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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000403 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SY TU
SUBJECT: MARMARA GROUP REFLECTIONS ON PRESIDENT ASSAD AND 
SYRIAN SOCIETY AFTER DAMASCUS VISIT 
 
REF: FEB. 18 SMITH - DEUTSCH E-MAIL 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: A delegation of Marmara Group (Strategic 
and Social Research Foundation, founded in 1985) members 
visiting Damascus February 20-24 was impressed with President 
Assad's stated interest in promoting positive relations with 
Turkey and the U.S., but sensed the Syrian bureaucracy was 
resistant.  Briefing CG Arnett March 4 on the delegation's 
visit to Damascus on Feb. 20-24, Foundation President Suver 
said President Assad flatly denied responsibility for the 
Hariri assassination and rejected labelling Syria as a 
terrorist state. In contrast to Assad's apparent openness to 
the West, Suver noted that the Syrian bureaucracy resembled 
that of a former Iron Curtain country.  The Turkish 
delegation was also struck by the relatively undeveloped 
infrastructure, contrasted with the seemingly advanced social 
climate, including young single Syrian women smoking water 
pipes and drinking wine in public, coed cafes.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Dr. Akkan Suver, President of the Marmara 
Foundation, accompanied by Foundation member Ogan Soysal, 
briefed CG Arnett March 4 on the February 20-24 trip to 
Damascus of a Marmara Foundation delegation, ostensibly to 
participate in a university conference.  The group included 
four MPs: AKP MPs Yuksel Cavusoglu (head of the parliamentary 
friendship group), Sait Acba, and Hikmet Ozdemir, and CHP MP 
Abdulaziz Yazar;  Bilgi University Professor Ilter Turan; 
former MP and Higher Education Minister Ambassador Ertugrul 
Kuyumcuoglu; Sabah correspondent Yavuz Durat; and Yeditepe 
University professor Nedret Kuran Burcoglu.  The Syrian 
Consul General in Turkey had organized the trip.  Prior to 
their trip on February 18, CG had briefed delegation 
participants on issues relating to Syria, emphasizing U.S. 
concerns regarding Syria's support for terrorism, failure to 
control the border with Iraq, and Lebanon.  Suver confirmed 
to the CG March 4 that the delegation had pursued all three 
issues during their visit and their meeting with President 
Assad. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Suver described at length the group's meeting with 
President Assad, who spent an hour and a half with the 
delegation.  Marmara Group characterized Assad as tense, 
given recent events in Lebanon, yet open to discussion with 
the group and to relations with the West. Suver called Assad 
a young and open man, who wants to open a new window in 
international relations.  According to Suver, President Assad 
told a joke about a "genie," who declared in the punchline 
that it would be easier to build a solid bridge between 
Washington and Damascus than to reform the Syrian 
bureaucracy.  The Marmara Foundation delegation had the 
impression that Syria was under the old Iron Curtain. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Assad flatly denied that Syria was responsible for 
Hariri's assassination -- just as he rejected the accusation 
that Syria is a terrorist state.  The delegation commented to 
Assad that democracy is a good thing -- but there is a cost 
for it.  If Syria were truly ready for democracy, was he 
ready to get out of Lebanon? 
 
¶5. (SBU) Assad said directly that Syria wants to expand its 
relations with Turkey -- a directness, Suver opined, 
indicating that Assad may have felt guilty about the recent 
events in Lebanon.  Suver noted that while professing to pull 
troops back in accordance with international democratic 
practices, the Syrians' visa regulations, for example, 
perpetuate a lack of intention to make peace with neighbors 
(viz. the practice of confiscating passports of Syrians with 
Israeli visas).  Suver emphasized to Assad the importance of 
maintaining communication with nations with which a country 
has not had diplomatic relations; for example, Turkey still 
is in active communication with Armenian officials, via the 
lobbying office in Washington.   According to Suver, Assad 
listened.  Assad was also concerned about PKK threats to 
Syrian diplomats serving in Turkey. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The delegation's tour of Damascus included a new 
suburb, similar to Oran in Ankara, and a visit to the 
Syrianic Patriarch Yusuf Ater in his new residence.  Nearly 
adjacent to the modern five-star hotel in the heart of 
Damascus where the delegation stayed was a makeshift military 
camp built of tin structures3w that the delegation assumed 
with surprise to be the site of a terrorist training camp, 
given the civilian Arab garb of the gun-toting occupants. 
Suver commented that much of the city seemed a bit shabby, 
similar to Turkey in the 1950's.  In contrast, the delegation 
found the social climate surprisingly advanced, observing 
Syrian girls as young as 15 drinking wine and smoking water 
pipes in cafes with men.  In addition, the delegation also 
learned that it was also acceptable for single Syrian women 
to invite men to their homes alone. 
¶7. (SBU) Suver noted that the Marmara Foundation had received 
a similar invitation to attend an academic conference in 
Tehran, and that he would call on the Consul General in 
advance to discuss U.S. policy views on Iran. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: The Marmara Foundation delegation was 
clearly struck by President Assad's openness, but detected 
that his personalized and flattering reception of the group 
may have been intended to hide his guilt about the recent 
events in Lebanon and support for terrorist groups.  Their 
sense of the contradictions within Asad were mirrored by the 
striking contrast they saw between the 50's era 
infrastructure and the apparently liberal social mores.  End 
Comment. 
ARNETT