US embassy cable - 04ANKARA4125

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 004125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2014 
TAGS: MOPS, IZ, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY IN ACCORD WITH USG ON DUAL-HATTING U.S. 
COMMANDER FOR NATO TRAINING IN IRAQ 
 
REF: STATE 161037 
 
Classified By: PolMil Counselor Timothy A. Betts for reasons 1.4 (b) an 
d (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: Turkey supports the U.S. proposal to 
"dual-hat" the U.S. MNF-I Commander in Iraq for NATO's 
training mission for Iraqi security forces.  MFA officials 
(rightly) predicted France would object.  Turkey has offered 
to train Iraqis in Turkey, but may consider sending "two or 
three" liaison officers to Iraq for this purpose in the 
future.  Long-standing plans to send Turkish police personnel 
to train Iraqis in Jordan is still held up by a sluggish 
budget procedure; the Turks may consider joining up police 
and military training plans and budgets in an effort to break 
this logjam.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) On July 26, PolMilCouns and PolMilOff called on MFA 
Deputy Director General for NATO Military Affairs Fatih 
Ceylan to deliver reftel demarche.  Ceylan responded that the 
GOT had taken an interagency decision July 23 to support the 
U.S. proposal to "dual-hat" the U.S. MNF-I commander for 
NATO's training mission for Iraqi security forces.  For the 
Turks, as long as the commander responsible for the NATO 
training program reports through NATO channels, they have no 
problem with this setup.  Accordingly, the GOT instructed its 
NATO Mission not to break silence on this issue in the 
Military Committee. 
 
3. (C) Ceylan predicted that the French (or possibly the 
Germans) might object to the U.S. proposal.  He interrupted 
our conversation to call Brussels, and learned that the 
French (and only the French) had broken silence by the July 
26 12:00 noon (Brussels time) deadline, and reported that the 
Turkish NATO Mission understood that the French would present 
their reasoning for doing so later on July 26. 
 
4. (C) Ceylan outlined current Turkish plans for training 
Iraqi security forces under NATO and said that the GOT had 
submitted its plan at SHAPE and to Military Committee 
members.  The Turks would train Iraqis, including senior 
military leaders in Turkey.  "If all goes well and if 
conditions permit," Turkey would then consider sending "two 
to three" liaison officers to carry out training in Iraq. 
 
5. (C) Ceylan was unaware of our previous discussions with 
MFA Deputy Iraq Coordinator Tokdemir about Turkey's sending 
police trainers to the Iraqi police training center near 
Amman.  (Note: We understand that all the arrangements were 
made to send trainers, but the Ministry of Interior was 
waiting for a special budget allocation from the Prime 
Ministry to fund trainers' per diem.)  Ceylan said he would 
look into this, with an eye toward incorporating police 
training under Turkey's contribution to the Iraqi training 
effort. 
 
6. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
DEUTSCH