IRAQ-TURKEY-U.S. TRILATERAL DIALOGUE WORKING GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000842 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR TU IZ SUBJECT: IRAQ-TURKEY-U.S. TRILATERAL DIALOGUE WORKING GROUP SET AGENDA FOR APRIL,S PROPOSED MINISTERIAL-LEVEL MEETING REF: BAGHDAD 723 Classified By: Minister Counselor for Political-Military Affairs Michae l Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) The Iraq-Turkey-U.S. trilateral security dialogue working group met on March 26 and agreed on an agenda for the Ministerial-level meeting proposed for Baghdad on April 11: ¶1. Accomplishments of the Subcommittee ¶2. Details of the Erbil office; its tripartite nature ¶3. Turkish assessment of the suitability of Iraqi intelligence shared to date ¶4. The future of the Makhmour refugee camp ¶5. Feasibility of the KGK laying down their arms in compliance with Iraqi President Talabani,s recent statements and expected outcome of upcoming Pan-Kurd conference (to hosted by the KRG in April) ¶6. Turkish intelligence training for Iraqis ¶2. (C) Other takeaways: -- Turkish Military Attach COL Cengiz Ozen said while he appreciated the efforts of the subcommittee, he would like to see things accelerated and more efficient. He pressed the group to move forward to make operational the planned trilateral Erbil intelligence cell and specified the Turkish MOI wants all three nations represented in the Erbil office. U.S. lead RDML Little agreed, stressing the need for all initiatives taken under the auspices of the Trilat to be trilateral in nature. -- While the U.S. team was prepared to discuss funding as discussed at the March 12 working group session (ref),the issue was left for a future meeting. (In a side conversation, the Iraqis indicated that they had not yet obtained the budget details that the U.S. team had requested). BUTENIS