US embassy cable - 03ANKARA5516

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 005516 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, MARR, MOPS, TU, IZ 
SUBJECT: IRAQI MINISTERS: TURKISH OFFICIALS COMPLAIN THERE 
SHOULD BE MORE TURKMEN MINISTERS, AMB. LOGOGLU EXPRESSES 
CONCERN ABOUT FM ZEBARI 
 
 
Classified by Ambassador Eric Edelman.  Reasons 1.5 B and D. 
ACTION REQUEST at para 1. 
 
 
1. (C) In seperate conversations with the Ambassador and DCM 
Sept. 1 and August 30 respectively, MFA Deputy Undersecretary 
Ali Tuygan and MFA Acting Director General Safak Gokturk said 
Turkey was disappointed that the Iraqi Governing Council had 
appointed only one Turkmen minister.  Turkish Ambassador to 
the US Farouk Logoglu (now in Ankara) had earlier told the 
Ambassador on August 30 that Turkey had reservations about 
the appointment of KDP official Hoshyar Zebari as Foreign 
Minister. Ambassador noted that we had not seen a definitive 
list but that Kurdish participation ought to be welcomed as 
an indication of Kurdish commitment to a unified Iraq. 
ACTION REQUEST: Post recommends that we urge Zebari to make 
an early trip to Ankara so that he and the Turks can 
establish a relationship based on his new post asap.  The 
Ambassador passed on the Turkish comments to CPA Chief of 
Staff Pat Kennedy by phone. 
 
 
2. (C)  DCM followed up his conversation with Gokturk in a 
meeting on Sept. 2.  He assured Gokturk that Turkey's 
concerns had been forwarded to Baghdad and Washington, that 
Turkey's views on the weight of the Turkmen are well-known 
and that the US has tried to ensure Turkmen are included in 
the mix of every Iraqi body.  There is a balance, the DCM 
noted, urging the Turks to keep their eyes on the overall 
functioning of the institutions and on the fact that what 
matters is that the institutions represent all Iraqis. 
Gokturk replied that no group in Iraq should be made to feel 
alienated, but that the Turkmen did feel alienated now. 
Turkey, he said, saw the appointment of only one Turkmen 
minister as a repetition of the same mistake made when the 
Governing Council was established with only one Turkmen rep. 
He added that the Science and Technology Ministry that the 
Turkmen minister will hold is only of secondary importance. 
It was, he said, vital for the Iraqi Turkmen to feel they 
were "A-list players."  Turkey, for its part, felt like it 
continued to offer advice to the US, but its advice on this 
matter was never acted upon.  The DCM suggested that for 
there to be more Turkmen involved in Iraqi institutions, the 
Turkmen in Iraq must do a better job of making themselves 
available and relevant. 
 
 
3. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
EDELMAN