US embassy cable - 05ANKARA377

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000377 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2010 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, PREF, TU, IZ 
SUBJECT: IRAQ OCV REGISTRATIONS IN TURKEY SLOW 
 
REF: 04 ANKARA 6809 
 
Classified By: Counselor for Political-Military Affairs Timothy A. Bett 
s for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (SBU) On Jan. 24, PolMilOff called on Gezim Kiseri (Deputy 
Head of Country) and Sandra Khadhouri (Country Chief of 
External Relations) of IOM-Turkey's Iraq Out-of-Country 
Voting (OCV) office.  They reported that OCV registration in 
Turkey has been low: 3,764 as of Jan. 23 (2,730 in Istanbul, 
1,034 in Ankara).  With only Jan. 24-25 left to go in the 
(extended) registration process, it appears IOM will fall 
short of its initial estimate of 10,000-30,000 eligible 
voters in Turkey.  They believe part of the low turnout may 
be explained by the fact that the GOT insisted that Iraqi 
voters be able to show that they have some legal status (even 
if only a valid visitor visa) in Turkey. 
 
2. (C) Kiseri and Khadhouri said that negotiations with the 
GOT to establish the modalities for Iraq OCV in Turkey were 
"difficult."  IOM and the GOT only reached agreement on Jan. 
4, later than most or perhaps all other countries.  Since 
then, however, the IOM officials characterized Turkish 
cooperation as very good.  Turkish police will provide 
security at polling sites (two in Istanbul, one in Ankara), 
but they will not have the authority to examine voting 
documents, nor can they enter the polling station unless 
requested by IOM.  All poll workers will be Iraqis. 
 
3. (C) PolMilOff asked if the GOT had approached IOM 
regarding the presence on the Iraqi ballot of two parties the 
Turks claim are PKK/Kongra-Gel fronts (see reftel).  Kiseri 
responded that the Turkish ambassador in Geneva had 
approached IOM HQ regarding this issue on a worldwide basis, 
and that HQ had told the Turks that it was bound to use the 
ballot it was provided by the IECI. 
 
4. (SBU) Kiseri and Khadhouri handed us a list showing the 
status of all OCV registrations worldwide as of Jan. 23: 
 
Australia   10,095 
Canada      9,481 
Denmark     12,243 
France      958 
Germany     23,533 
Iran  48,010 
Jordan      14,573 
Netherlands 14,220 
Sweden      27,862 
Syria 12,665 
Turkey      3,764 
UAE   10,069 
UK    27,839 
USA   22,392 
 
TOTAL 237,704 
 
5. (SBU) A number of Embassy Ankara and AmConGen Istanbul 
personnel will serve as observers for Turkey OCV. 
 
6. (U) Embassy Baghdad and Iraq REOs minimize considered. 
EDELMAN