US embassy cable - 05ANKARA3198

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 003198 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2015 
TAGS: MARR, SU, TU, NATO 
SUBJECT: TURKEY CONSIDERING NATO AIRLIFT FOR AFRICAN UNION 
IN DARFUR 
 
REF: A. STATE 104289 (NOTAL) 
     B. ANKARA 2697 
 
Classified By: Acting Counselor for Political-Military Affairs Maggie N 
ardi for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) On June 6, PolMilOff called on MFA NATO Military 
Affairs Head of Department Alper Coskun to discuss ref a 
demarche.  Coskun responded that Turkey wants to approach 
this issue constructively.  He said that Turkey understands 
that this would not be a Berlin-plus operation, but he 
cautioned it cannot become one "de facto."  He explained that 
the NATO-EU cooperation problem is on the Turks' mind and 
will continue to be as the planning progresses.  Turkey has 
no problem with the EU staff already at SHAPE working this 
issue.  But Turkey would be concerned if the EU were to 
augment the staff with a Greek Cypriot for purposes of this 
mission or if an EU LNO from Cyprus was assigned to a 
potential regional HQ for this mission.  The NATO security 
agreement would also be an issue for the Turks vis-a-vis 
planning. 
 
2. (C) Coskun could not provide insight as to the Turkish 
military's view on providing airlift assets.  PolMilOff 
followed up on this issue June 7 with COL Kasim Erdem, 
TGS/J-5, but TGS has provided no substantive response as yet. 
 
3. (C) Comment: Coskun's comments indicate that the GOT is 
thinking ahead on this issue with an eye to being 
constructive.  We interpret his statement that "we are not 
guarding the fence on this" as evidence that Turkey does not 
want to see Darfur become a battleground for the NATO-EU 
cooperation problem.  Turkey's agreement to hold informal 
NATO-EU meetings (albeit void of operational discussion) is 
further evidence that the trend in Ankara is to try to lean 
forward, though within the constraints of the Cyprus problem 
(ref b). 
 
4. (C) Comment, cont.: As for Turkey providing airlift, TGS 
has also received a special plea from DSACEUR for Turkish 
helos to remain in Afghanistan for the September elections 
and is also occupied with the logistics of bringing their 
troops and materiel home after ISAF VII ends in August.  Our 
sense is that the Foreign Ministry wants this to happen but 
we do not know if it can sway the military.  End comment. 
 
5. (U) Khartoum minimize considered. 
MOORE