US embassy cable - 03ANKARA7096

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 007096 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR E, EB, EUR/SE, AND NEA/NGA 
TREASURY FOR OASIA - JLEICHTER AND MMILLS 
NSC FOR TMCKIBBER AND MBRYZA 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2008 
TAGS: EFIN, PREL, IZ, TU 
SUBJECT: MFA U/S ZIYAL REQUESTS REVISION OF FINANCIAL 
AGREEMENT 
 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 6886 
     B. STATE 295374 
     C. ANKARA 6574 
 
 
1. (U) Classified by Ambassador Eric Edelman for reasons 1.5 
(B) and (D). 
 
 
2. (C) At a November 13 meeting, MFA Undersecretary Ugur 
Ziyal told the Ambassador that the political conditionality 
in Article 5(A)(ii) - the Iraq-related conditionality - of 
the USD 8.5 billion Financial Agreement continues to be a 
serious problem for the GOT and could have a negative bearing 
on the bilateral relationship.  According to Ziyal, the Prime 
Minister does not want to go down in history as the first 
Turkish PM to sign an economic agreement with political 
conditions.  Ziyal predicted that the PM would not pursue the 
FA further in its current form. 
 
 
3. (C) Noting that the PM had raised this issue in his recent 
telephone conversation with the Vice President, Ziyal asked 
that FA Article 5(A)(ii) be revised to eliminate explicit 
political conditionality.  He suggested that the FA could 
instead more generally refer to conditions "as provided in 
the (U.S.) legislation".  The Ambassador told Ziyal that he 
doubted that we could revise the language in the FA, but that 
we would check this with Washington agencies.  Ziyal agreed 
that if the text could not be revised, it might be worthwhile 
to consider a side letter, although it would have to be 
drafted in a way that it could be made available to the 
Parliament or public. 
 
 
4. (C) Ziyal told the Ambassador that GOT legal experts had 
determined the FA would have to be approved by Parliament. 
He opined that President Sezer would not block the FA if 
approved by Parliament. 
 
 
5. (SBU) Action Request:  Request Washington agencies provide 
guidance for use in responding to Ziyal's request. 
EDELMAN