US embassy cable - 03ANKARA262

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000262 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/NGA AND EUR/SE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/10/2008 
TAGS: ETRD, ETTC, IZ, PREL, TU, UNSC 
SUBJECT: TURKISH FOREIGN TRADE UNDERSECRETARIAT ON 
HIGH-LEVEL DELEGATION TO IRAQ 
 
 
(U) Classified by Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Deutsch. 
Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
 
1. (C) In a January 9 meeting on sensitive Turkish exports to 
Iraq (septel), Econoff raised State Minister Kursad Tuzmen's 
upcoming visit to Iraq (January 10 to 12) with Tevfik Mengu, 
Director General for Agreements at the Foreign Trade 
Undersecretariat.  Mengu, who will travel with the 
delegation, acknowledged that the visit was "purely 
commercial", though he did not rule out that Tuzmen might 
bring a political message to Saddam Hussein.  He said that, 
at last count, 324 businesspersons planned to fly with the 
GOT delegation, and that more would be traveling by bus. 
Econoff pointed out that this high-level visit comes at a 
time when we are trying to increase pressure on Baghdad to 
comply with UN Security Council resolutions.  Mengu responded 
that Turkey was not doing anything contrary to UN 
resolutions, but only seeking legitimate business for its 
companies.  He added that, in meeting GOI officials, the GOT 
had always taken care to reiterate the message that Iraq must 
comply with all UN resolutions. 
 
 
2. (U) Tuzmen told the press January 9 that his trip was a 
routine effort to take a share in upcoming tenders under the 
Oil for Food Program.  He added that he had obtained the UN's 
consent for this visit (sic). 
 
 
3. (C) Emin Sirin, the Deputy Chairman of Parliament's 
Foreign Policy 
Committee, confirmed to us January 8 that TGS briefers nodded 
their heads when he strongly criticized the Tuzmen trip 
during a January 6 closed briefing for his committee on Iraq. 
 
 
4. (C) Comment:  Tuzmen's claim that the GOT is trying to 
develop legitimate trade through this and other visits does 
not accord with the fact that the vast majority of Turkish 
trade takes place under bilateral trade arrangements outside 
the Oil-for-Food program.  It is hard to correlate the 
structure of this trade mission with the "delivery of a 
message", which we were originally told was the genesis of 
this trip. 
PEARSON