US embassy cable - 03ANKARA1743

S E C R E T ANKARA 001743 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR S/CT BLACK AND EUR A/S JONES 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2013 
TAGS: PTER, ASEC, TU, Iraq 
SUBJECT: APPROACHING THE GOT ON THE EXPULSION OF IRAQI 
INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS 
 
REF: (A) STATE 71552 (B) ANKARA 1696 (C) ANKARA 1695 
     (D) ANKARA 1427 (E) STATE 59920 (F) STATE 
     42350 (G) ANKARA 1111 (H) STATE 55832 (I) 
     ANKARA 1384 
 
 
(U) Classified by Ambassador W. Robert Pearson.  Reasons: 
1.5 (B), (C), and (D). 
 
 
1. (S//NF) Following up on his March 17 request (ref b), 
Ambassador pressed MFA U/S Ziyal March 18 to take action in 
response to USG concerns over the threat posed by 
intelligence officers of the Iraqi government operating under 
official cover in Turkey.  Ambassador asked Ziyal if he had 
spoken with TNIO following their March 17 meeting, as Ziyal 
indicated he would.  Ziyal said he had been consumed with the 
larger question of USG requests on Iraq March 17 (ref c), and 
confessed that he had not had an opportunity to raise the 
issue with TNIO.  Ziyal took note of the Ambassador,s 
request and said he would discuss the issue with TNIO soon. 
 
 
2. (S//NF) MFA Deputy U/S Tuygan (who was present at the 
meeting) noted that he recently had discussed the issue with 
TNIO.  Tuygan said that TNIO had told him that none of the 
individuals included on the second list of names the Embassy 
had provided the MFA were in Turkey.  Tuygan said that TNIO 
continued to monitor closely the activities of the 
individuals listed on the first list provided by the Embassy 
(the staff at the Iraqi embassy).  However, Tuygan noted that 
TNIO has not found any evidence that these individuals were 
involved in &fishy8 activities.  Tuygan said that the MFA 
would go back to TNIO and ask them to continue to keep a 
close eye on the individuals. 
 
 
3. (S//NF) The Ambassador stressed that the USG was looking 
to the GOT to take action against Iraqi intelligence officers 
in Ankara, including having them leave the country.  He 
reminded Ziyal and Tuygan that the USG had seen evidence of 
such activity worldwide.  After passing this information to 
government authorities in these countries, the governments 
took action against the Iraqi intelligence officers, and this 
action resulted in disrupting the planned activities against 
USG interests. 
PEARSON