US embassy cable - 04ANKARA4713

S E C R E T ANKARA 004713 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/I 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2014 
TAGS: PTER, IZ, TU 
SUBJECT: EMPLOYER OF TURKISH HOSTAGE IN IRAQ SAYS IT WILL 
PUBLICLY COMPLY WITH TERRORISTS' PULLOUT DEMAND BUT WILL GO 
BACK UNDER ANOTHER NAME 
 
REF: ANKARA 4600 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR ERIC S. EDELMAN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
1. (C) Ali Kantur, CEO of Turkey's TEPE group--a significant 
KBR subcontractor in Iraq--and Deputy General Manager 
Suleyman Son, met with Ambassador and Emboffs August 19 to 
discuss TEPE's security problems in Iraq.  Kantur and Son 
passed on that the Turkish TV station NTV reported at noon 
today that one of TEPE Group's employees who was taken 
hostage in Iraq three weeks ago, Aytullah Gezmen, has now 
appeared in a videocassette made available to Ihlas News 
Agency, saying he would be killed by his captors in 72 hours 
if TEPE group did not withdraw from Iraq.  Gezmen was 
kidnapped along with fellow Bilintur (a subsidiary of TEPE) 
employee Murat Yuce who was subsequently killed by the 
kidnappers.  At the time, the kidnappers called on Bilintur 
to pull out of Iraq and Bilintur, which was performing 
laundry services for the US military, had complied. 
 
2. (S) Kantur said that now that the terrorists are calling 
on TEPE itself--rather than just Bilintur--to pull out, TEPE 
will make an announcement that it is doing so, in the hope it 
will spare Gezmen's life.  When reminded about the danger of 
acceding to terrorist demands, Kantur was at pains to 
reiterate in the strongest possible terms that, in fact, TEPE 
had no intention of pulling out of Iraq now but would 
continue operations in Iraq under another name.  Kantur and 
Son noted that the terrorists seem to have pinpointed the 
whereabouts of their group's employees in Iraq such that the 
employees, having pulled back from Falluja to Baghdad, had to 
move into the Green Zone. 
 
3. (Sbu) Post will report septel on other topics raised in 
the meeting. 
 
4. (U) Baghdad minimized considered. 
EDELMAN