US embassy cable - 03ANKARA352

S E C R E T ANKARA 000352 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/NGA AND EUR/SE 
AGRICULTURE FOR FAS - U/S PENN AND EC - CHAMBLISS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2008 
TAGS: ETRD, ETTC, IZ, PREL, TU, UNSC 
SUBJECT: FOREIGN TRADE CLAIMS TUZMEN'S VISIT TO IRAQ 
GENERATED 700 MILLION EURO IN CONTRACTS FOR TURKISH FIRMS 
 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 262 
     B. ANKARA 302 
     C. ANKARA 8863 
 
 
(U) Classified by Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Deutsch. 
Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
 
1. (C) Econoff met with Tevfik Mengu, Director General for 
Agreements at the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, on January 
14 for a readout on State Minister Kursad Tuzmen's January 10 
to 12 visit to Baghdad.  Mengu characterized the visit as 
very successful, noting that, in addition to Tuzmen's 
one-on-one meeting with Saddam Hussein, the delegation, which 
included Energy Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Nermin Berki 
and an MFA official, had met with ten Iraqi ministers and the 
Deputy Vice-President Taha Yasin Ramazan.  He asserted that 
the 400 Turkish executives travelling with the delegation had 
closed about 700 million euro worth of contracts in a range 
of industries.  While he did not go into detail, he guessed 
that about one quarter of the contracts were in agriculture, 
including some wheat exports.  He stated that the total value 
of the contracts would not be known until companies sent the 
contracts to the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat for 
submission to the UN Oil for Food Program. 
 
 
2. (SBU) In a briefing for the press, Tuzmen said that the 
two sides signed memoranda of understanding in the energy 
sector (on Iraq-Turkey natural gas exports, the Gharraf Field 
Oil development and oil exploration).  However, MFA energy 
officials told us that the delegation discussed the existing 
Turkey-Iraq Gas Protocol (ref C), but no new agreements 
resulted from the meetings.  Tuzmen also told the press that 
a Turkey-Iraq Joint Economic Commission meeting would be held 
in March in Ankara.  Mengu noted that no date for the JEC had 
been set. 
 
 
3. (S) Tuzmen has said he used the visit to deliver a 
political message to Saddam Hussein from PM Gul.  MFA 
Undersecretary Ziyal told the Ambassador that Tuzmen had 
delivered a strong message that the onus was on Saddam to 
avoid war in the region by disclosing information on weapons 
of mass destruction (ref B).  However, the substance of 
Tuzmen's visit was overwhelmingly commercial, and has come 
under criticism from Ak party colleagues, the political 
opposition and the press.  Emin Sirin, the Deputy Chairman of 
Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee, strongly criticized 
the visit on January 6 (ref A).  In private conversations 
with Polmilcouns on the margins of bilateral military talks 
on January 13, a number of Turkish general officers roundly 
criticized the Tuzmen visit as ill-timed and 
counterproductive to Turkey's longer-term interests.  The 
press has widely cited Tuzmen's joint press conference with 
Deputy Vice President Ramazan, which Ramazan apparently cut 
short on being asked a question about Turkish claims to Mosul 
and Kirkuk.  Numerous articles have questioned Tuzmen's and 
the GOT's judgement in leading such a large delegation to 
Iraq at this time.  Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman 
Deniz Baykal said that Turkey had been humiliated and 
subjected to rude behavior, and that the visit was 
"meaningless, untimely and unnecessary". 
 
 
4. (C) Comment:  On Iraq matters, Tuzmen and Turkey's Foreign 
Trade bureaucracy appear to be oblivious to anything beyond 
short-term commercial gain.  However, domestic criticism of 
Tuzmen's trade mission suggests that many view Tuzmen and his 
visit as out of step with Turkey's larger interests.  In our 
meetings with GOT officials, we have pointed out that, 
because of its heavy commercial tone, this visit sent a 
decidedly mixed message to Saddam. 
PEARSON