TURKEY SAYS IT IS IMPLEMENTING UNSCR 1803, BUT

S E C R E T ANKARA 000585

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2018
TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV ETRD PARM PGOV PREL KNNP MNUC
IR, TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY SAYS IT IS IMPLEMENTING UNSCR 1803, BUT
WILL NOT ACT AGAINST BANK MELLAT

REF: A. SECSTATE 29464

B. SECSTATE29096

C. SECSTATE 29098

D. ANKARA 573

Classified By: ECONOMIC COUNSELOR DALE EPPLER FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D.


1. (S) We delivered reftel B and C demarche and non-paper on
March 28 to MFA Department Head for South Asian Affairs
Devrim Ozturk, and Iran Desk Officer Mehmet Sekerci. They
thanked us for the information, and said they would translate
the paper and distribute it with appropriate classification
to relevant authorities. Ozturk was not sure if that
distribution would include the Bank Regulation and
Supervision Agency (BRSA),since it did not look at first
glance to be information that could be used for a licensing
or regulatory action. He noted that only Bank Mellat
operates in Turkey and that none of the information provided
was specific to the Mellat branch in Turkey. Thus, while
this information would be useful for authorities to know the
types of transactions to look out for, it could not serve as
the basis for a closure or other regulatory action against
Mellat. They could act only if they had information about
Turkey-specific actions by Mellat in violation of UN
sanctions or Turkish law.


2. (S) Ozturk said that the GOT already was fully
implementing UNSCR 1803. We asked whether implementing
regulations for 1803 would be presented to the Council of
Ministers, as was done with UNSCR 1737. Ozturk said that
issue was being reviewed by MFA's legal department. However,
he said that Turkey generally does not need a Council of
Ministers decree to implement a UNSCR, unless it requires the
freezing of assets. He noted that Mellat was not
specifically named in 1803, and so it was unlikely that any
asset freeze would be required. We noted that the language
of 1803, while specifically only mentioning Banks Saderat and
Melli, required enhanced scrutiny for financial transactions
with all Iranian banks, not just with Saderat and Melli.


3. (C) We emphasized the need for Turkish banks to be extra
cautious in reviewing all Iranian transactions because of the
use of individual private accounts and other means to
circumvent "know your customer" rules. Ozturk said Iranian
officials had not raised problems with financial transactions
or banking restrictions during talks on enhancing bilateral
trade and investment. He said he did not know how
Turkish-Iranian trade was currently being financed, or what
role Bank Mellat played in it. He added that the MFA was
going to hold an inter-ministerial meeting in April on
Turkish implementation of UNSCR 1803.

Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey

WILSON