US embassy cable - 05ANKARA4230

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 004230 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, KCRM, TU, IZ, IR, BA, EG, SY, KU, SA, JO 
SUBJECT: TURKS ANNOYED WITH IRAQI AND IRANIAN INTERIOR 
MINISTERS' CONDUCT AT JULY 18-19 NEIGHBORS' MEETING 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 4215 
 
     B. ANKARA 4186 
     C. ANKARA 3844 
     D. ANKARA 2912 
 
Classified By: Counselor for Political-Military Affairs Timothy A. Bett 
s for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: Iraq's Interior Minister, Bayan Jabr, seemed 
to take his lead from the Iranians at the July 18-19 meeting 
of Iraq's neighbors' interior ministers.  Jabr annoyed the 
Turks by ignoring their advice to steer clear of the press, 
especially on the PKK issue; his private assurances to the 
Turks on PKK were disappointing to the Turks.  According to 
the Turkish MFA, Jabr failed to call out Syria or any other 
neighbors for supporting the insurgency, at least in the 
plenary session.  The ministers tasked Turkey to draft a 
"multilateral protocol in the field of security."  Saudi 
Arabia will host the next meeting; timing is undecided but 
our contact guessed the meeting would be in early 2006.  Full 
text of communique in para. 8.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) On July 20, PolMilCouns and PolMilOff called on MFA 
Director General for Security Affairs Hayati Guven to get a 
readout of the July 18-19 meeting of Iraq's neighbors' 
interior ministers (senior officials met July 18, the 
ministerial itself was on the 19th).  Guven shared with us a 
copy of the communique (text in para. 8) and noted that 
Turkey (which proposed the idea) has been tasked to draft a 
"multilateral protocol in the field of security" for the next 
interior ministers' meeting; Guven said the protocol would 
not only cover terrorism but also drug trafficking, organized 
crime, and mutual legal assistance.  Saudi Arabia will host 
the next neighbors' meeting, which Guven surmised would be in 
early 2006. 
 
3. (C) Guven reported that the Iranians had proposed--and the 
Iraqis seconded--a permanent secretariat for the neighbors' 
interior ministers process.  Guven termed this idea "not very 
appealing;" he did not see the need to institutionalize the 
current arrangement, which he thought was more appropriately 
temporary.  He admitted that the Iraqi minister's support put 
Turkey in a difficult position, so he feels himself obligated 
to at least discuss this proposal in the draft protocol. 
 
4. (C) Guven stated candidly that the Iraqi Minister, Bayan 
Jabr (SCIRI), "created a lot of problems for us."  He noted 
that Jabr enthusiastically seconded every Iranian proposal. 
According to Guven, Turkey and many of the other neighbors 
were reluctant to forcefully challenge these proposals 
because they wanted to appear supportive of the Iraqis.  The 
Iranians were especially focused on adding a statement to the 
communique that the process of bringing Saddam and other 
former regime leaders responsible for crimes against the 
Iraqi people "and war crimes against Iran and Kuwait" must be 
accelerated.  Guven noted that even the Kuwaitis were not 
pushing this kind of language, but the ministers agreed to 
add the paragraph under Iranian and Iraqi pressure. 
 
5. (C) Guven said the Turks had strongly advised Jabr's 
delegation to deal carefully with the press; instead, the 
minister called a press conference immediately upon his 
arrival and held two more during his short visit.  The Turks 
were especially concerned that Jabr be cautious about 
answering questions on the PKK issue, which has been all over 
the news in recent days (see refs a and b).  Jabr pained the 
Turks by announcing the upcoming PKK trilateral talks (which 
the Turks had hoped to keep quiet--ref c) and by candidly 
stating that the Iraqi government really does not control 
northern Iraq, where the PKK is active.  He added that the 
Iraqi parliament would have to approve any cross-border 
operation against the terrorist group. 
 
6. (C) Jabr further annoyed the Turks by providing little 
reassurance on the PKK to Turkish Interior Minister Aksu 
during their bilateral.  According to Guven (who sat in), 
Jabr said that only after the constitutional drafting 
process, referendum and December elections for a new 
legislature, the new parliament may/may adopt "a declaration" 
stating that Iraq does not want any such terrorist group to 
reside there.  (NOTE: This is far weaker than the positive 
rhetoric PM Ja'afari offered on his recent visit to Ankara 
(ref d).  END NOTE.) 
 
7. (C) Guven reported that in the Jabr-Aksu bilateral, the 
Iraqi minister did mention terrorists crossing into Iraq from 
Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, but added "it is 
difficult to blame those governments for this."  According to 
Guven, Minister Jabr mentioned no countries by name during 
the ministerial meeting, thus missing an opportunity to send 
a strong message to unhelpful neighbor regimes. 
 
8. (SBU) Text of Interior Ministers' Meeting Communique (as 
provided, original was in English).  Note internal paragraph 
numbering. 
 
BEGIN TEXT 
 
Final Communique of the Second Meeting of the Ministers of 
the Interior of the Neighbouring Countries of Iraq 
 
Istanbul, 18-19 July 2005 
Upon the invitation of Turkey, the Second Meeting of the 
Ministers of Interior of the Neighbouring Countries of Iraq 
was held in Istanbul, on 18-19 July, 2005. 
 
The countries that participated in this Ministerial Meeting 
were the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the 
Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Iraq, the Hashemite 
Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi 
Arabia, the Arab Republic of Syria and the Republic of Turkey. 
 
