US embassy cable - 03ANKARA1345

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001345 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FOR (D) ARMITAGE, (P) GROSSMAN, (EUR) JONES 
NSC FOR HADLEY, FRIED 
OVP FOR EDELMAN 
OSD FOR WOLFOWITZ, FEITH 
JCS FOR CJCS MYERS 
TREASURY FOR U/S TAYLOR 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, MOPS, TU, IZ, Iraq 
SUBJECT: IRAQ: TURKISH PARLIAMENT REJECTS U.S. TROOP 
DEPLOYMENT 
 
(U) Classified by Ambassador W. Robert Pearson. Reasons: 1.5 
(B) and (D). 
 
 
1.  (U) On March 1, in closed session, the Turkish Parliament 
rejected a motion that would have allowed the U.S. to deploy 
troops for operations against Iraq.  Of the 533 members 
present, 264 voted in favor and 250 against.  19 MPs 
abstained.  Article 96 of the Constitution requires that an 
absolute majority of the MPs present support a motion to 
secure passage. 
 
 
2.  (U) Speaker Bulent Arinc adjourned Parliament until 
Tuesday, March 4.  Though there are time limits for the 
resubmission of law that fail to pass parliament, motions are 
not subject to such limits.  Therefore, it is possible for 
the GOT once again to bring this motion to Parliament for a 
vote.  Whether the GOT will pursue this option, however, is 
not predictable at this moment. 
 
 
3.  (C) The failure to secure the necessary votes to pass the 
motion is a serious blow to the AK government -- in 
particular to AK leader R. Tayyip Erdogan, who had put his 
prestige as party leader behind the motion's success.  Ahead 
of the vote, the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) 
had made it clear that its MPs would vote against the motion 
as a bloc.  CHP has 177 members of Parliament and the 
governing AK Party has 363.  We do not yet know the party 
membership of the 16 members of Parliament who were not 
present for the vote.  Nonetheless, at least 90 AK MPs, or 
approximately 25 percent of the AK parliamentary delegation, 
failed to support the government. 
 
 
PEARSON