US embassy cable - 04ANKARA5952

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 005952 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, PINR, TU, IZ 
SUBJECT: MASOUD BARZANI IN ANKARA: NOT IN A MOOD TO 
COMPROMISE ON KIRKUK 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert S. Deutsch for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: KDP leader Masoud Barzani paid his first 
visit to Ankara in two years Oct. 11-12, during which he met 
with PM Erdogan and FonMin Gul.  According to the Turkish 
MFA, Barzani was unexpectedly assertive, especially on 
Kirkuk, which he stated was a Kurdish city, period.  Barzani 
characterized the PKK as the KDP's enemy, and told the Turks 
that the second border gate issue was for the Turks and the 
IIG to determine.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) MFA Director General for the Middle East Tahsin 
Burcuoglu told the DCM Oct. 13 that the Turks were surprised 
at KDP leader Masoud Barzani's "assertiveness" during his 
Oct. 11-12 visit to Ankara, his first in two years.  Barzani 
met PM Erdogan, FonMin Gul, and had a working lunch with 
senior MFA, military, and intelligence officials.  He recited 
generally familiar themes on other key issues, namely the PKK 
and the second border crossing.  Barzani told the Turks that 
the PKK is the KDP's enemy as well, not just the Turks'.  He 
added that the issue of where to place the second border 
crossing was one for the IIG and the GOT to solve. 
 
3. (C) MFA, the local KDP rep, and the Turkish press all 
agreed that Kirkuk was the main bone of contention during 
Barzani's visit.  The tone for had been thus set in late 
September, when the Turkish press quoted Barzani as saying 
that the Kurds are ready to fight for Kirkuk if the city is 
not included in Kurdistan.  In Turkey, Burcuoglu told the 
DCM, Barzani stated firmly that Kirkuk is a Kurdish city and 
that he will not accept any abrogation of the Kurds' right of 
return.  Barzani told the Turks that the Arabs in Kirkuk will 
be resettled elsewhere, and then there would be a referendum 
where Kirkuk's residents could (read: will) decide that 
Kirkuk will be a "part of Kurdistan."  The KDP's local 
representative, Omar Merani, told PolMilOff that Barzani was 
so annoyed at the working lunch by persistent Turkish 
questioning on Kirkuk that he refused to discuss the subject 
further in that venue (though he did discuss the issue 
extensively in his bilats).  Burcuoglu noted that Barzani was 
noticeably less confrontational in his meeting with PM 
Erdogan; Burcuoglu said with a laugh that Erdogan's 
aggressive body language influenced Barzani's deportment. 
 
4. (C) Barzani told the Turks that he did not seek ethnic 
conflict, and that his harsh words were not directed at 
Turkey but at elements in Iraq who would resist the idea of a 
Kurdish Kirkuk.  If the new central government in Baghdad is 
like Saddam, Barzani asserted, the Kurds will fight.  The 
local PUK representative, Bahros Galali, told us that we 
should read Barzani's public remarks through the prism of 
Kurdish politics: The PUK, he claimed, is stronger in Kirkuk 
than the KDP, so Barzani was making a play for Kurdish 
nationalist votes by claiming Kirkuk for the Kurds. 
 
5. (C) Comment: While the Turks claim to be concerned about 
the Turkmen minority there, their real concern, we believe, 
is that Kurdish nationalists will seek to use control of 
Kirkuk and its natural resources as a basis for a viable 
Kurdish state.  Although we argue with the Turks that we and 
the IIG are working for an orderly process of returns to 
Kirkuk as laid out in the TAL, the ardent stand Barzani 
asserts undermines our arguments as well as Turkish/KDP 
relations.  His visit did nothing to improve the situation. 
 
6. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
EDELMAN