VZCZCXRO7217
PP RUEHDA
DE RUEHAK #2179 2341519
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221519Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3516
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 3225
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 2246

UNCLAS ANKARA 002179 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/CRUSNAK 
USDA/FAS FOR OSTA/RMACKE, CSLOOP 
USDA/FAS FOR OCRA/RCURTIS, JFLEMINGS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD TBIO TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: IMPORT SAFETY DIALOGUE STARTED 
 
Ref: A) STATE 114788 B) GAIN report TU7048 
 
¶1. We delivered ref A information to Ziya Altunyaldiz, Deputy 
Director General for Exports, and Kadir Bal, Deputy Director General 
for Imports, at the Turkish Foreign Trade Undersecretariat.  Neither 
had substantive comments at this time but assured us they would 
review it.  We will include this topic in the next Turkey-U.S. Trade 
and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council meeting, currently 
scheduled for the first quarter of 2008 in Ankara. 
 
¶2. Ankara's Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) office prepares a 
yearly report that deals with this topic, entitled "Food and 
Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards" (ref B).  In this 
report, they note that the regulations on food and agricultural 
products are generally prepared and published by the Ministry of 
Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA).  However, there are also 
regulations published by other ministries, such as the Ministry of 
Finance and the Ministry of Health.  Most Turkish 
agriculture-related regulations, laws, communiques, directives, and 
notifications are available on the website of the Protection and 
Control General Directorate (GDPC) of MARA: www.kkgm.gov.tr.  A few 
of the regulations have an English translation available on the same 
website. 
¶3. The legal infrastructure of agriculture is mainly based on 
communiques rather than on laws.  The reason for this is that the 
Turkish constitutional system does not allow laws to be adopted, 
amended or abolished easily.  Therefore governments have 
traditionally preferred to publish communiques.  Currently, the main 
target of Turkish food and agriculture policy is to harmonize the 
related laws and regulations with the EU acquis communitaire. 
Sometimes it appears that this concern overwhelms other concerns 
such as national interest and farmers' interests.  Moreover, the 
Turkish government rarely informs the public or international bodies 
such as the WTO about possible or actual regulation changes.  In 
addition, the same regulations can often be inconsistently applied 
in different provincial directorates and at different times. 
MCELDOWNEY