BULGARIAN DENIES ARMS SHIPMENTS TO KURDS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000742

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2028
TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR BU
SUBJECT: BULGARIAN DENIES ARMS SHIPMENTS TO KURDS

Classified By: DCM Alex Karagiannis for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. The Bulgarian government denies any
knowledge of a shipment of Bulgarian arms and ammunition to

the Regional Government of Kurdistan, as alleged in a
front-page article in the November 23 Washington Post, and
has offered to work with us to track available evidence of a
possible illicit transfer. Deputy Minister of Economy and
Energy Kuyumdzhiev publicly dismissed the report as "baseless
insinuations" and noted that the article named only anonymous
sources. Chief of the Office of Defense Trade Controls,
Ivelina Bahachenova, said she suspects the article was based
either on mistaken reporting or perhaps even deliberate
misinformation. End Summary.


2. (C) Staff in the Ministries of Defense and Foreign
Affairs as well as the Charge of the Iraqi Embassy all
professed no knowledge of the transaction. Experts in the
Office of Defense Trade Controls strongly doubted the
veracity of the report and noted the following: 1) the
Bulgarian government has no record of any transactions with
the Government of Kurdistan and would never authorize such a
transfer; 2) the article cites only unnamed U.S. officials;
3) the article claims the arms and ammunition were shipped in
three C-130s, but Bulgarian military does not own any of this
type of aircraft; 4) if the "U.S. military officials" cited
in the article were aware of such a transaction, they would
have reported this through normal channels and not through
the press. This has led the Bulgarians to believe the story
is simply false. Bulgarian authorities have asked for any
additional information the United States could provide and
said they would follow up on any available leads.


3. (C) Comment: In the 1990,s, Bulgaria had a reputation
as one of the worst conventional arms proliferators and a
major source of weapons to conflict areas around the world.
In the run-up to NATO membership, Bulgaria dramatically
overhauled its Defense Trade Control apparatus, reined in its
arms industry and agreed to consult with the United States on
transfers involving countries or regions of concern.
Bulgaria has made great strides in the last ten years, and
the embassy is regularly consulted before Bulgaria approves
potentially controversial sales. In this case, it is almost
certain that this shipment was never authorized by the
Bulgarian government. The extent of black and grey market
trade in weapons either in Bulgaria or by Bulgarian companies
or brokers around the world is much less clear, and it is
possible that an illegal transfer could have taken place,
perhaps via a third country, without the knowledge of
Bulgarian authorities.
McEldowney