US embassy cable - 03ANKARA6493

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006493 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT. FOR S/CT, EUR/SE AND NEA/NGA 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2013 
TAGS: PTER, PHUM, PREF, PREL, MOPS, MARR, TU, IZ 
SUBJECT: NORTHERN IRAQ'S MAKHMOUR CAMP - UNHCR ON NEXT 
STEPS WITH THE TURKS 
 
REF: STATE 261988 
 
 
Classified by A/DCM Scot Marciel.  Reasons 1.5 b and d. 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (C) On October 16, PolMilOff met with UNHCR Representative 
for Turkey Gesche Karrenbrock on Makhmour Camp issues. 
Karrenbrock hopes to meet with Turkish MFA and MOI officials 
in the next two weeks to discuss next steps.  She said that 
Turkish press play linking the camp to the PKK was having a 
negative effect on the willingness of camp residents to 
voluntarily repatriate.  She also complained that over one 
month ago UNHCR had provided Turkey with the names of 25 
Turkish refugees in Dohuk who wish to be repatriated, but the 
Turks have not begun to process them.  If Turkey is in a 
hurry to get the Makhmour population repatriated, she 
suggested, the Turks should move quickly on the Dohuk cases 
to create a pull effect.  Karrenbrock said that if Turkey 
wants a rapid timeline for returns, it needs to institute a 
more speedy and efficient processing system, and one that 
offers the prospective returnees more assurance of how they 
will be received in Turkey.  End Summary. 
 
 
2. (C)  UNHCR Turkey Rep Gesche Karrenbrock told PolMilOff 
Oct. 16 that the next steps for UNHCR with regard to Makhmour 
Camp were for her office to meet with Turkish MFA and MOI 
reps in Ankara.  These meetings could take place Oct. 20 or 
21, or after Oct. 27.  Karrenbrock said UNHCR and theTurkish 
MFA have had extensive talks on repatriating the Makhmour 
population and UNHCR, and Turkish MFA seem to be on the same 
page.  UNHCR has not yet had discussions with MOI, which she 
saw as key to the matter, and wanted to get into proposing 
modalities for the returns when she meets with MFA and MOI 
together. Karrenbrock explained that UNHCR would want, in 
addition to monitoring visits after returns, to be able to 
visit sites to which returnees will come in Turkey to assess 
reception capacity and evaluate what improvements/inputs 
might be required.  She reported that UNHCR already monitors 
without impediment the small number of Makhmour returnees 
that come to Turkey each year, but that she would need 
Turkish agreement for the UNHCR to do this on a much larger 
scale if large numbers return from Makhmour.  The first step 
for UNHCR, she explained, would be to get the best possible 
information to the refugees about conditions in Turkey 
(specifically in the villages to which they would be 
returning) and about what their options were.  She emphasized 
that they must not feel coerced and that they must have 
options available. 
 
 
3. (C) Karrenbrock said that for a returns program from 
Makhmour to succeed, returnees would need to be coming back 
to conditions in Turkey that were at least as good as those 
they were leaving behind in Makhmour.  In many cases, she 
said, their home villages are in bad disrepair.  She believed 
the GOT needed to make a commitment to get the villages into 
good shape.  She worried that the GOT would respond that 
since the villages were in disrepair or destroyed, they could 
all just go back to Diyarbakir, a solution that would be 
unacceptable from UNHCR's perspective.  She said that this 
issue required extensive discussion between UNHCR and GOT 
authorities. 
 
 
4. (C) Karrenbrock told us that over a month ago the UNHCR 
had provided Turkish officials with the names of 25 Turkish 
refugees in Dohuk who wanted to be repatriated to Turkey.  To 
date, none had been interviewed by the Turkish military in 
northern Iraq, the first step on the Turkish side in 
processing refugees for return.  Karrenbrock said this made 
her wonder about the timeline intended for repatriating the 
Makhmour population.  If these 25 cases could be processed 
quickly and received well in Turkey, it would help induce 
more returns from Makhmour.  The total lack of action on the 
cases by the Turks made her doubt that the Turkish system was 
ready to handle the large potential case load from Makhmour, 
and whether the Turks were really committed to moving quickly 
on Turkish refugees in Iraq.  Faster processing, she said, 
would add reassurance to those interested in repatriation. 
She conceded that this might improve after she discusses 
modalities for return with the MFA and MOI.  Karrenbrock did 
say that UNHCR had asked the Turks whether the same old 
system run by the same people would be used now for Makhmour 
or if there would be changes.  UNHCR had not yet received an 
answer. 
5. (C) Finally, Karrenbrock said press play in Turkey about 
Makhmour, including stories citing Turkish diplomats in 
Washington calling for the elimination of the PKK and the 
Makhmour Camp, and Turkish generals in Ankara saying the US 
should dissolve the camp, etc., were making camp residents 
less likely to voluntarily return, as they feel the GOT views 
them the same way as it does the PKK.  If the Turks want the 
camp population to return, they need to take a different 
approach with the press, she said. 
 
 
6. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
EDELMAN