US embassy cable - 03ANKARA6779

UNCLAS ANKARA 006779 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE ALSO FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/NGA 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KU, SY, IZ, TU, IR, EG, JO, SA 
SUBJECT: SYRIA'S IRAQ MEETING: PART OF A PROCESS 
 
REF: KUWAIT 4988 
 
 
(U)  Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch.  Reasons:  1.5 (b) and 
(d). 
 
 
1.  (C)  MFA MidEast DDG Safak Gokturk told polmilcouns 
October 30 that the meeting of foreign ministers from Iraq's 
neighbors plus Egypt in Damascus this weekend will be the 
fourth of its kind since January when the GOT convoked 
ministers in Istanbul, which they dubbed the "Regional 
Initiative."  Subsequent meetings were held in Riyadh in 
April and Tehran after the OIC ministerial last spring. 
 
 
2.  (C)  Regarding Iraq's participation, Gokturk noted that 
the meeting was for regional governments to compare notes on 
Iraq.  Unlike the case of the UN, Arab League and OIC where 
Iraq has long been a member, Iraq had not been invited to any 
previous Regional Initiative meeting so Ankara did not think 
it unusual that the IGC had not been invited this time. 
Nonetheless, several Arab states, including Syria, had 
approached Turkey about whether to invite an Iraqi 
representative to the Damascus meeting.  The GOT's response 
was that it would not object to including Iraq.  Polmilcouns 
argued the benefits of including Iraq for the development of 
the IGC and Iraq's good relations with its neighbors; Gokturk 
reiterated that Ankara posed no objection to including Iraq. 
 
 
3.  (U)  Baghdad minimize considered. 
EDELMAN