US embassy cable - 05ANKARA6897

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006897 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TREASURY FOR CPLANTIER 
NSC FOR MERKEL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2010 
TAGS: ECIN, PREL, PGOV, EU, TU, EU Accession 
SUBJECT: BABACAN: NO PLANS TO SEND ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL TO 
PARLIAMENT 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 6561 
     B. COPENHAGEN 1803 
 
Classified By: CHARGE NANCY MCELDOWNEY FOR REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D). 
 
1. (C) Summary: Minister of Economy and EU negotiator Ali 
Babacan explained that the GOT had deliberately not created a 
new structure to handle the EU process so as to keep all 
ministries engaged.  The GOT has no plans yet to submit the 
Ankara Protocol Extension  to parliament. Babacan reiterated 
Turkey,s inability to make new concessions on Cyprus and was 
focused on marketing Turkey,s image to the European public. 
End Summary. 
 
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No Plans to Submit Additional Protocol to Parliament 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
2. (C ) In his first meeting with Charge since October 3, 
Minister of Economy and Chief Turkish EU negotiator Ali 
Babacan focused almost entirely on EU issues. (His office now 
sports both EU and Turkish flags.)   In reply to the CDA,s 
question, he said that despite Enlargement Commissioner Olli 
Rehn's comments that the Protocol should go to parliament, 
the GOT had no specific plan to submit the Ankara Protocol 
Extension for parliamentary ratification.  In part, this was 
due to parliament,s heavy agenda, especially the budget, but 
also because there is nothing specific in EU documents 
requiring parliamentary approval. (Comment:  Most of our 
contacts emphasize the AKP government,s concerns about 
domestic political fallout.  End Comment.). 
 
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Cyprus: Restated GOT position 
----------------------------- 
 
3. (C ) Babacan,s only comment on the recently-issued EU 
Commission Progress Report was that the GOT was fine with it 
except for the parts about Cyprus. Babacan echoed other GOT 
officials that Turkey cannot make any additional concessions 
on Cyprus until the Greek Cypriots do more.  On opening ports 
and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels and planes, he restated 
the Turkish offer that all ports and airports*including in 
Northern Cyprus*be opened to EU countries and Turkey 
traffic.  At the end of the meeting, Babacan said the two 
most important areas in which the U.S. could help Turkey were 
Cyprus and the PKK. 
 
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PKK: Erdogan-Rasmussen Incident 
------------------------------- 
 
4. (C ) Babacan said if the U.S. were seen to be doing 
something tangible against PKK, there would be a dramatic 
improvement in public perception of the U.S. in Turkey.  He 
said he had spoken to Olli Rehn about his statements 
supporting Danish PM Rasmussen,s action with regard to a Roj 
TV correspondent during Erdogan,s visit to Denmark (ref B). 
According to Babacan, Rehn had made the comments after having 
spoken to Rasmussen but not to Erdogan. Note: Though he said 
he told Rehn he should have spoken to Erdogan first, 
Babacan,s manner suggested he did not want to belabor the 
issue. End Note. 
 
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Interministerial Approach to Accession Process 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) Babacan preferred to refer to the "Accession 
Process" rather than "Negotiations," reserving the latter 
word for the individual discussions of each chapter rather 
than the overall process.  He described how the GOT will 
handle the three pillars of the accession process: 1) the 
political pillar, 2) compliance with the acquis, and 3) the 
communications and civil society pillar.  On the political 
pillar, there was a supervisory committee chaired by DPM and 
Fonmin Gul, and including Babacan, the Minister of Interior 
and the Minister of Justice. 
 
6. (SBU)  On complying with the acquis, he had the lead but 
would have the active participation of all relevant 
ministries.  He explained the GOT decision not to set up a 
separate EU negotiating agency.  According to Babacan, the 
idea was to keep all the line ministries fully engaged.  He 
said he is telling his ministerial colleagues that they are 
all responsible for the EU process and claimed he was trying 
to keep a low profile.  He said he insisted ministries send 
"responsible authorities" such as Under Secretaries to the 
Brussels chapter screenings, and not just Ministerial 
officials responsible for EU affairs.  Claiming the process 
is already working well, he said this approach will make it 
harder at first but in the long run will work better. 
 
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Marketing Turkey to European Public Opinion 
------------------------------------------ 
 
7.    (SBU) On the civil society/communications pillar, the 
GOT has established a committee composed of Foreign Minister 
Gul, Babacan and Minister of State Beshir Atalay, who was 
included because he has responsibility for an existing fund 
for the promotion of  Turkey,s image abroad.  Babacan seemed 
very much aware of the importance of marketing Turkey to 
western Europeans, noting that one of his majors in his MBA 
program at Northwestern was marketing.  He said the GOT is 
beginning to brainstorm on public relations ideas with 
private sector PR experts and will eventually outsource much 
of the campaign to the private sector:  "With my private 
sector experience, I know that Governments are not good at 
this."  The public relations campaign will be differentiated 
for different EU countries and regions and the GOT is placing 
a particular importance on expanding student exchange 
programs.  Whereas there are now 17,000 exchanges (two-way 
flow, not a stock) per annum, Babacan said the GOT plans to 
increase this number to 100,000 by 2008: "A 15-year old in 
France today will probably be voting on Turkey,s EU 
accession." 
 
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Comment 
------ 
 
8. (C)  The next EU/Turkey/Cyprus flashpoint will be when the 
EU reviews Customs Union implementation, including the Ankara 
Protocol Extension status and the ports/airports issue, in 
2006.  It is not surprising, on the one hand,  that Babacan 
reiterated the GOT party line on the most 
politically-sensitive issue (Cyprus), since he is more of an 
implementer than a political heavyweight. As one of the 
GOT,s most internationally-aware and business-oriented 
ministers, Babacan seemed to understand the need for extra 
effort on marketing Turkey to European public opinion, and 
painted a credible rationale for the GOT decision to draw on 
interministerial teams to handle chapter negotiations. 
MCELDOWNEY