TURKEY: FOLLOW-UP FROM 8 APRIL 2009 E3 PLUS 3

S E C R E T ANKARA 000549 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE, NEA/IR E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/14/2019 TAGS: PREL KNNP PARM MNUC IR TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: FOLLOW-UP FROM 8 APRIL 2009 E3 PLUS 3 POLITICAL DIRECTORS MEETING ON IRAN REF: SECSTATE 36335 Classified By: DCM Doug Silliman, Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (S) Ambassador met April 14 with Ambassador Gurcan Turkoglu, Foreign Policy Advisor to President Gul, and urged the GOT to help persuade Iran to accept the renewed E3 Plus 3 approach and the freeze for freeze proposal. Turkoglu did not commit to taking any specific action, but said he understood US concerns and that Iran's nuclear program is a problem for the entire region. Turkoglu said that President Gul had expressed to former Iranian President Khatami in Istanbul April 7 on the margins of the Alliance of Civilizations Turkey's concerns regarding Iran's nuclear program, rhetoric on Israel, and relations with terrorist groups. ¶2. (S) We also met separately with MFA Iran Department Head Devrim Ozturk and Nonproliferation Department Head Elif Ulgen to deliver the reftel demarche. They were non-committal about GOT taking immediate action to encourage Iran to engage with E3 3 or making any sort of public statement in support of the renewed E3 3 effort. Ozturk said the GOT is committed to supporting international efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and that this was reiterated at the highest levels to the US during President Obama's visit. He reminded that President Gul had delivered a very blunt message to Ahmadinejad last year on what Iran must do to address international concerns about its nuclear program. ¶3. (S) Ulgen then mentioned an April 8 telephone conversation between Undersecretary Burns and MFA Undersecretary Apakan on this topic. Ulgen said the MFA's readout of the conversation indicated that U/S Burns had described the renewed approach as a "temporary freeze until suspension." She said Apakan had asked U/S Burns to pass an explanatory note via Post to explain how this renewed approach is different from the original "freeze for freeze" proposal, if indeed it is. Ozturk noted that the Iranians had previously expressed openness to a freeze, but had reacted quite negatively to the term "suspension." Drawing on reftel instructions, we told Ozturk and Ulgen that our goal for E3 Plus 3 engagement remained the same: to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, including the suspension of Iran,s enrichment and reprocessing programs, as described in multiple UNSCRs. ¶4. (S) Ozturk and Ulgen pledged to flag the U.S. request for their superiors. Ozturk mentioned an upcoming visit to Tehran by MFA Director General for Middle East and South Asian Affairs Huseyin Dirioz at the end of April to meet with his Iranian counterpart and said the nuclear account will certainly be discussed. He also noted that MFA Deputy Undersecretary Sinirlioglu will attend the April 17 Pakistan Donors conference in Tokyo and will head to Washington the week of April 20. He recommended Washington use the occasion of Sinirlioglu's visit to continue consultations on Iran's nuclear portfolio. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey Jeffrey