EUR/SE DIRECTOR FITZPATRICK DISCUSSES TURKEY WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 116842 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2018 TAGS: EUN PREL PGOV HR SUBJECT: EUR/SE DIRECTOR FITZPATRICK DISCUSSES TURKEY WITH EU REF: BRUSSELS 1573 Classified By: EUR/ERA Director Lucas for reasons 1.4.(b) and (d) 1.(C)Summary: The EU enlargement troika, comprised of representatives from the French presidency, incoming Czech presidency, Commission, and Council Secretariat, met October 8 in Brussels with EUR/SE Director Kathleen Fitzpatrick to discuss Turkey,s EU accession negotiations. Fitzpatrick also held separate meetings with troika members as well as with UK and Turkish officials in Brussels. The French Presidency used the troika to describe both Turkey,s progress and remaining challenges. Fitzpatrick confirmed U.S. support of Turkey,s accession to the EU and encouragement of Turkey to make progress. Many interlocutors noted a gloomy mood in Brussels concerning Turkey, but were hopeful about the possibilities of a Cyprus settlement. Fitzpatrick encouraged the EU to open negotiations on the Energy Chapter of the acquis, and to take action against PKK financing and propaganda. The Commission will publish a report on November 5 summarizing Turkey,s progress and challenges. Note: the Enlargement troika also discussed Croatia,s accession negotiations (reported reftel.) End Summary. -------------- Progress under the French Presidency( -------------- 2). (SBU) during the troika, the French presidency said its goal was to have ten chapters open by the end of its presidency. There are currently eight open chapters. One chapter (Chapter 25 - Science and Research) has been provisionally completed. The presidency said that chapter 10, Information Society and Media, was in good shape to be opened soon and that it was working on chapter 4, Free Movement of Capital. The EU has held two troikas with Turkey during the French presidency, one at Political Directors level and the other at ministerial level, where Turkish foreign policy was a key topic. The presidency has also issued three declarations on Turkey: one regarding the court decision on AKP closure, one welcoming President Gul,s trip to Armenia, and the third expressing condolences after a PKK attack. The presidency,s desire now is to focus Turkey on reforms and on its obligations regarding Cyprus, specifically fulfilling its obligations under the Ankara protocol. EU officials hoped to see some progress in Cyprus talks by the end of the year, but acknowledged that important, difficult issues required time to work through. 3). (C) EUR/SE Director Fitzpatrick said that a lot had happened since the last enlargement troika in June 2008. The AKP court case had turned out well for Turkish democracy, the Cypriots had launched full negotiations, Turkey had demonstrated its strategic importance during the Georgia crisis, and Turkey had made progress in improving its relations with Armenia as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. Fitzpatrick said the USG appreciated the work of the French presidency and the likelihood of two more chapters opening. -------------- (But Gloomy Mood in Brussels -------------- 4). (C) Outside the troika, in private meetings Commission interlocutors noted pessimism about Turkey among experts in Brussels. GOT,s National Action Plan had not been blessed by the Council of Ministers, and the program for the new Parliament session included almost no EU-related legislation. The EU had been expecting a cabinet re-shuffle, to include a new EU chief negotiator, which had not happened. Finally, PM Erdogan had recently made extremely negative remarks to a dinner gathering of EU ambassadors in Ankara. Almost all EU interlocutors were concerned about &running out of chapters8 that could be opened, in many cases due to political blocks by EU member states but in others because Turkey was not doing what was technically necessary to meet benchmarks. The general consensus was that while Turkey would likely open two or three chapters during both the French and Czech presidencies, it might not have any to open by the Swedish presidency in late 2009. This problem made the implementation of reforms by Turkey more important than ever. -------------- Cyprus -------------- STATE 00116842 002 OF 002 5). (C) Several interlocutors from the Commission and Council Secretariat said privately in meetings now was a particularly good time for Turkish PM Erdogan to resolve the Cyprus problem. Erdogan,s main constituency does not care as much as others about Cyprus, seeing it as an &old problem.8 A contact on Commissioner Rehn,s cabinet noted that for Erdogan, the ideal timing for a deal on Cyprus would be around Easter 2009, after the municipal elections, but not so late in the year that it looked like Erdogan was under pressure from the EU (due to the end-2009 deadline for implementing the Ankara protocol.) A Council Secretariat official added that with Turkey,s heightened role on issues of global importance (Caucasus, Israel/Syria, etc.) some in Turkey might be seeing the Cyprus problem as a liability. All interlocutors expressed eagerness for a resolution to the problem, hopefully by mid)2009. Among other benefits, a solution would instantly &unfreeze8 14 acquis chapters for Turkey, including the eight frozen for non-implementation of the Ankara protocol and an additional six blocked by Cyprus. On a more technical point, the Commission,s Cyprus experts told Fitzpatrick that they have been trying to convince Turkish Cypriot &President8 Talat that their intention to update the accession treaty for Cyprus with a new name and other changes in the event of a settlement is safe and legally valid. They noted that protocol 10 of Cyprus, accession treaty provided procedures for how to do this in the event of a Cyprus settlement. They noted it would be useful if the USG could reinforce this point in conversations with Talat. -------------- Energy Chapter -------------- 6). (C) During the troika as well as in all of her separate meetings, Fitzpatrick stressed that the USG hopes the EU will open acquis chapter 15, Energy, because it would send a positive message to Ankara and encourage the Turks to be more helpful on energy security. The French presidency responded that it was very interested in opening the Energy chapter and was talking both to Cyprus (to convince it to cease blocking the opening) and Turkey (to send positive messages). In separate meetings, interlocutors gave Fitzpatrick more background on energy chapter discussions. Enlargement Commissioner Rehn,s cabinet member (please protect) expressed confidence that the French were pushing the Cypriots to drop their objections to opening the chapter, and that she understood FM Kouchner and Minister for European Affairs Jouyet planned to raise it directly with Cypriot FM Kyprianou. A Brussels-based UK enlargement expert noted a rumor that French President Sarkozy might be willing to call Cypriot President Christofias on this issue and added that if the Turks showed more flexibility on Nabucco it would significantly improve the atmosphere. -------------- PKK -------------- 7). (C) In the troika and several side meetings, Fitzpatrick noted that the U.S. bilateral relationship with Turkey had improved as a result of the sharing of PKK intelligence. She added that Turkey,s dialogue with Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government had been positive. Fitzpatrick noted that Europe could both help Turkey and contribute to the stability of Iraq by working to stem PKK financing and propaganda activities. The French presidency responded that the French were doing a lot bilaterally to combat the PKK, but the Commission noted that this issue was a member state rather than community competency. -------------- Upcoming Commission Progress Report on Turkey -------------- 86). (SBU) During the troika, the Commission Desk Officer for Turkey said the Commission,s November 5 progress report will emphasize the strong role Turkey plays and can continue to play on European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). However, on reforms the report will not be very positive. It will welcome progress on Article 301 and the law on foundations, and will recognize Turkey has had distractions preventing it from making more progress (i.e. the AKP court case.) It will note the Government of Turkey has sent a positive message with the National Action Program, but now the EU is waiting for it to be finalized. The Commission stressed that the key to real progress on reforms was more dialogue between the governing party and the opposition in Turkey. RICE