US embassy cable - 05ANKARA2260

UNCLAS ANKARA 002260 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
PARIS FOR USOECD 
BRUSSELS FOR USEU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN, ETRD, PREL, TU, RS, OECD 
SUBJECT: TURKISH VIEWS ON OECD ISSUES 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 72019 
 
     B. SECSTATE 66309 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Turkey has not yet determined its position 
on the U.S. task force proposal or on the Differentiated 
Engagement Strategy (DES) at the OECD.  The MFA Department 
Head responsible for OECD issues, however, outlined Turkey's 
general approach to these issues in a way that suggests 
significant overlap with U.S. views: Turkey supports 
governance reform before enlargement.  The MFA official 
claimed that Turkey approaches enlargement based on 
principles, rather than based on its relations with specific 
countries, including Cyprus and Russia.  Turkey will not send 
anyone from Ankara to the April 28 meeting but three 
Ministers--Finance, Trade and Energy--will attend the OECD 
Ministerial in May.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) In an April 21 meeting, econoff passed ref A letter 
from A/S Wayne to MFA Department Head for Multilateral 
Economic Affairs Yasemin Eralp Irten.  Irten said Turkey had 
not yet taken a position on DES or on the U.S. proposal for a 
task force on governance.  Though Turkey was still studying 
these issues, she said Turkey supported DES and enlargement 
in principle and generally agrees with the U.S. on the need 
to reform governance before considering enlargement.  Turkey 
has always supported enlargement, according to Irten, but 
wants it to be based on well-defined criteria and to take 
into account financial considerations. 
 
3. (SBU) Irten claimed that Turkey's approach to enlargement 
avoided country-specific considerations in favor of general 
criteria. This was true even for countries such as Cyprus or 
Russia.  In a brief discussion of Russia's increased pressure 
to join the OECD (ref B), Irten suggested it would be 
desirable for Russia to join the WTO first, or at least at 
the same time it joined the OECD, rather than first join the 
OECD. 
 
4. (SBU) Irten said no one from Ankara will go to Paris for 
the April 28 OECD meeting.  At the Ministerial, Finance 
Minister Unakitan is expected to lead the delegation on the 
first day, but will be replaced by Trade Minister Tuzmen the 
second day.  Energy Minister Guler will also attend because 
of the energy issues on the agenda, she said. 
EDELMAN