Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ANKARA1446
2009-10-06 14:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:
TURKEY PUSHES FOR STRATEGIC COOPERATION WITH IRAQ
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001446
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/I
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER TU IZ SY
SUBJECT: TURKEY PUSHES FOR STRATEGIC COOPERATION WITH IRAQ
Classified By: DCM Doug Silliman, Reasons 1.4 (b,d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001446
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/I
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER TU IZ SY
SUBJECT: TURKEY PUSHES FOR STRATEGIC COOPERATION WITH IRAQ
Classified By: DCM Doug Silliman, Reasons 1.4 (b,d)
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: PM Erdogan's October 15 visit to Baghdad
is the culmination of a recently revitalized GoT effort to
establish a strategic partnership with Iraq. He hopes to lay
the foundations for bilateral cooperation in areas ranging
from counter-terrorism cooperation and hydrocarbons
transshipment through transportation and communications
infrastructure project development. The Turkish effort may
be hindered by the GoI's preoccupation with securing
increased Euphrates water flows from its upstream neighbor.
END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) MFA Office of the Special Envoy to Iraq staffer Can
Oguz briefed us over the course of several September
conversations on the GoT's effort to establish a strategic
partnership with Iraq. The culmination of that effort will
be PM Erdogan's October 15 visit to Baghdad. Erdogan, who
will have nine of his ministers in tow, hopes to co-host a
joint cabinet meeting, which will be the venue for the
signing of up to 44 MoUs, laying foundations for cooperation
in the areas of hydrocarbons trans-shipment, water and
environmental management, counter-terrorism, public health,
commerce, agriculture, transportation and communications
infrastructure projects, civil aviation and commercial
shipping. Coinciding with Erdogan's visit, the Turkish
Ministry of Transportation hopes to run, for the first time
in decades, a train from Turkey through Syria and Mosul into
Baghdad. Oguz asserted the disused track is capable of
carrying the train safely. He noted in late September,
however, the Syrians have yet to agree to the train's
crossing their territory.
3. (SBU) The MoUs were partially prepared, Oguz told us, at
the first ministerial-level meeting September 17 and 18 in
Istanbul of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council
between Turkey and Iraq. The council had been dormant since
its establishment on July 10, 2008 in a joint political
declaration signed by Erdogan and Iraqi PM Malaki. During
his August visit to Baghdad, FM Davutoglu proposed to FM
Zebari that an activated council become the vehicle for
establishing a strategic partnership between the two
neighbors.
4. (C) Oguz identified several of the GoT's priorities for
the Baghdad signing ceremony. Turkey hopes to secure, as
specified in Article 4 of the counter-terrorism MoU, Iraqi
acquiescence to its cross-border military operations against
the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Oguz conceded
the unlikelihood of the Iraqis' accepting this article. The
Turks will also seek the opening of a second border gate
between the two countries to relieve multi-mile vehicle
back-ups at Habur. This long-time Turkish ambition has
previously run afoul of control and customs revenue
disagreements between the KRG and Baghdad. The GoT wants to
secure GoI agreement to the construction of a direct natural
gas pipeline to Turkey and a new rail line that avoids
crossing Syrian territory.
5. (C) Oguz described Erdogan's visit as a determined GoT
effort to extend Turkey's influence and commercial presence
beyond Iraq's three northern governates throughout the
country. That effort, he said, may yet be hindered by Iraq's
bureaucratic confusion and its preoccupation with Euphrates
River flows. Every Iraqi minister at the Istanbul meeting,
Oguz lamented, requested Turkey release more water from its
upstream dams.
6. (C) Comment: FM Davutoglu appears enamored of the
High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council model. We expect
him to seek to establish a similar multi-ministerial
coordination arrangement with Syria when he travels to Aleppo
October 13 and, as an illustration of the Syrian-Turkish
border's new openness, brings his Syrian counterpart back to
Gaziantep the same day for the second half of their meeting.
JEFFREY
ANKARA 00001446 002 OF 002
"Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s
gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/I
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER TU IZ SY
SUBJECT: TURKEY PUSHES FOR STRATEGIC COOPERATION WITH IRAQ
Classified By: DCM Doug Silliman, Reasons 1.4 (b,d)
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: PM Erdogan's October 15 visit to Baghdad
is the culmination of a recently revitalized GoT effort to
establish a strategic partnership with Iraq. He hopes to lay
the foundations for bilateral cooperation in areas ranging
from counter-terrorism cooperation and hydrocarbons
transshipment through transportation and communications
infrastructure project development. The Turkish effort may
be hindered by the GoI's preoccupation with securing
increased Euphrates water flows from its upstream neighbor.
END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) MFA Office of the Special Envoy to Iraq staffer Can
Oguz briefed us over the course of several September
conversations on the GoT's effort to establish a strategic
partnership with Iraq. The culmination of that effort will
be PM Erdogan's October 15 visit to Baghdad. Erdogan, who
will have nine of his ministers in tow, hopes to co-host a
joint cabinet meeting, which will be the venue for the
signing of up to 44 MoUs, laying foundations for cooperation
in the areas of hydrocarbons trans-shipment, water and
environmental management, counter-terrorism, public health,
commerce, agriculture, transportation and communications
infrastructure projects, civil aviation and commercial
shipping. Coinciding with Erdogan's visit, the Turkish
Ministry of Transportation hopes to run, for the first time
in decades, a train from Turkey through Syria and Mosul into
Baghdad. Oguz asserted the disused track is capable of
carrying the train safely. He noted in late September,
however, the Syrians have yet to agree to the train's
crossing their territory.
3. (SBU) The MoUs were partially prepared, Oguz told us, at
the first ministerial-level meeting September 17 and 18 in
Istanbul of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council
between Turkey and Iraq. The council had been dormant since
its establishment on July 10, 2008 in a joint political
declaration signed by Erdogan and Iraqi PM Malaki. During
his August visit to Baghdad, FM Davutoglu proposed to FM
Zebari that an activated council become the vehicle for
establishing a strategic partnership between the two
neighbors.
4. (C) Oguz identified several of the GoT's priorities for
the Baghdad signing ceremony. Turkey hopes to secure, as
specified in Article 4 of the counter-terrorism MoU, Iraqi
acquiescence to its cross-border military operations against
the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Oguz conceded
the unlikelihood of the Iraqis' accepting this article. The
Turks will also seek the opening of a second border gate
between the two countries to relieve multi-mile vehicle
back-ups at Habur. This long-time Turkish ambition has
previously run afoul of control and customs revenue
disagreements between the KRG and Baghdad. The GoT wants to
secure GoI agreement to the construction of a direct natural
gas pipeline to Turkey and a new rail line that avoids
crossing Syrian territory.
5. (C) Oguz described Erdogan's visit as a determined GoT
effort to extend Turkey's influence and commercial presence
beyond Iraq's three northern governates throughout the
country. That effort, he said, may yet be hindered by Iraq's
bureaucratic confusion and its preoccupation with Euphrates
River flows. Every Iraqi minister at the Istanbul meeting,
Oguz lamented, requested Turkey release more water from its
upstream dams.
6. (C) Comment: FM Davutoglu appears enamored of the
High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council model. We expect
him to seek to establish a similar multi-ministerial
coordination arrangement with Syria when he travels to Aleppo
October 13 and, as an illustration of the Syrian-Turkish
border's new openness, brings his Syrian counterpart back to
Gaziantep the same day for the second half of their meeting.
JEFFREY
ANKARA 00001446 002 OF 002
"Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s
gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"