MEK DEFECTOR GOES TO TURKEY DUE TO LIMITED ICRC

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000840

SIPDIS
NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2019
TAGS: PHUM KREF IO IZ IR
SUBJECT: MEK DEFECTOR GOES TO TURKEY DUE TO LIMITED ICRC
AND UNHCR SUPPORT

REF: A. BAGHDAD 405

B. 08 ANKARA 1270

Classified By: Political Military Minister Counselor Michael Corbin for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S/NF) Summary: Frustrated at the restrictive support
provided to him in Iraq and afraid of returning to Iran, one
of the two current Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) defectors has
moved to Istanbul. ICRC met regularly with the defectors
(most recently on March 12) and offered to assist them to
return to Iran, but has also made clear that it cannot
monitor (i.e., protect) them on a daily basis in Iran. UNHCR
met with the defectors for the first time on March 15 and
warned them that they would face lengthy delays, possibly up
to a few years, if they sought resettlement through UNHCR.
The fed-up defector took his Iranian Embassy-issued passport
and $1,000 from the GOI and flew to Turkey. However, he told
us that he is not happy and has no support in Istanbul.
There was no coordination between the GOI and GOT on this
issue, which will likely cause an issue between Turkey and
Iraq (as it has in the past with MEK refugees). Travel to
Turkey is not a solution for the 3400 MEK residents of Camp
Ashraf. End Summary.

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MEK DEFECTOR GOES TO TURKEY
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2. (S/NF) Tired of living in a hotel room and frustrated
with the limited support offered by ICRC and UNHCR, Mekki
Rafii, one of the two Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) defectors, left
Baghdad on March 19 and went to Istanbul (rumors of this trip
were reported in ref A). The GOI's MEK committee, headed by
National Security Advisor (NSA) Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, gave him
$1,000 and his passport, which had been recently issued by
the Iranian Embassy. The committee, including Ministry of
Human Rights (MoHR) representatives, escorted him to the
airport. Mekki called MoHR officials from the hotel in
Turkey and allegedly said he was happy and that the trip had
gone smoothly. However, he called us a few days later and
said he is not happy and has no support or contacts with NGOs
in Turkey. Minister of Human Rights Wijdan Salim told us on
March 22 that she was concerned about the impact on GOI-GOT
relations of sending MEK members to Turkey and discussed the
possible consequences with the NSA, who she said stated the
issue would not be a problem. We emphasized that this would
certainly be a problem, and the GOI should understand clearly
that sending MEK members to Turkey was not a solution.


3. (C) The second defector, Abbas Badfar, is still at the
Rasheed hotel in the International Zone. He is afraid to
leave for Turkey and refuses to return to Iran. However,
MoHR officials think he will go to Turkey after hearing that
Mekki is doing well. The GOI committee has Abbas's passport
and is encouraging him to go to Turkey and stay with Mekki.
The committee is also discussing other possibilities for
housing the defectors; the bill for Mekki at the Rasheed
hotel was $19,000 for less than a two-month stay.

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LIMITED ICRC SUPPORT FOR REPATRATION TO IRAN
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4. (C) On March 12, Minister Salim told PolOff that Mekki
had decided to return to Iran with assistance from the ICRC
and MoHR, who would have accompanied him. ICRC confirmed to
PolOff on March 14 that ICRC Iraq would assist with sending
Mekki to Iran, and that ICRC Iran would facilitate his
arrival. ICRC emphasized that while it would be able to
monitor Mekki en route to Iran and for a short period after
Qmonitor Mekki en route to Iran and for a short period after
his arrival, ICRC does not have the capacity to monitor
Mekki's safety in Iran on an ongoing basis. ICRC officials
said they would do everything possible to follow his case,
but there were no guarantees they would have adequate access
to him since ICRC has less freedom to move around Iran than
Iraq.


5. (C) ICRC received approval from the Iranian Embassy in
Baghdad to repatriate Mekki during a meeting on March 10, and
the Embassy had been waiting for final approval from Tehran.
ICRC confirmed this plan with Mekki during their March 12
meeting; however, Mekki changed his mind the next day, saying
he was too scared to go without daily ICRC monitoring of his
safety in Iran. ICRC told Mekki that the Iranian authorities
had reiterated commitments of safety, and ICRC would not
repatriate anyone if ICRC thought there were safety risks.
Mekki said he wanted instead to pursue options of
resettlement to a third country with UNHCR. ICRC and UNHCR

BAGHDAD 00000840 002 OF 002


have consistently made clear to Iraqi officials that they
will only support repatriation that is fully voluntary.

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UNHCR LENGHTY RESETTLEMENT ASSISTANCE
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6. (C) Carolyn Ennis, senior Protection Officer for UNHCR
Iraq operations, met with the two defectors on March 15 at
the Rasheed hotel and counseled them on their situation and
options. Ennis told them UNHCR could protect them as "asylum
seekers" but warned them that UNHCR cannot assure a speedy
and durable solution. She told Mekki and Abbas that many
asylum seekers, in particular former MEK members, had faced
long delays in resettlement and future delays could be
expected. Ennis did not give them a time estimate but said
it could take years.


7. (C) According to the NSA official who was present at the
meeting, Ennis was quite blunt with the defectors and did not
leave them with much hope of being resettled soon. Ennis
told PolOff that she was trying to dispel unrealistic
expectations that recognition as refugees by UNHCR would
result in prompt resettlement. According to ICRC, Mekki
called ICRC after this meeting and said he would not pursue
the resettlement option with UNHCR because it would take too
long.

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COMMENT
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8. (S/NF) As noted last month when GOI plans for sending
MEK defectors to Turkey became clear, a lack of coordination
with the Turkish government over resettlement of MEK
defectors in Turkey or transit through Turkey is an issue.
The arrival in Turkey in 2008 of 45 former MEK members
outraged the Turkish government (ref B),and it is still
unclear how the GOI plans to handle any new GOT fallout as a
result of MEK members or defectors traveling to Turkey. We
will continue to make clear to the GOI that this is not an
option that the USG can support, and that it may backfire on
the GOI if MEK members are deported back to Iraq from Turkey.


9. (C) It is noteworthy that the Iranian Embassy (although
not yet Tehran) moved forward on the possibility of
repatriating one of the MEK defectors given that Iran had
been stalling ICRC on repatriation of Ashraf refugee camp
defectors over the past year (ref A).
BUTENIS