the Stryker and Pars, as long as the corporate relationships are such that products offered up by both General Dynamics and BAE Systems' Land and Armaments Group are seen as "American." Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON