US embassy cable - 05ANKARA1103

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2024 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, MARR, TU, GR 
SUBJECT: TURKS AND GREEKS AGREE TO MILITARY CBMS 
 
REF: 04 ANKARA 6443 
 
Classified By: PolMilCounselor Timothy A. Betts.  Reason 1.4 (b) and (d 
). 
 
1. (C) Summary:  During the week of February 14, a Turkish 
General Staff (TGS) delegation visited Athens and reached 
agreement with the Hellenic General Staff on a series of 
exchanges to occur over the next year.  The Turks also 
proposed a list of 20 measures for Greece to consider the two 
doing in 2006.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) TGS/J5 Greece/Cyprus Director RADM Mucahit Sislioglu 
led a delegation to Athens the week of February 14.  The trip 
reciprocated one made by a Hellenic General Staff delegation 
in October 2004.  Sislioglu told PolMilCouns on February 25 
that the Turks and Greeks reached agreement during their 
meetings on the following CBMs to be taken during 2005: 
 
-- Service academy exchanges:  The commander, two or three 
officers and six-to-ten students from each of both countries' 
three service academies  will visit their counterparts for a 
period of about a week.  (A total of five visits--a 
delegation from the Greek Naval academy visited in Oct. 2004.) 
 
-- Joint Staff Colleges exchanges:  Same as the academies 
exchanges, except only each country's joint staff college, 
not the service staff colleges, will conduct the exchanges. 
 
-- PfP Training Centers:  Turkey will have three officers 
attend one course each (usually one or two weeks) at Greece's 
Partnership for Peace Training Center.  Greece will send 
three to five officers to Turkey's PfP Training center. 
 
-- Medical Exchange:  Turkey's Gulhane Military Hospital in 
Ankara will develop a virtual exchange over the internet with 
its Greek counterpart in Athens.  Sislioglu did not know the 
details, but "academic" (Gulhane is a research and teaching 
hospital) information would be shared, he said. 
 
3. (C) The TGS delegation passed to the Greeks a list of 20 
other exchanges Turkey was prepared to implement in 2006. 
Sislioglu did not elaborate on what was on this list, but he 
did expect the Hellenic General Staff to choose a half dozen 
or so to work on next year.  He expected to receive a 
response when a Greek delegation visits Ankara in 10-12 
months. 
 
4. (C) Sislioglu conveyed TGS Chief GEN Hilmi Ozkok's 
congratulations during a call on the new Hellenic General 
Staff Chief, Vice Admiral Panagiotis Chinofotis.  Sislioglu 
said both he and Chinofotis had served on their respective 
National Military Representatives' staffs at NATO from 1993 
to 1995.  As both were responsible for naval affairs, they 
met frequently to debate territorial claims in the Aegean and 
Turkey's "casus belli" declaration on unilateral expansion of 
Greece's claimed territorial waters.  Sislioglu thought that, 
although VADM Chinofotis still betrayed a "very nationalist" 
view during their meeting, a frank exchange was better to 
build mutual understanding.  All in all, he was satisfied 
with the visit. 
 
5. (C) Comment:  Although none of the CBMs Turkey and Greece 
have agreed to implement address the core Aegean maritime and 
aviation issues that continue to grate on their bilateral 
relationship, these measures should help build better 
relations between the two militaries.  The Turks had been 
concerned last fall that the Greek military appeared 
reluctant to move forward on CBMs with Turkey.  The recent 
visit to Turkey by the retiring chief of the Hellenic navy, 
Sislioglu's visit and the agreement on specific exchanges 
have relieved that concern.  End Comment. 
EDELMAN