AMBASSADOR RAISES AEGEAN ISSUES WITH FM DAVUTOGLU

S E C R E T ANKARA 000890 E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/24/2039 TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR TU GR SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RAISES AEGEAN ISSUES WITH FM DAVUTOGLU REF: A. STATE 61209 ¶B. ANKARA 855 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Ambassador James F. Jeffrey, Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (S) Ambassador raised the Aegean demarche (ref a) with FONMIN Davutoglu late June 23, noting specifically the need to end the overflights of Agathonisi and Farmakonisi, and the commitment made in writing to maintain promises GEN Craddock gave TGS. Davutoglu pushed back initially, arguing that the sovereignty of these "rocks" were in question "like Kardak" (referring to the infamous 1996 Aegean incident) and the Greeks were cherry-picking specific issues to spin the U.S. up rather than dealing with the whole Aegean complex in a comprehensive manner. Ambassador said regardless of Greek tactics, he doubted the sovereignty argument of the Turks: the islands were inhabited, and making arguments about sovereignty by overflights of fighter aircraft at low altitude was not proper. Davutoglu argued that Greeks overfly Turkey more than Turks do Greece. Even so, the Ambassador retorted, the Greeks do not couple their overflights, deliberate or not, with claims of sovereignty over Turkish territory. At that point, Davutoglu changed his demeanor and said that, frankly, he had ordered and was waiting for a review of all overflights by Turkish aircraft in the Aegean. ¶2. (S) Davutoglu then launched into an extended critique of his relations with Greek FONMIN Dora Bakioyannis, saying he liked her a great deal but that she both went after individual complaints (see above) rather than targeting comprehensive solutions, and would not take bold steps. He had suggested that he travel to the Republic of Cyprus and she to northern Cyprus to jointly declare that Greece and Turkey were 100 percent behind a solution. She (not unexpectedly) turned him down. He then described at length talks he had had with her on the Patriarchate and Halki. When he pointed out that the Turks had allowed the Synod of the Patriarchate a few years ago to include three non-Turkish citizens, "despite the Lausanne Treaty", she had replied that the assumption in Greece was that the Turks were not aware of the three,s presence. ¶3. (S) Comment: We need to keep pressing the Turks on the overflights, while maintaining our parallel approach with the Greeks to avoid provoking the Turks in the first place and seek more comprehensive negotiations and solutions. That latter sells well with the Turks and allows us to at least make the points about the overflights without a big fight. End Comment. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey JEFFREY