TURKEY: IO CONSULATIONS ON UNSC ISSUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000717 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL TU UNSC SUBJECT: TURKEY: IO CONSULATIONS ON UNSC ISSUES Classified By: DCM Doug Silliman, for reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: An IO delegation led by PDAS Warlick met May 14 with a wide range of MFA officials during an all-day session at the MFA to discuss UN Security Council issues, particularly Cyprus, Somali piracy, Georgia, Sudan, Iraq and Iran. The discussions also touched upon Turkey's role on the Security Council and the upcoming presidency rotation. Turkey appears ready to cooperate with the USG and is open for guidance, but its traditional positions on core issues such as Cyprus remain steady. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) The USG delegation included IO PDAS James Warlick, IO/UNP Director Jess Baily, IO/PSC Chief Roger Moran, Senior Turkey Desk Officer Denise Marsh, and Embassy Poloff. The Ambassador, DCM, and PolCouns also joined different parts of the schedule. The consultations were held, separately, with Deputy U/S for General and Multilateral Political Affairs Ecvet Tezcan, Deputy U/S for Bilateral Political Affairs Haydar Berk, Director General for Multilateral Political Affairs Hasan Gogus, Deputy U/S for European Affairs Zergun Koruturk, Deputy DG of OSCE Affairs Ahmet Muhtar Gun, Deputy DG for Africa and East Asia Serap Ataay, Deputy DG for Africa Affairs Munis Dirik, Middle East Department Head Kerem Kiratli, and Deputy DG for Central Asia and Caucasus Firat Sunel. Counterterrorism -------------- ¶3. (C) Deputy U/S Tezcan underscored Turkey's philosophy that "terrorism is terrorism" and insisted that terrorism "has no categories." He said that Turkey is ready to cooperate and share its experience with the Security Council and General Assembly on counterterrorism issues, and would also be willing to work on a multilateral Counterterrorism framework. However, he said that Turkey would like counterterrorism cooperation to be a reciprocal relationship, and would like US support in obtaining better cooperation and information sharing from Europol and Interpol in particular. Tezcan also floated the idea of having Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek visit Washington for consultations with intelligence and security counterparts. Later in the day, DG for Multilateral Political Affairs Gogus said Turkey looked toward USG leadership and sought USG input on practical steps they should consider, such as leading the Counterterrorism Committee (regarding Resolution 1373) next year. Cyprus -------------- ¶4. (C) Deputy U/S Berk discussed Cyprus and Somali Piracy. On Cyprus, he said that Turkey wants to support the negotiation process in a constructive way, and ideally would like to solve the problem this year, although it knows that might not be the timetable others are working on. He said he is worried, however, about the Oram case in the EU and its negative impact on the ongoing negotiation process, and feels it could severely hurt progress made up until now. Regarding the renewal of UNFICYP, he said that Turkey would prefer that this take place under the Russian presidency, rather than the Turkish presidency. Turkey will have to vote against the resolution either way on principle, but under the Russian presidency, it could do so quietly as only a matter of standard policy -- as long as the renewal resolution largely repeats the text of previous resolutions. However, he warned, should the resolution either be brought up during the Turkish presidency or be significantly changed from previous resolutions, Turkish public opinion would force a more vocal stand against the resolution. Somali Piracy -------------- ¶5. (C) Berk said that on the issue of Somali piracy, Turkey has one request: that Contact Group membership be based on contributions of forces. This was the requirement faced by the Turks when they wanted to join the Group in December, Berk said. Turkey does not want to be isolated in the group, or be forced to veto Cyprus, but waiving this requirement could compel both circumstances. Berk said Turkey certainly understands the importance of the commercial shipping sector participation in addressing piracy, and would even be amenable to Greek Cypriot participation, but in a working group rather than at the plenary level. Iran -------------- ¶6. (C) In his own presentation on Iran, Deputy DG Gun indicated that he was under the impression that the USG is prepared to allow Iran to enrich uranium up to a certain point, but not beyond it, and that so far Iran has not already surpassed this point. The IO delegation underscored that this was not accurate. (NOTE: Embassy recommends that the Department consider sending a technical team to Ankara to brief in more depth on how far Iran has come in its enrichment capacity. END NOTE) Gun also expressed Turkish support for our policy of engagement, but expressed concern about Israeli press reports that the U.S. would only give engagement five more months. Such public pressure, he said, was counterproductive. Africa -------------- ¶7. (C) Deputy DG Dirik provided an overview on Turkey's new interest in Africa and said Ankara plans to add 15 new Embassies there. He admitted that lack of representation in Africa was a disadvantage in the Council, where Africa issues take up much of the agenda. Turning to Sudan, he painted a disturbingly rosy picture of the developments, quoting US Special Envoy Holmes's remarks in Khartoum on the return of some NGOs. Dirik seemed to have little appreciation of the dire humanitarian situation in Sudan. IO pushed back on this "everything is good" perspective, but appeared to make little headway. Thematic debates -------------- ¶8. (C) Over lunch, Ambassador Gogus discussed Turkey's upcoming turn as president of the Security Council. He noted, candidly, that before its election, Turkey had focused mostly on obtaining a seat on the Security Council, not on positions it would take on the council. Therefore, it is still mulling over ideas for Turkey's role now that it is actually on the Council and about to take the presidency. He presented some of the ideas they are considering for the thematic debate during their presidency: mediation, security in Central Asia, or peacekeeping -- the latter being the strongest possibility. PDAS Warlick suggested that if Ankara chooses the security theme, the upcoming New Horizons report could be a focal point of the debate. The IO delegation also discussed later the possibility of Turkey renewing the previous U.S. theme of "Women, Peace, and Security," which would coincide with the upcoming release of the Secretariat report on the resolution generated by the U.S. debate. Georgia -------------- ¶9. (C) Deputy DG Sunel focused his Caucasus presentation on Georgia, emphasizing that Turkey should be included when it has a direct connection or interest, as it does in Georgia, and that Turkey would like to be -- and is a natural choice to be -- a part of any new Group of Friends, Group of Friends-plus, or any other group focusing on Georgian issues. Sunel took the point that now is not the time for the defacto Abkhazian "Foreign Minister" Shamba to address formally the Security Council, but was noncommittal on an Aria-style presentation. Balkans -------------- ¶10. (C) Deputy U/S Ambassador Koruturk noted that on Kosovo and Bosnia, Turkey's positions hew closely to those of the USG. Warlick thanked Turkey for its help in encouraging wider Kosovo recognition. Koruturk commented that the recent Saudi recognition was pivotal, as was Kosovo's new membership in the IMF. Koruturk expressed concern about the need to manage internal Bosnian politics. Koruturk said she was unaware that Bosnia is now a candidate for UNSC membership, but expressed hope that if it wins, such membership would help bring the government together. Koruturk also spoke about engagement with Serbia and the need to keep showing them the road to the Euro-Atlantic cooperation. Comment -------------- ¶11. (C) After its 60-year absence from the UNSC, Ankara remains openly proud of its election as a temporary member, but still does not seem to quite know what to do with the position. Turkey is eager to prove itself during this first session, but lacks experience and does not yet have the requisite confidence or direction. We sense that Ankara would benefit from frequent consultations with the USG in New York and Washington. It would be useful, in particular, to reach out to Ankara on issues where it has pressing stakes, such as Georgia, Lebanon, and Iraq. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey JEFFREY