TURKEY TO PRESS FOR IRAQI SUPPORT OF KURDISH

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001522 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/I E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER TU IZ SY SUBJECT: TURKEY TO PRESS FOR IRAQI SUPPORT OF KURDISH RETURNEE PROCESS REF: A. ANKARA 1514 ¶B. ANKARA 1508 Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady, for reasons 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (C) Turkey's Ambassador to Iraq, Murat Ozcelik, told us October 21 that upon his return to Baghdad later in the week he would attempt to engage the Iraqi government and KRG in the nascent Kurdish-Turk returnee process (REFTELS). Ozcelik said the early focus of his engagement effort would be full exploitation of the Trilateral Mechanism's potential as a Turkish-Iraqi policy-coordination forum. "I'll attend the the working group meetings, if I have to," he added. He candidly lamented the Turkish military's aloofness towards the Trilateral Information Sharing Office (TISO),but reaffirmed Minister of Interior Atalay's commitment to the Trilateral Mechanism. Earlier in the week, Atalay's secretary general, Eyup Tepe, told us his minister wanted to use the the Trilateral Mechanism to secure Iraqi support for the returnee process because Turkey "lacks other tools with which to engage the Iraqis on this issue." Eyup said Turkey is considering November 17 or 19 for the next Tri-lateral Ministerial in Erbil. ¶2. (C) In a separate discussion, Can Oguz, a First Secretary in the MFA's Iraq Office, told us October 21 the GOT's first request of the KRG and GOI will be to encourage Kurdish-Turkish PKK supporters "down from the mountain" and back to Turkey. Oguz implied the GOT hopes that continuing returns would reduce the PKK's ability to conduct cross-border terrorist operations by drying up its available manpower. "Later," he said, "we would ask the Iraqis to help us deal with the (PKK) leadership" by ensuring its isolation and facilitating its ultimate disposal. Oguz portrayed KRG support for the returnee process as an obligation Iraqi-Kurds had incurred due to the GOT's launching of its "Democracy Opening" Initiative. According to Oguz's analysis, now that the GOT is addressing Kurdish-Turks' grievances, the KRG has the political cover it needs to put an end to the terrorism emanating from its territory. ¶3. (C) Comment: Ozcelik is an energetic diplomat, and is likely to seek support from Embassy Baghdad and MNF-I for his approaches to the GoI and KRG. Ankara believes it already had a commitment from the KRG to "encourage" PKK members down from the mountains, and will rachet up the pressure now that it beieves it can demonstrate a credible process for Turkish-Kurds' repatriation. JEFFREY "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"