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

051128Z Nov 03

UNCLAS ANKARA 006910 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY ACCEDES TO THE OTTAWA CONVENTION ON 
LANDMINES 
 
 
¶1. During a meeting on another topic, MFA Head of Department 
for Disarmament Affairs confirmed to PolMilOff that Turkey 
had deposited its instrument of ratification for the Ottawa 
convention simultaneously with Greece on September 25, 2003. 
Meric reminded PolMilOff that Turkey was party to every 
disarmament and nonproliferation treaty for which it was 
eligible.  Nevertheless he was unable to update PolMilOff on 
the status of demining along the Syrian and Greek borders, 
initiatives that had been undertaken in an effort to improve 
relations with these two neighbors. 
 
 
¶2. Separately, we learned from other sources at MFA that, 
although an intended benefit of demining along the Syrian 
border was to improve relations with Damascus, the demining 
is a unilateral action that had been previously announced but 
lacked funding.  The GOT's announcement (again) of this 
project was due to the recent identification of funding. 
EDELMAN