US embassy cable - 04ANKARA2719

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002719 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/13/2014 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY INCHING TOWARD MORE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN 
PSI 
 
 
1.  (C) Summary: NP PDAS Susan Burk met with a Turkish 
interagency group May 12 
in Ankara followed by a call on MFA DG for International 
Security Affairs Turan 
Morali to push for more active Turkish participation in the 
Proliferation 
Security Initiative (PSI).  The Turks noted that they were 
planning to observe 
PSI activities in 2004 and make their first "concrete 
contribution," offering 
an aircraft to an exercise in the Mediterranean, in January 
2005. The GOT cited 
legal difficulties with deploying military assets outside of 
Turkey, even for 
exercises, and hoped to have these legal obstacles overcome 
by then.  Burk and 
her delegation outlined ways in which Turkey could contribute 
to PSI without 
deploying actual military assets for non-NATO purposes, 
through experts participating 
in workshops where they could network and share information. 
The Turks welcomed these 
suggestions and agreed to try to send an appropriate 
delegation to the experts meeting 
and shipping workshop (vice local embassy reps) in Norway and 
Denmark in August. 
The GOT will look forward to receiving an official 
invitiation from Denmark and Norway. 
End Summary. 
 
 
2.  (C) NP PDAS Susan Burk and reps from NP, EUR and JCS 
visited Ankara May 12 
to urge the GOT to more actively participate in PSI.  They 
met with a Turkish 
interagency group composed of reps from MFA, TGS, Coast 
Guard, MND, the Turkish 
National Intelligence Agency, U/S for Foreign Trade, U/S for 
Customs, and the 
U/S for Maritime Affairs.  The GOT side was led by MFA 
Disarmament Head of 
Department Bulent Meric, who began by noting that US and TU 
nonproliferation 
views overlap and are particularly important to Turkey 
because of its sensitive 
geography.  Meric welcomed the April 28 UNSCR, which called 
for enforcement of 
international non-pro regimes.  He added that Turkey has been 
favorably 
inclined toward PSI since its inception but has been 
struggling with two 
issues: 
-- uncertainty about the GOT domestic legal basis for PSI, 
and 
-- the Turkish constitutional requirement that all non-NATO 
related military 
deployments outside of Turkey be approved by Parliament, even 
for exercises. 
 
 
3.  (C) Meric said Turkey had decided to observe the 
operational experts group 
meetings to get a sense of how the initiative was evolving. 
But he noted that 
late notice about the meetings made it difficult to send the 
appropriate 
experts.  Now the GOT was assessing how it could amend its 
legislation to allow 
it to more actively participate in exercises and what assets 
it had to 
contribute.  It currently planned to contribute one aircraft 
to a January 2005 
air/ground exercise in the Mediterranean. 
 
 
4. (C) Burk welcomed Turkey's future contribution and 
outlined the genesis of 
the initiative, noting the interagency nature of its 
activities and the high 
interest of many countries.  She emphasized that PSI was an 
activity, not an 
organization.  It was composed of a loose network of 
countries willing to work 
together on an important problem, each with their own 
capabilities and 
contributions.  She added that Turkey has been a longtime 
partner 
in the field of nonproliferation and has many things to 
contribute to PSI 
besides military assets.  One of the important benefits of 
the operational 
experts meetings was establishing points of contact with 
other countries.  In 
doing so, PSI partners know who to contact if there is a 
shipment of concern. 
Because each country has its own legal structure and 
capabilities, there is no 
standard way to deal with suspect shipments, but at least 
partners would know 
with whom to discuss possible courses of action.  In this 
vein Burk pushed the Turks to 
send appropriate experts to the operational experts meetings, 
rather than local 
embassy reps. 
 
 
5. (C) Meric noted that the GOT had been told it should not 
attend unless it 
had something concrete to contribute.  In addition, last 
minute invitations generally 
made it difficult to arrange travel.  Burk said the next 
meetings in Denmark 
August 3-4 and Norway August 5-6 had been agreed 
to at the Ottawa meeting, which was attended by a Turkish 
embassy rep.  She asked 
that the GOT begin planning for attendance prior to receiving 
the official invitation 
from Denmark and Norway and committed to encouraging the 
Danes and Norwegians to invite 
Turkey.  She also added that some meetings were regional or 
functional, therefore 
Turkey would not likely be invited, or even want, to 
participate in every one. 
Meric said Turkey was ready to begin developing contacts and 
sharing info.  The 
GOT would begin preparing for the Oslo meeting. 
 
 
6. (C) Both sides agreed that the problem is complicated, but 
the two 
governments shared the same objective.  The GOT seemed eager 
to participate 
more fully in PSI without having to deploy military assets to 
exercises right 
away.  The US side underlined that participation does not 
imply a commitment on 
Turkey's part to do an interdiction.  Burk encouraged the GOT 
to move toward 
conclusion of the EXBS agreement in order to facilitate 
non-proliferation 
cooperation.  Meric said the GOT hoped to have a response 
soon, which he hoped 
the USG would accept. 
 
 
7. (C) In a follow-on meeting with MFA DG Turan Morali, Burk 
and Meric gave a 
readout of the interagency meeting.  Morali supported a more 
active role for 
Turkey in PSI, admitting that tight travel budgets made 
attending all of the 
meetings somewhat difficult. 
 
 
8. (C) Comment: PDAS Burk's visit was useful in two regards: 
a) it clarified 
for the Turks that participation in PSI did not necessarily 
require immediate 
commitment of military assets for exercises, and b) it 
facilitated the gathering 
of all the relevant GOT agencies together -- a rare 
occurrence in Ankara.  The 
GOT now seems eager to participating more actively in PSI and 
is looking forward to 
contributing military assets to exercises beginning in Jan 
'05.  It had obviously 
not received word from its embassy in Ottawa about the 
Denmark and Norway meetings. 
Advance notice will hopefully allow the GOT to make 
arrangements for appropriate expert 
representation in future events. 
 
 
9. (C) Burk Delegation has cleared this cable. 
EDELMAN