WITHDRAWING U.S. VESSEL FROM TURKISH NAVAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000278 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2019 TAGS: MARR PREL PARM TU SUBJECT: WITHDRAWING U.S. VESSEL FROM TURKISH NAVAL EXERCISE WOULD HAVE HIGH POLITICAL COST REF: JEFFREY - COMNAVEUR FEB 20 PHONECON (NOTAL) Classified By: Ambassador James F. Jeffrey for reason 1.4 (b, d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Exercise "EGEMEN" is a Turkish national naval exercise in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas which currently calls for the participation of UK, US, Dutch and Belgian forces. We understand that the UK is considering withdrawing their forces in response to Greek arguments. Since the U.S. vessel scheduled to participate in this exercise will be under British Tactical Control (TACON),we understand that NAVEUR may decide that it also withdraw, remaining under UK TACON. At this stage, a decision to withdraw the U.S. asset will be taken by the Turks as a political decision. Based on our recent other experiences with Aegean exercises, we believe that to pull our ship out based on Greek pressure, or in solidarity with the UK in backing down to Greek pressure, will do immense political harm to our relations with the Turks -- and here that could mean damage to our military cooperation. We urge that this be fully considered in taking any decision on our ship. The best solution, we believe, would be to convince the Brits not to withdraw at this late date. End Summary. ¶2. (C) HM Ambassador to Turkey Nicholas Baird told Ambassador on February 20 that the UK was considering pulling out of Exercise EGEMEN 09, a Turkish national naval exercise scheduled to take place March 16 - 30. Baird said that the decision would be taken in the coming days at the Ministerial level in London and would take into account both his own input and that of his colleague in Athens. We asked whether the UK agreed with the Greek interpretation of the various issues-airspace, FIR, SAR responsibilities, etc. Baird did not provide any indication that the UK was in agreement with the Greek arguments, but said rather that his understanding was that the UK would decide this more on political grounds, rather than on technical / legal grounds. Baird also said that they would not want to take a decision "alone" but would rather do it in combination with the Dutch and US. ¶3. (C) Ambassador argued said that we had all taken a decision to participate. If the UK were to take a decision to pull out of EGEMEN 09, but wanted it to be a joint decision, then we the US would be faced with a decision for which we would bear political cost but about which we had not been consulted. Baird demurred a bit, then agreed, and said that there may or should be some "consultations." ¶4. (C) We understand that from a purely military standpoint we would want to pull our ship -- which will be TACON to the UK -- out of the exercise if the UK pulled out (ref). But at this point, this strikes us as a political as well as a military decision. This embassy did not push for US participation in the exercise -- which has been in planning since July 2008 -- but agreed to it after we ensured that the U.S. vessel and its aircraft would not be used or exploited in some way by the Turks to violate what the USG (not Greece) thought was Greek sovreignty. All seemed on track until the Greeks started their diplomatic press. ¶5. (C) If Greece had presented a strong, legitimate complaint (our view is that they did not, but others might have had a different view),then the reasonable approach would have been to talk to the Turks about modifying some aspect of the exercise to make it comply with what the rest of world, not necessarily Athens, thinks about these issues. ¶6. (C) But to pull our ship out based on Greek pressure, or in solidarity with the UK in backing down to Greek pressure, will do immense political harm, and here that could include military cooperation damage, to our relations with the Turks. We understand the "TACON" issue, but there is now way we can sell that as a rationale for the pullout. I urge that this be fully considered in the taking of any decision at this point on our ship. We believe the best course of action at this point is to persuade the Brits not to pull out. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey Jeffrey