US embassy cable - 05ANKARA5350

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 005350 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY'S NSC SECGEN LOOKING FOR WASHINGTON 
INVITATION 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 2553 
 
     B. ANKARA 3892 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Nancy McEldowney, reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
1. (U) During an August 26 meeting with EUR DAS Bryza, 
Turkish National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General 
Yigit Alpogan raised the possibility of a visit to Washington 
this fall to meet his NSC counterparts.  Alpogan first 
mentioned his interest in such a visit during the Charge's 
initial courtesy call with him in July (ref b), saying he had 
cancelled his planned early June visit to Washington to avoid 
competing with PM Erdogan, FM Gul and DCHOD Basbug, who 
traveled to Washington on the occasion of the annual 
American-Turkish Council (ATC) conference.  Alpogan welcomed 
an invitation to visit anytime from the end of October 
through the end of the year. 
 
2. (C) Comment: As Turkey's first civilian NSC SECGEN and a 
longtime diplomat, Alpogan has impressed us as a suave 
interlocutor with a clear policy-supporting role but whose 
ability to shape policy remains unclear.  As head of the NSC 
Secretariat, he has the nominal government lead in wrangling 
 
SIPDIS 
with the Turkish military over government-proposed changes to 
the country's National Security Policy document that would 
re-define the internal and external threats to the country 
and strip away some elements of the military's traditional 
role as protector of Turkey's unitary, secular structure.  A 
visit by Alpogan to the US would provide an opportunity to 
show him the role of the NSC in shaping US policy and perhaps 
to influence the role of Turkey's NSC, which appears to be a 
work in progress. 
MCELDOWNEY