US embassy cable - 04ANKARA2946

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 002946 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2029 
TAGS: MARR, AF, TU 
SUBJECT: NATO-AFGHANISTAN: PRESSING TURKEY FOR A LARGER 
ISAF CONTRIBUTION 
 
REF: A. STATE 111287 
     B. ANKARA 2822 
     C. ANKARA 2691 
 
 
(U) Classified by Ambassador Eric S. Edelman.  Reason 1.4 (b) 
and (d). 
 
 
1. (C) The Ambassador deployed reftel talking points with MFA 
Deputy Under Secretary Ali Tuygan on May 25, noting that 
Turkey was receiving similar messages from SACEUR Gen Jones. 
He recalled previously discussing Turkey's contribution of a 
provincial reconstruction team (PRT) with U/S Ziyal (ref b) 
and renewed his request that Ankara consider locations in 
Afghanistan's west and south.  In response, Tuygan made the 
following points: 
 
 
-- Helicopters:  Turkey has no more helicopters to offer. 
(The Ambassador urged Tuygan to reconsider.)  The issue of 
restrictive caveats had been conveyed by TU NATO Ambassador 
Uzumcu and he (Tuygan) would be raising it with the Turkish 
General Staff later in the day. 
 
 
-- Infantry:  Tuygan was discouraging about any additional 
Turkish ground forces in the immediate future given GOT's 
limited resources to pay for deployments and the prospect 
that Turkey's 3rd Corps would probably deploy early in 2005 
if the Istanbul High Readiness Force takes over command of 
ISAF from EUROCORPS. 
 
 
-- Role 2 Medical Facility:  Tuygan said he had not heard of 
this requirement before and would look into it.  (Comment: 
Other officials at MFA have already informed us that Turkey 
does not have a Role 2 Medical Facility so it cannot provide 
one -- ref c.) 
 
 
-- PRT: The judgment of the survey team Turkey sent to 
Afghanistan in April was that the Turkish PRT should be 
somewhere where it could make a difference within the 
constraints of the GOT's limited resources.  Takhar fit the 
bill.  (The Ambassador recalled U/S Ziyal making a similar 
point; Ziyal also suggested that after gaining experience in 
Takhar, Ankara might be able to consider supporting another 
PRT elsewhere.  Tuygan agreed.) 
 
 
2. (C) During a separate conversation with ODC-T Chief MajGen 
Peterson, TGS Deputy J-3 MG Kalyoncu also cited the lack of 
money to pay for deployments as a reason Turkey cannot 
contribute more to ISAF, despite its large force structure. 
(Comment: Under the requirements of Turkey's IMF program and 
budgetary reforms required to qualify for EU accession, the 
defense budget is truly limited and less flexible than in 
past years.) 
EDELMAN