TURKEY: GOT ON ALERT FOR SHIPMENT OF MILITARY

S E C R E T ANKARA 001046 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE; EUR/PRA FOR HARDIMAN; ISN/CATR FOR ROLLERI E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2034 TAGS: PARM PREL MASS ETTC SUBJECT: TURKEY: GOT ON ALERT FOR SHIPMENT OF MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED EQUIPMENT REF: A. SECSTATE 68986 ¶B. SECSTATE 66678 ¶C. ANKARA 934 Classified By: Pol-Mil Counselor Anthony Godfrey, Reasons 1.4 (b,c,d) ¶1. (S) We delivered ref a points to MFA Deputy Director General for Nonproliferation and Disarmament Ahmet Gun on July 2 and Ambassador raised this issue the same day during a pull aside with Customs Enforcement Director General Neset Akkoc during the Embassy's July 4 reception. Akkoc told us that Customs Enforcement had already received the information from the MFA that afternoon, but said that without more detailed information (license plate numbers for the trucks, name of transportation company managing the shipment, etc.), it would be difficult to separate this shipment from the thousands of containers which follow the same route. ¶2. (S) We met with Gun's deputy Elif Ulgen on July 6 to follow up. Ulgen told us the MFA, upon receiving the information on July 2, immediately updated relevant authorities responsible for border security. These agencies, in turn, relayed the information to the border crossings at Gurbulak and Kilis. The officials were asked to increase vigilance for the specific shipment. During a follow up call on July 13 and again on July 21, Mustafa Yurdakul, another one of Gun's deputies, said that there had been no indications that the shipment had crossed either border crossing. He stated that these border posts are still operating at a heightened state of vigilance and have increased inspections of trucks traveling from Iran to Syria via Turkey: "Any truck that might carry the equipment you flagged are being searched." Yurdakul pledged on July 21 to update us if the GOT receives any indication that the shipment had arrived or crossed Turkey's borders. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey JEFFREY