US embassy cable - 05ANKARA2131

UNCLAS ANKARA 002131 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PM/DTCC -- BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR TIM WATKINS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KOMC, ETTC, TU 
SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: PRE-LICENSE END USE CHECK ON 
LICENSE 05-957032 AND 05-950176 
 
REF: STATE 51323 
 
 1. On April 7, 2005, Embassy Blue Lantern Officer met with 
officials from Aselsan Corporation responsible for reftel 
procurement to Turkey (License Appl. 05-950176).  Present 
were Program Manager Fikri Atmaca, Technical Director for the 
Electronics Hardware Department Serhat Salih Erzin and 
Purchasing Agent Fidan Cetinkaya, who were responsible for 
the acquisition and use of the Digital Frequency 
Discriminator.  Atmaca was the contact named in reftel. 
 
2. The Aselsan officials presented documentation regarding 
the order referenced in the license application, including 
information on the end user, which matched details contained 
in reftel.  They also provided information regarding previous 
orders from US firms.  Erzin explained that the instrument 
would be used by Aselsan in signals monitoring and collection 
research and development.  It is a tool in the R&D process 
that will be kept at Aselsan and not exported.  Aselsan 
officials added that the instrument does not support the 
fabrication or development of systems that are exported.  One 
instrument will initially be tested, with additional 
instruments requested if it meets the engineering and other 
requirements of the basic research it will support. 
 
3.  As background, Aselsan was founded in 1975 to produce 
tactical military radios and defense electronic systems for 
the Turkish Army, but has expanded its customer base since 
then to include public and private organizations for both 
Turkish and foreign customers in the area of modern 
electronic defense systems. 
 
4.  With respect to case 05-957032, Embassy has submitted a 
request to Turkish authorities to verify the legitimacy of 
the transaction described in reftel and is waiting for a 
reply.  Turkish General Staff's (TGS) response will be 
reported septel. 
EDELMAN