US embassy cable - 03ANKARA1514

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001514 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE (SILVERMAN, GOELLNER-SWEET), DRL/IL 
(WHITE) LONDON FOR GOLDRICH, PARIS FOR O'FRIEL, LABOR FOR 
BRUMFIELD 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, ELAB, PREL, PTER, TU 
SUBJECT: "NEIGHBORS" DISAPPROVE OF TURKISH CONDUCT IN 
FOREIGN RELATIONS 
 
Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch; reasons 1.5 (b)(d). 
 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  Comments elicited during conversations with 
mission representatives of neighboring countries regarding 
Turkey's conduct of foreign affairs suggest little approval 
or admiration exists for Turkish diplomatic maneuvers.  End 
summary. 
 
 
2.  (C)  Political officer (PO), who has the Middle East and 
labor portfolios, initiated a series of courtesy visits to 
representatives of neighboring missions and the Turkish 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).  Throughout all of PO's 
meetings with MFA staff as well as other missions, Turks and 
Arabs both affirmed they had mutually good and cooperative 
relations with each other.  In recent weeks, MFA contacts 
have alleged that they have been primarily preoccupied with 
Iraq-related issues.  At the same time, contacts in Middle 
Eastern embassies say that they have had no conversations 
with the MFA regarding Iraq. 
 
 
3   (C) Surprisingly, the Saudi Embassy provided PO with the 
first peek behind the "cordial curtain" into what the 
relationship between Arabs and Turks might really be.  The 
Saudi political counselor (strictly protect) described Turks 
as "mukh nashif" an Arabic term meaning "dry brain" to 
explain the Turks' legendary stubbornness in business 
transactions. 
 
 
4.  (C) The Israeli DCM (strictly protect) confided that when 
"'things' are good it is easy and when bad harder to work 
with Turkey."  The DCM compares the question of Turkish 
admission to the EU with getting admitted to Yale or 
Cambridge:  wanting is not enough; an applicant must be able 
to offer "something special." 
 
 
5  (C) The Moroccan DCM (strictly protect), who served in 
Washington for eight years, was exasperated after enduring 
four rounds of negotiations for what should be a mutually 
beneficial trade agreement between the Turkey and Morocco. 
He fumed, "They act as if they are still Ottomans!" 
 
 
6. (C) The Embassy of Pakistan DCM (strictly protect) 
recently served in Vienna and described the Turks as 
"warlike." 
 
 
7. (C) The Embassy of India Second Secretary (strictly 
protect) affirmed India's interest in assisting with Afghan 
reconstruction.  The secretary noted that historically India 
was not warlike, which made it possible for aggressive 
nations such as Turkey to invade it. 
 
 
8. (C) Finally, almost simultaneous conversations with 
members of the Afghan mission and the European Union's labor 
officer elicited virtually the same response when asked to 
describe their missions' relations with the Turks:  Both 
diplomats sighed, rolled their eyes, shook their heads from 
side to side and waved their right hands, as to describe a 
crooked river. 
 
 
9. (C) Comment: Strongly held historic prejudices, reinforced 
by Turkey's current negotiations with the US and others, 
suggest that distaste for Turkish-style diplomacy still 
persists.  End comment. 
PEARSON