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

141500Z Dec 04

UNCLAS ANKARA 006940 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD IZ PREL PTER TU
SUBJECT: NO PROGRESS ON TURKISH TRUCKERS' STRIKE 
 
REF: ANKARA 6810 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The wild cat strike by Turkish truck 
drivers that began on December 7 continues to halt nearly all 
fuel deliveries to Iraq -- the only exception being JP-8 
coalition sustainment fuel and three trucks of gasoline.  The 
largest Turkish contractor, Petrol Ofisi, said the five 
companies working for SOMO are having trouble communicating 
with SOMO officials.  However, Petrol Ofisi, which is also a 
contractor for DESC, said it will begin negotiations without 
prior approval from SOMO.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Petrol Ofisi (PO) is the largest of five 
contractors providing fuel for SOMO; it is DESC's sole 
Turkish contractor.  PO Transportation Manager Dogan Mutluay 
told Econoff that PO hosted a meeting of the five Turkish 
companies on Monday to coordinate a joint bargaining 
position.  However, because the Turkish companies have not 
been able to communicate directly with SOMO officials in 
Baghdad, they did not feel that they could proceed with 
talks.  Mutluay said that PO will consult today with DESC on 
a bargaining position, and will use that as a basis to 
negotiate with the truckers without receiving prior approval 
from SOMO.  Mutluay said PO followed the same course in the 
2003 strike.  However, the other companies want to wait until 
they receive approval to negotiate from SOMO, which Mutulay 
feared could take another week. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Mutluay said that PO continues to load trucks with 
JP-8 without interference from truckers.  He said that 
company officials convinced the strike leaders that the 
delivery was for military purposes and should not be included 
in the strike.  He added that PO had managed to load 33 
trucks of gasoline for U.S. troops in Iraq; however, strike 
leaders managed to stop 30 of the 33 at the Turkey-Iraq 
border.  (We will try to confirm this information.) 
 
¶4.  (U) Baghdad Minimize Considered. 
EDELMAN