US embassy cable - 05ANKARA5627

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005627 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O.  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: MARR, MOPS, PREL, PTER, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY: POL-MIL ROUND-UP, August 2005 
 
REFERENCE: A) ANKARA 3892, B) 2004 ANKARA 6000 
 
(Note: This is one of the regular series of unclassified 
reports on significant Turkish defense and national security 
issues in the press and other open sources.  We welcome 
feedback on whether these reports are useful.  End note) 
 
Contents 
-------- 
 
-- NSC Mum on Revised National Security Document 
-- Turkey's Security Relations with Other Countries 
-- Defense Industry Activity 
 
NSC Mum on Revised National Security Policy Document 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
1. (SBU) Discussion of a new National Security Policy 
document (outlining the government's priorities with regard 
to threats to Turkey's internal and external security), 
which was postponed to August from the June NSC meeting, was 
not discussed in the NSC bi-monthly meeting of August 23. 
No official statement was released regarding the 
postponement.  Publicly, NSC officials have stated that the 
annual Supreme Military Council meeting (Aug. 1-4) which 
decided the 2005 promotion, retirement and assignments of 
Turkish General Staff officers took precedence.  Privately 
they have insisted that the postponement was due solely to a 
lack of time for all agencies to review the draft and that 
disagreement between the government and the military over 
policy priorities is minimal. Our academic contacts believe 
the issue will be kept off of the agenda until after the 
Oct. 3 start of Turkey's EU accession negotiations. 
According to one Turkish academic, the government does not 
want to announce a final decision on the 25-page draft 
document -- which had previously defined Greece as an 
external threat -- in the run-up to the start of accession 
talks.  For that same reason, our NSC contact has suggested 
that the security policy document may not be considered 
until December. 
 
2. (U) Following the August meeting, the NSC released a 
declaration reiterating Turkey's determination to continue 
the fight against terrorism.  However, according to the 
center-left daily Radikal, a report drafted by the NSC 
Secretary-General warned that the struggle against terrorism 
 
SIPDIS 
should not damage Turkey's membership negotiations with the 
EU and that the military's demand for broader authority in 
the fight against terrorism could do so.  The same daily 
wrote on August 24 that Turkish military expressed 
uneasiness about PM Erdogan's early August public reference 
to Turkey's "Kurdish problem";  emphasized the importance of 
coordination between state organs before making such 
statements; and dismissed the possibility that a new policy 
on the sensitive topic of Kurdish rights could be adopted. 
 
Turkey's Security Relations with Other Countries 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
3. (U) Greece: Turkish and Greek Battalions under the 
command of NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) held a joint exercise 
on August 23.  According to a GOT statement during the 
exercise, 62 Turkish and Greek soldiers in Kosovo met at 
check points on the border with Albania and in the Dragas 
region of Kosovo to train in how to combat against illegal 
border crossings, and weapons, drug and human smuggling (The 
semi-governmental Anatolian News Agency). 
 
4. (U) Georgia: Georgia's NSC Secretary-General Gela 
Bejuashvili stated that Georgia prepared a new state 
security document on terrorism in which Turkey, Ukraine and 
the US were noted as the most important strategic partners 
in the fight against terrorism.  (The Anatolian News 
Agency). 
 
5. (U) Nigeria: Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu, 
who received his Nigerian counterpart Magaji Mohammed on 
August 26, said that Turkey would welcome a security 
cooperation agreement with Nigeria (The Anatolian News 
Agency). 
 
6. (U) Meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart in Kyrgizstan in 
mid August, Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul reaffirmed 
Turkey's military support for the Kyrgyz Republic (The 
monthly Defense and Aerospace Newsletter). 
 
Defense Industry Activity 
------------------------- 
 
7. (U) Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defense Industries 
(Savunma Sanayi Mustesarligi - SSM) has opened an 
international competition for the combined purchase of 32 
military helicopters and 20 helos for the Forestry Service 
valued at USD 700 million.  Responses to SSM's Request for 
Proposal are due December 5 (Defense News). 
 
8. (U) SSM has invited bids for an under-water and above- 
water surveillance and detection system for Yunus-Aksaz and 
Foca Naval Bases.  The project also involves delivery of 
active acoustic systems, passive acoustic systems, diver 
detection systems, electro-optic, radar, and communication 
systems for the defense operation center at those bases (The 
Anatolian News Agency). 
 
9. (U) The Turkish defense firm Aselsan signed a contract 
valued at USD 17.4 million with the IUP (Israeli UAV 
Partnership) as part of Turkey's broader agreement with 
Israel for the purchase of UAVs. (center-left daily 
Radikal). 
 
10. (U) Aselsan won a USD 100 million tender to sell 18 
Stinger missiles to the Dutch military (The center-right 
Hurriyet daily). 
 
11. (U) Some 50 local and foreign companies (including 
Lockheed Martin) have requested from SSM the Reconnaissance 
and Surveillance Satellite Project Request for Information 
(RFI). The project is valued at around USD 250 million (The 
monthly Defense and Aerospace Newsletter). 
 
12. (U) The bid submission deadline for the ATAK helicopter 
tender was extended for a second time, from Sept. 13 to 
November 8 (the original due date was early June).  US 
industry sources believe that the second postponement was 
due to a lack of bidders.  Turkish media sources indicated 
that a South African company which took the tender has 
decided not to bid due to the onerous RFP Terms and 
Conditions (T&Cs).  The center-daily Sabah reported that the 
Russian Kamov Company would submit a bid for the ATAK 
helicopter tender; however the Kamov does not meet the 
tandem configuration requirement and was eliminated from 
consideration in the original tender won by Bell Textron. 
Our industry contacts suggest that Eurocopter and Italy's 
Agusta remain interested in participation.  However, the 
T&Cs may prove too onerous for any company to submit a 
compliant bid. 
 
 
MCELDOWNEY