Mr. Michael von Schulenburg, Deputy Special Representative of 
the UN Secretary General for Iraq, also attended the Meeting. 
 
Expressing their full solidarity with the people and the 
newly elected Government of Iraq and drawing attention to the 
serious security problems that this country strives to 
overcome, the Ministers of Interior, 
 
1. Commended the spirit of cooperation that prevailed at the 
meeting, 
 
2. Recalled the conclusion of their first meeting on 30 
November-1 December, 2004, in Tehran, and the Joint Statement 
of the Eighth Official Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign 
Affairs of the Neighbouring Countries on 30 April, 2005, in 
Istanbul, where specific reference was made to the need for 
closer cooperation on overall border security, 
 
3. Affirmed the provisions of the UN Security Council 
resolution 1546, 
 
4. Reaffirmed the sovereignty, independence, territorial 
integrity and national unity of Iraq, as well as the 
principles of good-neighbourliness and non-interference in 
each other's internal affairs in conformity with the existing 
bilateral, multilateral, regional and international 
agreements, 
 
5. Recognized that security and stability are fundamental 
requirements for economic development and progress both for 
Iraq and for the region, and emphasized the importance of 
security cooperation among neighbouring countries and Iraq to 
achieve and maintain peace and stability in the region, 
 
6. Reiterated the importance of accelerating the process of 
bringing to justice in Iraq, Saddam Hussein and all those in 
the leadership of the previous Iraqi regime who have 
committed crimes against humanity to the Iraqi people and war 
crimes against Iran and Kuwait, 
 
7. Condemned unreservedly all terrorist actions in every form 
and manifestation, regardless of their motives, reiterated 
their commitment to confront them by national, regional and 
international efforts, through an effective and comprehensive 
strategy, 
 
8. Condemned in the most unequivocal terms, the brutal 
slaying of the Egyptian Ambassador, Head of the Egyptian 
Mission in Iraq, and the attacks on the envoys of Bahrain, 
Pakistan and Iran in Baghdad, and voiced their strong 
expectation that the perpetrators of these crimes are 
apprehended and brought to justice, equally condemned the 
recent terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Turkey, 
9. Strongly condemned the terrorist acts aimed at Iraqi 
civilians, including children, the stabilization efforts, 
nascent Iraqi Security Forces, political and religious 
leaders and the establishments, including holy sites, as well 
as foreign citizens and institutions providing assistance to 
and in economic interaction with Iraq, 
 
10. Stressed the fact that terrorism has no particular 
religion, race, nationality or a specific region. In this 
context, they underlined that any attempt to associate 
terrorism with any given faith would in fact play into the 
hands of terrorists and should be rejected, 
 
11. Noted with concern increased terrorist acts and other 
organized crime activities in the region including drug 
trafficking, arms smuggling, kidnapping, extortion and 
trafficking in persons and the links among them, and 
reaffirmed their readiness to engage in cooperation in the 
prevention, investigation, prosecution and adjudication of 
organized crime and terrorism; 
 
12. Emphasized the need for speedily exchanging security 
information within their competence concerning terrorists and 
their movements, organizations, planning and the ways and 
means of their support, 
 
13. Stressed the need for taking appropriate measures to 
prevent terror groups to use the territory of states as bases 
for presence, recruiting, training, financing, planning, 
inciting or launching of terrorist operations against other 
states; and likewise emphasized the need for global 
cooperation among all countries in giving effect to these 
measures with a view to eradicating the sources and roots of 
terrorism, 
 
14. Taking note of the relevant conclusions of the 
International Conference held in Brussels on 22 June, 2005, 
on the strengthening of the legal and institutional framework 
for the rule of law and public order in Iraq, and for the 
acceleration of the build up of the Iraqi Security Forces, so 
that they can assume responsibility for Iraq's national 
security, expressed their readiness to vigorously support 
this undertaking, 
 
15. Reaffirmed their readiness to provide training and 
equipment to Iraqi Security Forces to assist the Government 
of Iraq, upon its request, for the restoration of stability 
in the country, 
 
16. Expressed their determination to increase their 
cooperation on overall border security with Iraq, through 
existing agreements and other mutually agreed arrangements, 
including effective monitoring of borders, strict control at 
border entry points and cross border movements, and exchange 
of intelligence information with national Iraqi authorities, 
with the primary aim of stemming terrorist and other illegal 
infiltrations to and from Iraq; 
 
17. Welcomed the proposal made by the Turkish Delegation to 
assume the drafting of a multilateral protocol in addition to 
and in conformity with existing agreements on cooperation in 
the field of security to be finalized by Iraq and its 
neighbours, by their next meeting, and, as a first step, 
decided to assign officers who will serve as contact points 
to follow up and implement such cooperation, 
 
18. Appreciated the efforts made by the United Nations on 
strengthening the new political process in Iraq, and 
emphasized the importance of its role in following up its 
tasks in Iraq, 
 
19. Expressed their appreciation to Turkey for hosting this 
Ministerial Meeting, 
 
20. Welcomed the invitation extended by the Kingdom of Saudi 
Arabia to host the next Meeting of the Ministers of Interior 
of the Countries Neighbouring Iraq. 
 
END TEXT 
 
9. (U) Iraq REOs minimize considered. 
MCELDOWNEY