5 FEB MEETING OF THE IRAQ-TURKEY-U.S. TRILATERAL

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000321 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR IZ TU SUBJECT: 5 FEB MEETING OF THE IRAQ-TURKEY-U.S. TRILATERAL WORKING GROUP: MAKING INCREMENTAL PROGRESS REF: BAGHDAD 150 Classified By: Minister Counselor for Political Military Affairs Michae l H. Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). SUMMARY: At the February 5 session of the Iraq-Turkey-U.S. Security Dialogue Working Group (WG),GoI officials provided details on requirements for opening a shared intelligence office in the KRG city of Erbil and requested the exchange of liaison officers for placement on their shared border. They also asked the GoT to provide the GoI with the names of PKK members in Iraq for whom warrants have been issued in Turkey, as well as the names of suspected PKK members, to permit GoI authorities to arrest or detain as permitted by local law. The GoI expressed its willingness to shut down the PKK front organization Kurdish Democratic Solution Party (PCDK) if Turkey provides actionable intelligence against it. End summary. -------------- COMMITTEE OFFICE IN ERBIL -------------- ¶2. (S) As promised at the last meeting of the Trilat WG (reftel),GoI authorities detailed their efforts to locate an office in Erbil for placement of Iraqi, Turkish and U.S. intelligence officers in order to counter KGK terrorists. MG Delshad Najib, KRG representative, said the cost of an office large enough to hold such an operation would be between four million and six million Iraqi Dinar per month. (NOTE: this is the equivalent of approximately $3,500 to $5,000 per month in USD.) Delshad said it would take at least a month for the office to be ready. GoI delegation head MG Abdullah Foukeiki instructed him, nonetheless, to "have it ready in less than a month." Of particular note, Foukeiki said the Iraqi Council of Ministers had given its approval to establish such an office in Erbil. Both Iraqi and Turkish delegates said they assumed the U.S. would participate since it was to be created under the aegis of this trilateral committee. -------------- LIAISON OFFICERS ON THE TURKISH-IRAQI BORDER -------------- ¶3. (S) The GoI also requested that the Turkish and Iraqi governments exchange liaison officers on their shared border to enhance border security. Although it was the first time the topic was raised in the context of the trilateral security dialogue, Foukeiki said the matter had been agreed to at a regional conference of Interior Ministers in October 2007 in Jordan and that only Turkey had not yet provided an officer. COL Cengiz Ozen, Turkish representative, said he would raise the issue in Ankara. Neither Iraqi nor Turkish representatives raised the prospect of U.S. participation in this exchange. -------------- -------------- THE KURDISH DEMOCRATIC SOLUTION PARTY - A FRONT FOR THE KGK -------------- -------------- ¶4. (S) In response to a request for information on KGK front organizations by the GoT in an earlier meeting, the Committee Secretary provided a brief report on the Kurdish Democratic Solution Party (PCDK). Based on its association with the KGK, Delshad said that KRG officials at one point shut down the PCDK offices in the KRG area. However, the organization continued to exist and currently had branches throughout the KRG, as well as in Mosul, Salah ad-Din, and Baghdad. Faris Faek Rashid of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) stated that the PCDK was currently a legitimate party. Qstated that the PCDK was currently a legitimate party. Foukeiki, however, requested the Turks share any information that would implicate the PCDK in terrorist activities and thereby allow Iraq to take action against it. ¶5. (S) Foukeiki also requested a list of KGK members for which Turkish arrest warrants were already in existence. He indicated that Iraq would use such warrants to arrest KGK members in Iraq. He said that without warrants, however, Iraqi law limited what could be done. Moreover, he said that if Turkey provided Iraq with a list of suspected PKK members, the GoI could detain such persons upon their arrival in Iraq, thereby sending a message to other PKK terrorists that transiting to Iraq to rejoin the group was no longer a viable option. -------------- NEXT MEETING DATE -------------- BAGHDAD 00000321 002 OF 002 ¶6. (SBU) The next Working Group meeting is scheduled for February 19. The next Sub-committee meeting (at the one-star level) may take place on February 26, but the date has not been confirmed. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) The trilat,s first exchange of tangible intelligence from Iraq to Turkey still shimmers before us like a desert mirage, but the atmosphere at today's meeting was largely positive and encouraging of progress to come. Both Turkish and Iraqi officials privately told U.S. delegates that the two sides had met privately two days prior to the meeting and agreed to the agenda and finalized minutes from the previous meeting. Doing so resulted in a far more businesslike and productive meeting. Both countries' reps also told us that their governments were pleased with the pace of the meetings to date. COL Ozen told polmiloff that aside from the Iraqi Council of Ministers, the Trilateral Committee was seen by the Turks as the only place in the GoI where interagency cooperation was actually taking place and had potential far beyond merely working to counter the PKK. End comment. CROCKER