US embassy cable - 03ANKARA898

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000898 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE ALSO FOR E, EB AND EUR 
STATE PASS USTR FOR NOVELLI AND BIRDSEY 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2013 
TAGS: ETRD, PREL, TU 
SUBJECT: MFA HINTS TURKEY COULD NOT PURSUE COMPREHENSIVE FTA 
 
 
REF: A. (A) ANKARA 0706 
     B. (B) STATE 22326 
 
 
(U) Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch.  Reason: 1.5(b,d) 
 
 
1.  (SBU)  MFA Deputy U/S Alev Kilic told DCM February 4 
that, while his comments should not be taken as the "final 
word" on the FTA issue,  a U.S.-Turkey Free Trade Agreement 
did not appear to be legally possible within the parameters 
of Turkey's Customs Union agreement with the EU.  He 
suggested, however that a "quasi-FTA" or "preferential" trade 
agreement might be possible.  Under such an agreement, Turkey 
could lower tariffs on products on which it had already 
negotiated lower tariffs with the EU. 
 
 
2.  (SBU)  Per ref B, DCM responded that the USG position was 
clear:  free trade agreements must be "comprehensive," and 
certainly could not exclude agriculture.  He asked for 
clarification of Turkey's position.  Kilic said he did not 
have the details, but promised that trade experts would put 
together a technical paper to explain Turkey's ideas. 
 
 
3,  (C) Comment:  It may well be that Turkey cannot pursue a 
bilateral FTA.  It is useful and important that we continue 
to put the onus on the GOT to say "no," so that everytime 
Turks complain that we are not doing enough to promote trade 
we can remind them that the decision not to expand trade was 
made in Ankara, not Washington. 
PEARSON