Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08STATE116842
2008-11-03 15:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Secretary of State
Cable title:  

EUR/SE DIRECTOR FITZPATRICK DISCUSSES TURKEY WITH

Tags:  EUN PREL PGOV HR 
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VZCZCXRO1840
OO RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHC #6842/01 3081600
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O P 031549Z NOV 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
INFO RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
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)
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
--------------

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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