US embassy cable - 05PRAGUE1455

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 001455 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/NCE FOR FICHTE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2015 
TAGS: PREL, EFIN, ETRD, EZ, IZ 
SUBJECT: IRAQ PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI'S VISIT TO CZECH 
REPUBLIC IS HEAVY ON SYMBOLISM BUT LIGHT ON SUBSTANCE 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Scott Harney for reasons 1.4 (b+d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  Iraqi President Talabani's visit to Prague 
focused on symbolism and achieved little in the way of 
concrete improvements to the robust Czech-Iraqi relations. 
The GOCR promised to continue supporting transition efforts, 
and will take steps to increase business ties.  Negotiations 
are planned for late October on debt forgiveness.  FM Svoboda 
intends to visit Baghdad early next year.  The Iraqis are 
apparently interested in purchasing Czech-made L-159 subsonic 
fighter aircraft.  Talabani praised Czech-Iraqi ties and the 
work of the coalition in Iraq.  End summary 
 
2. (SBU) Iraqi President Jalal Talabani chose to begin his 
first state visit to Europe since he took office with the 
Czech Republic.  Prague remains for Talabani a potent symbol 
of democracy; the Czechs hosted Talabani when he was a 
student activist trying to explain the cause of democracy in 
his country.  The Czech again sponsored him when he was a 
"Peshmergah," fighting for freedom and democracy in Iraq. 
So, when he arrived on October 3 for a three-day visit as 
Iraq's first democratically elected president, he was 
expecting a bit more interest than he received. 
 
3. (C) Members of the Iraqi Embassy privately expressed their 
disappointment with their perception that the Czech response 
to his visit was less than enthusiastic.  Thamer al-Adhami, 
Minister Counselor at the Czech Embassy in Prague said that 
the embassy felt that the Czech response was a bit cool. 
Adhami said that attendance was poor at the events and said 
that he did not feel that the press coverage was sufficient. 
Indeed, except for Wednesday's edition of Czech daily 
newspaper Lidove Noviny, the Talabani visit stayed off the 
front pages of Czech newspapers. Privately, many Czechs 
bristled at the comparison of Iraq's fight for democracy with 
the Czech "Velvet Revolution."  During an official luncheon 
sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Talabani 
reportedly joked that democracy caused Czechoslovakia to 
split apart, but said that he hoped that in Iraq democracy 
will bring unity. Czech Minster of Foreign Affairs Cyril 
Svoboda cooly answered that it was not democracy that split 
former Czechoslovakia, but there were many deeper, historical 
causes. 
 
4. (SBU)  As for substance of the meetings, Al-Adhami said 
that he was satisfied, saying it was primarily a courtesy 
visit. Talabani did not discuss any sensitive issues, 
including the issue of Iraq's debt to Prague. The 26-member 
delegation instead met with government and business leaders 
to encourage Czech business participation in Iraq. Talabani 
noted that at a recent trade fair in Kurdistan, no Czech 
companies attended, primarily due to security concerns. 
Al-Adhami said that the Czech government has allocated funds 
for the reconstruction of Iraq, particularly for projects 
that the Czechs had originally been involved with, including 
a tractor factory and oil refinery in Basra.  However, 
Al-Adhami said that biggest challenge has been to get the 
Iraqi side to make use of the allocations. 
 
5. (SBU) At a state dinner on October 3, Talabani spoke 
warmly of Czech support for coalition activity in Iraq, 
including an explicit call for continued coalition engagement 
in Iraq. On the second day of his visit to the Czech 
Republic, President Talabani came down with flu and did not 
attend several events, including a meeting with the mayor of 
Prague, as well as a planned meeting with the Iraqi 
expatriate community in Prague.  Despite his illness, 
Talabani did take time for a private meeting in his hotel 
room with former Czech President Vaclav Havel on the evening 
of 4 October. Al-Adhami said that Talabani remains grateful 
for Havel's support for the opposition movement in Iraq 
during the reign of Saddam Hussain. 
 
6. (C) Several members of the delegation, led by Iraq 
Military Advisor General Tawfiq Samara'i, visited the offices 
of Aero Vodochody, makers of the L-159 subsonic fighter 
aircraft.  The delegation was given a tour of the plant and 
then given a demonstration of the L-159.  Members of the 
delegation said the visit was very successful, however the 
embassy would not say whether or not the GOI is interested in 
purchasing the aircraft (Comment: Embassy Prague has learned 
from Iraqi Embassy sources that Iraq is examining a possible 
purchase of L-159s for its air force. GOCR officials have 
previously sought USG support for L-159 purchase by the GOI.) 
 
7. (U) During a press conference at Radio Free Europe, 
Talabani stressed the Kurds will remain in strong alliance 
with the Shiite and said that he did believe that the Kurds 
would ever have their own country.  He also spoke in support 
of the controversial ruling by the National Assembly that 
would require that two-thirds of all registered voters, not 
just two-thirds of actual voters, to oppose the draft 
constitution in at least three governorates in order to 
reject the new constitution in next week's referendum. 
However, press reports indicated that a few hours later, 
Iraq's National Assembly contradicted Talabani's statement 
and voted to reverse this last-minute change, after the 
United Nations had criticized it as unfair to Iraq's Sunni 
Arab minority.  At one point during the press conference, 
Talabani was asked in Persian about Iraq's relationship to 
Iran.  Talabani answered that when he was with the 
opposition, the opposition was friendly to both America and 
Iran.  He said that he was convinced that Iraq today can keep 
its friendship with two opposite poles at the same time. 
 
8. (C) Pavel Mrazek, Iraq desk officer for the Czech Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs, said that other than Talabani's 
poorly-received joke during the Ministry's luncheon, the Iraq 
trip was uneventful, though did lay the groundwork for 
future, substantive meetings.  FM Svoboda promised Talabani 
that he would visit Iraq in early 2006, after the elections. 
Also, later this month, representatives from the Czech 
Ministry of Finance plan on meeting with their Iraqi 
counterparts in Amman, Jordan to discuss the issue of Iraq's 
debt to the Czech Republic.  Mrazek predicted that the GOCR 
will adopt the recommendations of the Paris Club meeting and 
cancel 80 percent of Iraq's debt and restructure the 
remaining amount. The Czech MFA also expressed is intention 
to open a commercial office in Irbil early next year.  Mrazek 
said that the MFA plans on staffing the office with Iraqi 
local staff and having the commercial counselor from Czech 
Embassy in Baghdad regularly visit the office.  Mrazek said 
the MFA assured the Iraqis that the Czech Republic would 
continue to provide training for Iraqis in numerous fields, 
particularly law enforcement.  (Note: The GOCR has proposed 
to extend the deployment by nearly 100 military police 
trainers through 2006, and is confident of parliamentary 
approval.) 
CABANISS