US embassy cable - 05ANKARA6440

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006440 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2015 
TAGS: EAID, PREL, MOPS, IZ, Iraq 
SUBJECT: TURKS REACH OUT TO IRAQIS ON HUMANITARIAN AID FOR 
TALAFAR 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 6100 
     B. BAGHDAD 4219 
     C. ANKARA 5452 
 
Classified By: A/DCM James R. Moore for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: The Turkish MFA has revised its humanitarian 
aid (HA) offer for Talafar in order to generate a positive 
Iraqi response and to mend fences with the Iraqi Red 
Crescent.  Senior MFA officials raised the HA issue Oct. 26 
with both Charge and ECONCouns.  We responded that Turkey 
must approach the Iraqis; our role is only to provide 
logistical and security support once the two governments 
agree on modalities.  MFA called us later to inform us that 
the ITG's representative for Talafar aid and reconstruction, 
Haydar Abadi, has told the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad that he 
welcomed the Turkish offer, and that the Turkish Red Crescent 
has formally proposed an aid package to the Iraqi Red 
Crescent.  We hope we can proceed on this basis.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) MFA Deputy Director General for Multilateral Affairs 
Tunc Ugdul called in ECONCouns Oct. 26 to discuss Turkey's 
offer of humanitarian assistance (HA) to Iraq (reftels). 
Ugdul reported that responsibility for this issue had now 
passed to his office (from the Economic Directorate), and 
that a senior-level Ministry meeting the previous day had 
decided the following: 
 
--Turkey wishes to provide HA only for Talafar, not for 
Kirkuk.  Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) is the provider. 
 
--Turkey proposes to send a total of 540 tons of food and 84 
tons of soap and cleaning products which would require a 
total of about 30 trucks.  This would be done in two 
shipments: one before the end of Ramadan, and one a bit later. 
 
--Of the shipments, Turkey will provide one-third directly to 
the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) at any site the IRCS 
may choose. 
 
--TRC will then take the remaining two-thirds directly to 
Talafar, where it will deliver the aid to the IRCS for the 
IRCS to distribute (i.e., without regard to religion, 
ethnicity, or other factors not related to humanitarian need). 
 
--Turkey seeks the USG's assistance in approaching the IRCS 
to seek their assent to the Turkish offer.  Ugdul explained 
that there had been "misunderstandings" between the TRC and 
IRCS over the last Turkish HA shipment to Talafar in 
September (ref c).  Ugdul said that the IRCS had accused the 
TRC of seeking to provide aid only for Turkmen; he added that 
Turkey has provided aid in the past to Iraqis of all 
communities and had no desire to single out the Turkmen.  He 
asserted that Turkey wants to create "an atmosphere of 
understanding" between the Red Crescents, and hoped Turkey's 
modified plan for its HA shipment would help establish this. 
He reiterated how important it would be for the U.S. to 
intervene with the IRCS. 
 
3. (C) Deploying ref b, ECONCouns pushed back, noting that it 
is not an appropriate role for the USG to broker between the 
TRC and the IRCS or between the GOT and ITG.  We want to be 
supportive of Turkey's relationship with Iraq, but to act as 
a go-between would undermine the sovereign ITG.  We added, 
however, that the revised Turkish plan -- to have the IRCS 
deliver the aid -- was a new element. 
 
4. (C) Shortly after our meeting, Ugdul called to report 
that: 
 
--TRC had last week proposed its plan (as outlined above) for 
providing HA to the IRCS, but the Iraqis had not yet 
responded.  Ugdul advised TRC to repeat its proposal today. 
 
--The Turkish Embassy in Baghdad had met Oct. 25 with Haydar 
Abadi -- ITG representative in charge of HA and 
reconstruction in Talafar -- and reported that Abadi welcomed 
the Turkish offer "of the new assistance prior to the end of 
Ramadan." 
 
--Consistent with the increasingly pragmatic approach the GOT 
has taken over the past year to building relationships in 
Iraq, Ugdul said the MFA would like to foster an improved, 
cooperative working relationship between the two neighboring 
Red Crescents, for the long term. 
5. (C) MFA Deputy Undersecretary Nabi Sensoy also raised the 
Talafar aid issue during an Oct. 26 meeting with the Charge 
on another topic.  Charge emphasized that Turkey must make 
its offer to the Iraqis: We are prepared to assist with 
logistics and security only after the sovereign ITG accepts a 
Turkish aid offer. 
 
6. (C) COMMENT: It seems that the aid issue has been a hot 
potato within the Turkish MFA, unfortunately causing 
paralysis when action was most needed.  Nineteen days have 
passed from the first the Turks told us of their offer and we 
responded that they should talk to the Iraqis, yet the 
Turkish Embassy in Baghdad did nothing until Oct. 25 and -- 
so we were told by MFA -- didn't even receive instructions 
until Oct. 21. 
7. (C) COMMENT, CONT.: Most importantly, however, we believe 
the Turks have made progress.  In addition to de-emphasizing 
the political nature of the planned aid, the ITG, via Abadi 
has accepted the offer.  Per ref b, we would like to work 
with Embassy Baghdad and Task Force Freedom to organize 
logistical and security arrangements for the smooth delivery 
of this assistance.  END COMMENT. 
MCELDOWNEY