EXBS: TURKEY ADVISORS MONTHLY REPORT- (DECEMBER

UNCLAS ANKARA 000099 SIPDIS DEPT FOR ISN/ECC- YWONG, ACHURCH, BGOLDEN, JBALDWIN DEPT FOR EUR/SE- KFITZPATRICK, BBRINK, DMARSH DOE/NNSA- TPERRY, LPARKER, EDESCHLER CBP/INA- TBAILEY, BPICKETT DOC FOR DCREED E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC KNNP KSTC MNUC PARM PREL TU SUBJECT: EXBS: TURKEY ADVISORS MONTHLY REPORT- (DECEMBER 2008) Sensitive but unclassified. Please handle appropriately. ¶1. Summary: The new EXBS Program Manager from ISN/ECC for Turkey met with post and Turkish officials to review the state of the program. EXBS Advisor met with various Turkish officials to discuss future EXBS and SLD engagement following September EXBS Nonproliferation Seminar. ¶2. Completed Actions for the Reporting Period: ¶A. Meetings During Recent Reporting Period by EXBS Advisor and Coordinator: 1) Dec 2 - MFA Nonproliferation and Disarmament Department Head Elif Ulgen. Advisor met with Ulgen to discuss results of EXBS Seminar and the upcoming border visit to the southern border with Syria and the Port of Mersin. Ulgen noted that the interagency provided MFA with a list of future activities which Turkey desires, to include possible cooperation on Portal Monitor development with DOE/SLD and TAEK, but noted that there were conflicting requirements on suggested EXBS activities within several agencies and it would require addition interagency meetings. Ulgen noted that MFA would provide Advisor with a complete list of desired nonproliferation activities in early January 2009. On visiting the southern borders, Ulgen noted that MFA would like to postpone this border visit until early February to ensure that members of the interagency and MFA could accompany advisor and PMA counselor on this visit (Comment: the MFA has since confirmed that the visit will take place February 5-6). 2) Dec 14 - ISN/ECC Turkish Program Managers Brett Golden (outgoing) and Joe Baldwin (incoming) visited Ankara for annual EXBS Program review. 3) Dec 15 - MFA Nonproliferation and Disarmament Department Head Elif Ulgen. Advisor and Program Managers met with Ulgen to introduce Baldwin as new ISN/ECC program manager for Turkey and to discuss results of EXBS Seminar. Ulgen told us that the interagency was scheduled to meet Dec 18th to de-conflict various agency recommendations for nonproliferation activities and that she was not able to discuss GOT desires until after that meeting. During this meeting, Baldwin noted ISN/ECC's desire to co-host the next Export Control Conference in Istanbul during late spring or early summer of 2009. Ulgen noted that Turkey is very interested in co-hosting this conference and agreed to discuss this at the Dec 18 interagency meeting. 4) Dec 15 - Turkish National Police (TNP) International Relations Department Head Recep Gultekin. Advisor and Program Managers discussed the EXBS program capacities and provided Gultekin with an overview of the pending WMD Undercover/Controled Delivery Course that was scheduled to be conducted by DHS/ICE officers in Ankara, spring of 2009. Gultekin concurred with having anti-smuggling officers from Customs Enforcement, TNP, and possibly Jardarma participate in the program. Gultekin agreed this training would be beneficial on an interagency basis and would provide a valuable venue for coordination of Turkeys various ant-smuggling units. We briefed Gultekin on the broad range of EXBS capacities and Gultekin was eager to see increased cooperation between GOT and U.S. law enforcement agencies under the EXBS program. 5) Dec 16 - Deputy Director General (DDG) Turkish Customs, Mehmet Guzel. Advisor and Program Managers met with Guzel to discuss the recent VIP visit to the US by Customs Enforcement DG Akkoc and discuss next steps for Customs Enforcement cooperation. Guzel noted the visit was a success for Customs and provided DG Akkoc with a sound basis for future Custom Enforcement restructuring. Guzel noted that they were eager to get a sample of DHS/CBP and Border Patrol uniforms so that they could review the design at their upcoming uniform review boards. Advisor provided Guzel with additional information about the upcoming IBIT II and IRIT II and recommended that these courses be held at Kapakule Border crossing, which is the largest vehicle and rail crossing into Turkey. Action Request: Request status of DHS/CBP uniform request in last month's report. Customs is eager to review this uniform as a possible example for future Turkish Custom uniforms. 6) Dec 16 - Undersecretariat of Customs, Director General for EU and External Relations, Riza Mehmet Korkmaz. Team discussed recent visit of Customs Enforcement DG Neset Akkoc and his staff to US. Korkmaz noted the team was very impressed with their visit and that it provided Customs with valuable exposure of U.S. Customs training and enforcement procedures. He noted that he would like to have the Undersecretariate for Customs visit the US in future to increase Turkish/US cooperation and exchanges. 7) Dec 17 - EU Commission for Accession, Senior Manager for Border Integration, Ms. Burce Ari. Team discussed recent EU funded project to assist Turkey in developing a new Border Management Strategy (BMS) as part of the EU Customs harmonization process. The BMS was first published in 2004, but has not seen much movement since the authorization of this plan by Prime Ministry Decree. Ari noted that the Ministry of Interior has recently appointed two commissioner level officials to head up the new Border Management office and that she would be meeting with them on December 18. She noted that the EU commission had limited funds to support this project and that Turkey would need to fund the bulk of this project as envisioned by the master BMS plan. To date, Turkey has not earmarked funding for this project. Under the project, the Ministry of Interior would have a Border Management Department that would consolidate border management responsibilities currently divided among Jarndarma, TNP, Customs and Turkish Military. Advisor plans to meet with the Ministry of Interior in January to determine when and if this project will move forward. ¶B. (U) Training Conducted During this Reporting Period: - Two Turkish Atomic Enegy Authority (TAEK),two Turkish Customs and two Turkish National Police Officials attended the Nuclear Forensics Workshop held in Karlasruhe, Germany 2-4 December, 2008. This workshop was funded and coordinated by ISN/WMDT. ¶C. (U) Equipment Delivered During this Reporting Period: None this period. ¶D. (U) Imminent Training or Equipment Status Update: None this period. ¶E. (U) Significant Developments in Export Controls, Nonproliferation, or Related Border Security: None this period. ¶3. (U) Future Activities: MFA to provide detailed Turkish Inter-agency report on their recommendation for future nonproliferation engagement from the September EXBS Nonproliferation Seminar. EXBS team will visit the border crossing with Syria February 5-6. ¶4. (U) Red Flag Issues: None. ¶5. (U) Contact information for EXBS Program Ankara is: Robert Cieslinski, EXBS Advisor, Email: CieslinskiRL@state.gov, Office (90) (312) 457-7210, Cell (90) (533) 716-4808 and Erhan Mert, EXBS Coordinator, Email: MertE2@state.gov, Office(90)312 457-7059, Cell (90) (533) 264-8407. EXBS Program Office Fax (90) (312) 468-4775. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey Jeffrey