US embassy cable - 04ANKARA6649

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006649 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EB/TRA/OTP AND EUR/SE 
ROME FOR ICE ROBERT STIRITI 
PARIS FOR TSA 
DHS FOR CSI - TODD HORTON 
DEPT PASS TRANSPORTATION DEPT 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EWWT, PTER, ETRD, PREL, ETTC, KTIA, TU 
SUBJECT:  GOT Concerns on Some Aspects of CSI 
 
Ref: (A) Ankara 5691 (C) State 198802 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please Handle Accordingly. 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) At briefings on the Container Security 
Initiative by visiting Immigration, Customs and 
Enforcement Attache, Turkish officials reaffirmed their 
interest in the program, but expressed sensitivities 
about stationing U.S. personnel in Turkish customs areas 
and said a bilateral agreement would need to be 
negotiated.  The Turks provided data on security 
infrastructure and transport at the port of Izmir. 
Although the Turks are moving forward on our proposal, 
including through a visit to existing CSI ports, they 
will proceed with caution.  Mission recommends that DHS 
consider the command/control, administration and 
security aspects of a presence in Turkey carefully, 
including the merits of posting a representative in 
Ankara when and if personnel are deployed to Izmir.  End 
Summary. 
 
GOT Concerns on CSI 
------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) ICE Attache Robert Stiriti briefed a GOT 
interagency group, including officials from MFA, the 
Foreign Trade Undersecretariat (FTU), the Customs U/S, 
the Security General Directorate of the Interior 
Ministry, and the Maritime U/S, on expanding the 
Container Security Initiative (CSI) to the Turkish port 
of Izmir on November 23.  Turkish officials, including 
Acting Customs U/S Riza Tuna Turagay and MFA Deputy 
Director General for Aviation and Maritime Affairs Vakur 
Gozdenizler, reaffirmed Turkey's interest in joining 
CSI.  However, they told us it would be difficult to 
reconcile CSI (stationing U.S. customs officers) with 
domestic legislation restricting access to customs 
areas.  MFA suggested that it might be more feasible to 
station customs officer near, but not in, Turkish ports 
or customs areas.  MFA stated that a bilateral agreement 
to inaugurate CSI would need to be negotiated and 
submitted either to Parliament for ratification, or to 
the GOT Council of Ministers for approval.  Turagay and 
Gokdenizler requested technical, training and financial 
assistance with respect to preparing staff and securing 
non-intrusive inspection equipment. 
 
3. (U) The GOT is sending Cahit Gokcelik, Deputy 
Director General at the Customs U/S, to observe 
arrangements at several functioning CSI ports in Western 
Europe as part of the interagency process to evaluate 
CSI. 
 
4. (U) ICE Attache emphasized that U.S. customs officers 
would not have the authority to unilaterally order 
inspection of containers or to conduct any inspections; 
the two sides cooperating in CSI would jointly decide 
which containers are searched and Turkish customs 
officers would conduct actual inspections under the 
observation of U.S. personnel.  He told the Turks that 
it might be possible for the U.S. side to lend 
equipment, and/or to support equipment purchase through 
other U.S. or multilateral assistance programs. 
 
Izmir:  Port Equipment and Transport Data 
----------------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) The Turkish side provided ICE Attache with the 
following data concerning the port of Izmir: 
 
Equipment:  Fixed radiation detectors are installed and 
used at entry and exit points at the port.  An X-ray 
detector is used to screen passengers and their baggage, 
but there is no such device available to screen 
containers.  As required, law enforcement authorities 
have narcotics-detection, explosive-detection, ionscan, 
fiberoptic and other equipment, as well as a narcotics 
sniffer dog available for screening purposes.  GAS-DATA 
equipment used to combat human trafficking is not 
available. 
 
Transport volumes:  Customs officials confirmed that 
Izmir is the largest port servicing Turkish exports to 
the United States.  In 2003, 531,000 tons of merchandise 
were exported through Izmir.  In the first nine months 
of 2004, exports totaled 465,000 tons. 
 
Comment 
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6. (SBU) We believe ICE Attache's briefings were 
beneficial in explaining to the GOT how CSI works and 
what is expected from them.  The GOT is genuinely 
interested in CSI, primarily because of the trade 
facilitation dimension of the program, but will probably 
proceed cautiously and in a legalistic manner as it has 
in other export control and related programs. 
 
7. (SBU) As discussed with ICE Attache, DHS should also 
consider carefully the U.S. internal administrative and 
security concerns raised by stationing Customs and 
Border Protection officers in Izmir, and particularly 
whether it is advisable to station a CBP representative 
in Ankara as part of the Mission's country team. 
Mission fully supports objectives of CSI, and is eager 
to discuss how to most effectively implement the program 
if we obtain a more definitive response that the Turks 
are prepared to proceed.  Edelman