US embassy cable - 05ANKARA4781

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 004781 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2015 
TAGS: MOPS, MARR, PREL, TU, AF, FR, NATO 
SUBJECT: ISAF: TURKEY AND FRANCE TO HOLD MIL-MIL TALKS ON 
SHARED COMMAND OF ISAF CENTRAL REGION 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 4095 
 
     B. ANKARA 3413 
 
Classified By: Political-Military Counselor Timothy A. Betts for reason 
s 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) MFA Deputy Director General for South Asia Aydin 
Evirgen told PolMilCouns and Deputy PolMilCouns on Aug. 9 
that a French military team would arrive in Ankara within 
days to hold talks with the Turkish General Staff (TGS) on 
the modalities of the proposed shared command of ISAF Central 
Region.  According to Evirgen, France was considering 
positively the proposal to share the command with Turkey but 
has not yet taken the political decision to do so.  That 
decision would be based on the outcome of the mil-mil talks. 
(MFA DDG for NATO Affairs Fatih Ceylan told polmilcouns Aug. 
11 that France and Turkey had an agreement in principle to 
share the command, that a French military team would visit 
the week of August 15, and that he was confident the two 
would be able to settle on the details soon.)  Evirgen said 
Turkey expected agreement to be finalized in August and a 
joint announcement made at NATO.  The timing of the shared 
command was still under review but would be sometime in the 
second half of 2006. 
 
2. (C) Looking beyond the shared central region command, 
Evirgen said that Turkey had not ruled out eventually leading 
a central region PRT, but Ankara would not seriously consider 
it until after a decision had been made on the shared central 
region command with France.  Additionally, according to 
Evirgen, Turkey expects to continue supporting the Afghan 
Military Academy through the graduation of its first class 
(i.e., for at least four years), and is evaluating 
development project opportunities for the $100M pledged by 
the Prime Minister following his May visit to Afghanistan. 
Expressing some skepticism about the pledge, Evirgen 
cautioned that the bureaucracy would begin no new projects 
until the money "was in the bank."  He said that Turkey was 
already contributing to the construction of six schools, 
including a large secondary school in Kabul and a vocational 
school for girls in Samangan. 
 
3. (U) During his recent visit to Kabul, Evirgen had 
discussed counter-narcotics programs, including alternative 
livelihood projects for poppy farmers and increased 
counter-narcotics training for Afghan police in Ankara. 
Evirgen expressed his hope that Turkey could eventually 
provide training at the Afghan counter-narcotics police 
training center being set up in Kabul.  Turkey also plans to 
contribute to NRC counter-narcotics efforts. 
MCELDOWNEY