This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 008505 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
CENTCOM AND EUCOM: PLEASE PASS TO POLADS AND J-5 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2012 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY'S NEW DEFENSE MINISTER: VECDI GONUL 
 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 8382 
     ¶B. ANKARA 8252 
     ¶C. ANKARA 8448 
 
 
(U) Classified by DCM Robert Deutsch. Reason: 1.5 (b,d) 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: GOT DefMin Gonul's principal political task 
is to ensure smooth relations between his Islam-influenced AK 
Party and a Turkish military which as adopted a wait-and-see 
attitude while remaining on the lookout for any sign AK might 
try to alter the current status of civilian-military 
relations.  The cautious Gonul has the respect of the 
Kemalists, but his private criticisms of the military 
establishment suggest he will at a minimum try to effect 
change at the margins to promote greater civilian oversight 
of the Turkish Armed Forces' (TAF) budgetary and other 
processes.  End summary. 
 
 
---------------------- 
Gonul the State's-man? 
---------------------- 
 
 
¶2. (C) Turkish Defense Minister Mehmet Vecdi Gonul is a 
long-time Embassy contact.  His vast experience (below) with 
the organs of the state --  and the Deep State (refs A,B) -- 
have earned him the confidence of many in the Kemalist 
Establishment.  Gonul also served in the military with 
President Sezer, a classic bonding experience.  As a result, 
he is considered by Kemalists to be one of the most 
"acceptable" senior figures in the Islam-influenced AK 
(Justice and Development) Party government. 
 
 
3 (C) It was a given that, as a former high civil servant, 
Gonul would figure prominently in any AK government to help 
mollify a wary Establishment.  We understand that Erdogan's 
initial thinking was to hold him as an alternate P.M. 
candidate in the event that Sezer rejected first choice 
Abdullah Gul; then to pick him as AK's candidate for 
parliamentary Speaker (thwarted by the challenge from AK 
number three Bulent Arinc, ref C); then to appoint him as 
FonMin.  In any event, Gonul's principal political task as 
DefMin will be to manage AK's relations with Turkey's 
politically powerful generals.  As DefMin, a notoriously weak 
position with little direct control over military matters 
(its chief function is defense procurement), Gonul will 
function principally as a liaison between the TAF and AK, the 
elected civilian government, and Parliament. 
 
 
¶4. (C) Nevertheless, Gonul exhibits some of the traits 
frowned on in elite society but appreciated in his native 
Kocaeli Province and elsewhere in conservative Anatolia. 
 
 
¶5. (C) First, we have on good authority that Gonul has ties 
to the Naksibendi tarikat.  This is a nominally illegal sufi 
Islamic order, generally dominated by Kurds and characterized 
now by tendencies toward quietism and serious religious 
piety.  Gonul's patron, the late P.M./President Turgut Ozal 
of the Motherland Party (ANAP) was a Naksibendi, as was 
Ozal's Islamist brother Korkut -- a long-time Embassy contact 
and senior Naksi figure in his own right.  Gonul is 
reportedly close to Korkut.  In private meetings with us, 
Gonul has evinced a remarkably intimate understanding of 
tarikat history -- he sees the orders as a natural part of 
Anatolian society -- and the current trends in tarikat 
politics in Turkey. 
 
 
¶6. (C) Second, Gonul has repeatedly offered to us a strong 
and comprehensive critique of military spending and budgetary 
practices -- particularly the problems of accountability and 
lack of legislative oversight of these processes.  Gonul, 
like senior politicians from traditional centrist parties, 
alleges that upwards of 40% of military expenditures is 
completely unaccounted for, due largely to the TAF practice 
of paying for military programs through a variety of 
off-budget "funds" -- about which civilians know little.  The 
day before he became Defense Minister, Gonul noted to us that 
given the "sensitivities" of the generals, the AK government 
is not eager to push hard for transparency and reform in 
these areas any time soon (we have heard much the same from 
other senior AK officials).  Nevertheless, he has hinted at 
an indirect approach to imposing fiscal discipline on the TAF 
as part of AK's across-the-board effort to end corruption and 
promote accountability in the bureaucracy. 
 
 
¶7. (C) General bio data: 
-- Born in Erzincan in eastern Turkey in 1939, Gonul 
graduated from Ankara U. Political Sciences faculty (then the 
premier training ground for future high civil servants) 1962, 
later earning an M.S. in Public Administration from 
University of Southern California. 
 
 
-- He then returned to Turkey and joined the Interior 
Ministry.  After service as an inspector and finishing first 
in his class of entering sub-governors, he served until 1970 
as a sub-governor in seven districts.  Worked in Interior 
Ministry 1970-72.  Finishing first in the 1972 national 
inspector exam, he was appointed to the inspector corps. 
Appointed governor of Kocaeli (Izmit) in 1976, assigned to 
directorate general of security (National Police) in 1977, 
Central Governorship 1978, Ankara governor 1979, founding 
member of High Education Council 1981, set up by the then 
military regime to promote Kemalist propriety in the 
universities.  1984 appointed Izmir governor, 1988 Interior 
Ministry Undersecretary (under Minister Abdulkadir Aksu, 
again Interior Minister in the new AK cabinet), 1991-98 
chairman of the Sayistay (Court of Accounts).  Gonul owed his 
rise in part to his association with the Ozals.  1999 elected 
to Parliament (his candidacy reflected Fazilet's own abortive 
effort to move the Islamist movement to the political center) 
and chosen as deputy Speaker.  After Fazilet was closed by 
the courts, Gonul abandoned Erbakan in 2001, joining 
Erdogan's AK at its founding and is a vice chairman.  Chosen 
in 2001 as a member of the Turkish delegation to the Assembly 
of the Council of Europe. 
 
 
-- Married -- his wife does not wear the Islamic headscarf -- 
with two sons, one daughter; Gonul speaks English fluently. 
PEARSON