US embassy cable - 05ANKARA7098

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 007098 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, ENRG, PHUM, ETRD, IR, TU, Iran 
SUBJECT: IRANIAN FM MOTTAKI'S VISIT TO ANKARA 
 
REF: ANKARA 7027 
 
Classified By: POLCOUNS JANICE G. WEINER FOR REASONS 1.4 (b,d). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki visited Ankara 
November 30 to December 1 and met President Sezer, PM 
Erdogan, FM Gul and key opposition party leaders.  Press 
coverage was low-key and largely positive.  Turkish leaders 
reportedly gave Mottaki a "clear message," warning that 
Iran,s nuclear programs could be referred to the UN Security 
Council.  FM Gul raised human rights with Mottaki and 
stressed that government accountability and human rights are 
important Islamic tenets.  On the Middle East, Gul told 
Mottaki that supporting the Roadmap is the only way to an 
independent Palestinian state.  Mottaki noted that Iranian 
Kurds were now in the PKK and promised continued Iranian 
cooperation on countering Kurdish extremism.  The Turks found 
Mottaki "relaxed" on Iraq, unconcerned that Iraq might 
fragment.  Bilateral trade and energy issues were also 
discussed.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Iranian FM Mottaki arrived in Ankara on November 30 
for two full days of meetings with nearly everyone in the 
Turkish political elite.  He saw President Ahmet Necdet 
Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Parliamentary 
Speak Bulent Arinc, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime 
Minister Abdullah Gul, Turkish Chamber of Commerce President 
Refat Hisarciklioglu, Republican People's Party (CHP) 
Chairman and former Foreign Minister Deniz Baykal, former 
Prime Ministers Bulent Ecevit and Necmettin Erbakan, and 
former president Suleyman Demirel.  The Iranian FM, per our 
MFA contacts, arranged most meetings on his own, thanks to 
contacts from his controversial time here as Iranian 
Ambassador in the late 1980s.  MFA flatly denied that Mottaki 
had met with Chief of the Turkish General Staff General Ozkok. 
 
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Iraq, PKK, MEPP 
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3. (C) Charge d' Affairs and POLCOUNS received a readout on 
Mottaki's visit December 1 from the PM's foreign policy 
advisor Ahmet Davutoglu and MFA DG for Middle East Oguz 
Celikkol.  Celikkol and Davutoglu said that Mottaki appeared 
relaxed when discussing Iraq.  Celikkol and Davutoglu 
surmised that the Iranians no longer believe that the 
territorial integrity of Iraq (a key Turkish concern) is in 
danger.  Gul reportedly told Mottaki that the Iranians have 
to support the Roadmap if they want an independent 
Palestinian state.  Mottaki responded that they have "seen 
many roadmaps and plans," starting with Oslo, and none had 
arrived at the goal. 
 
4. (C) Mottaki raised the PKK issue first, noting it had 
become their own domestic issue since there were now Iranian 
Kurds in the PKK.  The Iranian proclaimed Tehran is ready to 
cooperate with Turkey against the PKK.  Celikkol noted that 
the Iranians had recently acted cooperatively in this regard. 
 (Note: Turkish television has carried stories in recent 
months about Iranian military operations against the PKK in 
northwestern Iran.  End Note.) 
 
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Nuclear and Human Rights Issues 
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5. (C) Mottaki told the Turks that Iran will re-start talks 
with the EU-3 in two weeks.  The Turks claimed that PM 
Erdogan and FM Gul both delivered a "clear message" that if 
developments did not go in the right direction, the issue 
could be referred to the UN Security Council.  Gul reportedly 
told the Iranian FM that Turkey is opposed to any countries 
in the region gaining nuclear weapons.   Gul, according to 
Celikkol, stressed to Mottaki that the Turks know how serious 
the issue is because they sit in on NATO and EU meetings. 
Mottaki reportedly replied that referring the issue to the 
UNSC would be a "lose-lose" proposition -- for Iran and for 
the West. 
 
6. (C) Celikkol said that Gul also raised human rights, 
noting that the Turks view violations in the entire region as 
their problem.  Mottaki responded that they had to look at 
violations in the West as well.  Gul,s rejoinder, Davutoglu 
said, was that it is necessary for countries here to look at 
and deal with their own shortcomings.  Celikkol added that 
Gul had noted that administrations need to be accountable to 
their own people and that Turkey (and Iran) had not yet 
reached that point.  Gul reportedly told Mottaki that respect 
for human rights is an important tenet of Islam. 
 
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Economic Issues 
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7. (C) Mottaki expressed a willingness to resume negotiations 
on the price of natural gas supplied to Turkey and discussed 
the transit of Iranian gas to Europe.  MFA's energy DDG 
Mithat Rende said that Gul agreed to resume talks (there have 
been many unsuccessful rounds over the years), but only on 
the condition that there be a real give and take on the price 
issue (as opposed to the "maximalist" approach the Iranians 
have taken in the past).  The MFA official was not optimistic 
that there had been a genuine change in the Iranian approach 
on these difficult subjects.  The Turkish side also "asked," 
he said, that Iran buy more Turkish goods in order to redress 
the trade balance that is currently heavily weighted in 
Iran's favor, and resolve Turkcell and TAV disputes. 
 
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Positive, but Muted Press Coverage 
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8. (C) Press coverage was decidedly muted.  Cumhuriyet 
covered the story on page 8, Radikal on page 12, Zaman on 
page 13, and Milliyet on page 20.  Some Turkish papers 
completely ignored the story.  NTV had a softball interview 
with Mottaki, but in general TV coverage of the event was 
light and positive. 
 
9. (C) On this trip, Mottaki did not visit the mausoleum 
dedicated to Turkish Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk 
-- normally de rigeur for official visits.  In addition, the 
contentious bilateral commercial issues were scarcely 
mentioned in the press. 
 
10. (C) FM Mottaki had an interview with NTV, an independent 
news channel.  He was relaxed and positive throughout the 
interview, which largely consisted of softball questions 
about issues of the day.  Mottaki repeatedly claimed that 
Turkish and Iranian relations were very good and that they 
were cooperating to bring peace to the region.  Mottaki also 
asserted that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, but "other 
states" in the region do.  He said that Iran does not have 
any concerns regarding the territorial integrity of Iraq and 
the Iraqi people will make the necessary decisions regarding 
state structures (e.g. federalism). 
 
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Comment 
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11. (C) The Turks appear to have talked seriously to the 
Iranian FM.  Still, Mottaki got virtually complete access -- 
he saw nearly everyone of substance in Ankara.  The absence 
of critical press coverage was striking, given the 
controversy that could have surrounded Mottaki and current 
issues on the Turkey-Iran agenda -- the Turkish press appears 
to have gotten the word to spin the visit positively.  (In 
the late 1980s, Mottaki was Iranian Ambassador to Turkey and 
left under a cloud in 1989 because of alleged interference in 
domestic Turkish politics and "subversive activities".)  End 
Comment. 
MCELDOWNEY