US embassy cable - 03ANKARA7397

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 007397 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE, EB/EPD, AND EB/TPP/ABT 
DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR FOR NOVELLI, DBIRDSEY, JHOFEMEISTER, 
USDA FOR FAS FOR ITP/BERTSCH, MACKE, MEYER, HANSEN 
USDOC FOR DEFALCO 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EAGR, KPAO, TU 
SUBJECT:  Turkish Officials Comment on WTO Agriculture 
Issues 
 
 
Ref:  State 224192 
 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet Distribution. 
 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  DESPITE THE APPARENT FAILURE TO 
REACH AGREEMENT IN CANCUN, TURKISH OFFICIALS CONSIDER 
THE CONTINUATION OF WTO AGRICULTURE NEGOTIATIONS 
ESSENTIAL TO THE HEALTH OF THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY. 
TURKISH OFFICIALS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CANCUN 
MEETINGS COMMENTED THAT THE UNITED STATES SHOWED LITTLE 
FLEXIBILITY IN ITS NEGOTIATING POSITION ON AGRICULTURE 
DURING THE MEETINGS WHILE THE EUROPEAN UNION SEEMED 
MUCH MORE WILLING TO DISCUSS CONCERNS AND COMPROMISE 
WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
2.  (SBU) AGCOUNSLOR MET SEPARATELY WITH TWO TURKISH 
OFFICIALS, HASAN HUSEYIN COSKUN, UNDER SECRETARY OF 
AGRICULTURE AND AYLIN BEBEKOGLU, CHIEF OF SECTION IN 
THE GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF AGREEMENTS AT THE 
UNDERSECRETARIAT OF FOREIGN TRADE.  BOTH OFFICIALS 
ATTENDED THE WTO MEETINGS IN CANCUN AND PARTICIPATED 
SPECIFICALLY IN THE AGRICULTURE DISCUSSIONS. 
 
 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
MINAG SUPPORTIVE BUT NO SUGGESTIONS 
----------------------------------- 
3.  (SBU) U/S COSKUN SUPPORTED THE CONTINUATION OF 
AGRICULTURAL NEGOTIATIONS IN THE WTO.  HE NOTED THAT 
THE NEGOTIATIONS WERE ESSENTIAL TO WORLD TRADE.  AT THE 
SAME TIME, HOWEVER, HE WAS UNABLE TO SUGGEST ANY STEPS 
THAT MIGHT MOVE NEGOTIATIONS ALONG.  INSTEAD, HE 
SUGGESTED THAT THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER DEVELOPED 
COUNTRIES NEED TO DEVELOP NEW PROPOSALS TO BRING 
COUNTRIES BACK TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE.  COMMENT. IN 
GENERAL, THE TURKISH AGRICULTURE OFFICIALS ARE NON- 
COMMITTAL ON TRADE NEGOTIATIONS.  IN THE PAST, MINAG 
OFFICIALS HAVE STATED THEIR SUPPORT FOR TRADE 
LIBERALIZATION, WHILE CONTINUE TO PURSUE A POLICY OF 
SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND MARKET PROTECTION.  TURKISH 
AGRICULTURE OFFICIALS HAVE OFTEN STATED THAT HIGH 
TARIFFS ARE NECESSARY TO PROTECT TURKISH AGRICULTURE 
AGAINST THE HIGH DOMESTIC SUPPORT PROGRAMS IN EUROPE 
AND THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 
-------------------------- 
U.S.-EU BUSINESS AS USUAL? 
-------------------------- 
4.   (SBU)    In contrast to the Ministry of Agriculture, 
Ms. Bebekoglu from the Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade 
was much more forthcoming in her comments on the Cancun 
meetings.  Ms. Bebekoglu was surprised at the text of the 
proposal submitted by the United States.  She remarked that 
the agreement between the United and the EU on domestic 
support reached prior to the meetings left out too many 
important details particularly with regard to the products 
covered.  Moreover, she offered that many developing 
countries felt that the United States and European Union 
were trying to broker a deal without including other 
countries, most importantly, developing countries in the 
negotiations.  According to Ms. Bebekoglu, developing 
countries opposed the text reasoning that once the United 
States and EU reached agreement to resolve their 
differences, there would be little room in the negotiations 
for smaller countries. It was also the Turkish impression 
that most countries at the end of the meetings were very 
close to reaching an agreement and this concerned Turkey's 
representatives because they did not like the text. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------------------------ 
U.S. Position - Too Inflexible 
------------------------------ 
5.  (SBU) Turkey considers itself a part of two worlds.  On 
the one hand, it believes that the possibility of EU 
membership should guide its polices including adopting EU 
regulations.  At the same time, Turkish officials believe 
their country has much in common with the Group of 21. 
Although it did not join the Group of 21, Ms. Bebekoglu 
commented that Turkey has very similar interests in trade as 
India, which did join the Group of 21.  Most of the 
criticism for the difficulties during the negotiations was 
directed at the United States.  According to Ms. Bebekoglu 
the United States is demanding too much on market access 
from other countries while it is unwilling to provide 
sufficient decreases in the U.S. domestic support programs. 
In her opinion, either the United States needs to give 
greater reductions in the domestic support programs and 
export subsidies or it must ask less of developing countries 
in the area of market access. 
 
 
----------------------------- 
EU Wins the Perception Battle 
----------------------------- 
6.  (SBU) PERHAPS THE MOST TELLING COMMENT BY TURKISH 
OFFICIALS WAS THE TURKISH PERCEPTION THAT THE UNITED 
STATES DISPLAYED VERY LITTLE FLEXIBILITY DURING THE 
NEGOTIATIONS. ACCORDING TO TURKISH OFFICIALS, THE EU 
DELEGATION SEEMED MUCH MORE WILLING THAN THE UNITED 
STATES TO NEGOTIATE AND COMPROMISE WITH DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES.  THIS PERCEPTION MOST LIKELY CONTRIBUTED TO 
THE IMPASSE IN CANCUN. 
 
 
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Multilateral Vs Bilateral Agreements 
------------------------------------ 
7.  (SBU) In general, Turkish officials believe that it is 
extremely important to find a way to encourage agriculture 
negotiations.  Turkey firmly supports a multilateral 
approach to international negotiations.  Both officials 
commented that any trend in pursuing bilateral agreements 
will do more harm to the multilateral trade system. 
Interestingly, the Turkish representatives characterized the 
outcome of Cancun as a "success" for the Group of 21 and 
that the failure to reach an agreement would allow a better 
review of the text and input from other countries. 
 
 
 
 
-------------------- 
Comment:  Next Steps 
-------------------- 
8.  (SBU) Agriculture is one of the more sensitive areas for 
Turkey and Turkish officials.  With such a large portion of 
the population (25 - 30 percent) involved in some aspect of 
agriculture and 40 percent of the population living in rural 
areas, Turkish officials are reluctant to agree to any 
changes that might increase competition for this sector. 
World Bank officials have commented on the progress Turkey 
has made over the past few years reducing domestic support 
programs.  As a result, Turkish officials are much more 
hesitant to relent on demands for greater market access 
without any clear benefits to its own agriculture sector. 
More troubling perhaps, is the perception of U.S. 
inflexibility compared with the European Union.  EU-Turkish 
agriculture trade relations have been less than cordial 
despite the existence of a customs union and the possibility 
of EU membership in the distant future.  As a result, the 
United States may have an uphill battle in convincing 
countries like Turkey that the U.S. position is indeed in 
their interest. 
 
 
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