TURKEY SHARES USG CONCERNS ABOUT OSLO PROCESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000265 SIPDIS SIPDIS PM/WRA FOR BAKER E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2018 TAGS: PARM PREL NATO TU SUBJECT: TURKEY SHARES USG CONCERNS ABOUT OSLO PROCESS REF: STATE 13607 Classified By: Pol-Mil Counselor Carl Siebentritt, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) We delivered reftel demarche on February 11 to MFA Department Head for Arms Control and Disarmament Elif Ulgen, who is coordinating Turkey's interagency position on cluster munitions and was a member of the Turkish delegation to the Oslo Process meeting in Vienna on 5-7 December. Ulgen said that Turkey shares many of our concerns about the draft declaration. Turkey continues to view the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) as the most appropriate framework to conduct negotiations on cluster munitions and to strike a balance between humanitarian concerns and military requirements. In particular, Turkey is concerned about the impact that the proposed convention would have on NATO interoperability. Ulgen further stated that although there exists a de facto moratorium on the use of cluster munitions by the Turkish armed forces, Turkey's military doctrine continues to call for the use of cluster munitions in the event of an "all out war." ¶2. (C) Despite having strong reservations about the draft declaration, Turkey will send a delegation to the Wellington meeting. Ulgen expected the Turkish delegation only to play an observer's role in Wellington, and stressed that Turkey's goal in participating in the meetings is to avoid being blindsided by the process. ¶3. (C) Ulgen noted that Turkey has been participating in a series of informal meetings taking place in Geneva (separate from but possibly related to the CCW negotiations chaired by Danish Ambassador Witgoski) among like-minded countries participating in the Oslo Process (including the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Japan, and Australia). According to Ulgen, during the last Geneva meeting in January, participants were in wide agreement that the provision for a total ban on cluster munitions must be removed from the final declaration. Ulgen made clear that Turkey has no intention of signing the declaration as it currently stands. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON