VZCZCXRO7522
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHIT #1017 3320648
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 280648Z NOV 07
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7703
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISTANBUL 001017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2017 
TAGS: PREL ECON IQ TU
SUBJECT: IRAQI CG IN ISTANBUL ON IRAQ-TURKEY RELATIONS AND 
BUILDING TRUST WITH THE LOCAL IRAQI COMMUNITY 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 3834 
 
Classified By: DPO Sandra Oudkirk; Reason 1.5 (d), 
 
¶1.   (C) Summary.  In a courtesy call on Consulate Istanbul 
CG Wiener on November 27, Iraq,s Consul General in Istanbul, 
Ambassador Salah Abdulsalam, said his two top priorities here 
are to rebuild contacts with the Iraqi community in Turkey 
and to strengthen economic, commercial, and political 
cooperation with Turkey.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) Iraqi CG Abdulsalam described to CG Wiener on 
November 27 the key priorities of the Iraqi consulate in 
Istanbul, which was reopened in July 2006.   Abdulsalam and 
his staff of six diplomats are focusing first on rebuilding 
the GOI,s relations with the Iraqi community in Turkey, 
which he characterized as being "strained and suspicions" 
under Saddam and in the immediate aftermath of Iraq,s 
liberation.  He claims to have an open-door policy with all 
Iraqis in Turkey, has regularized the visa fees and put all 
Consulate financial matters under one person,s control to 
prevent bribery and graft, and has hired several local Iraqis 
fluent in Kurdish, as well as an Iraqi Christian, to assist 
Kurdish and Iraqi Christian refugees.  Abdulsalam added that 
anytime he has a high-level Iraqi delegation of VIP,s 
visiting Istanbul -- almost weekly -- he insists they also 
take time to meet local resident Iraqis, which he felt was 
slowly rebuilding trust. 
 
¶3.  (C) According to Abdulsalam, the Iraqi community in 
Turkey is stratified.  It includes a significant number of 
professionals (e.g., doctors, engineers) at the higher end of 
the socio-economic spectrum, but also includes poor and 
destitute Iraqis, many of whom came as refugees, and many 
more of whom entered Turkey illegally and have asked the 
Iraqi consulate for help in securing permission for them to 
stay in Turkey, an issue Abdulsalam said he takes a personal 
interest in addressing.  Asked how large the Iraqi community 
here is, he noted that 22,800 Iraqi voted were counted in 
Istanbul and other local polling stations during the December 
2005 Iraqi legislative elections.  Some of those votes, he 
admitted, were later discounted, but he believes the Iraqi 
community in western Turkey numbers at least in the many 
thousands.  Abdulsalam speculated that many Iraqi residents 
in Turkey, including professionals, would consider returning 
to Iraq under more stable and secure conditions, though even 
with the recent improvement in security in Iraq, he felt the 
situation was not yet stable enough to persuade them to 
return. 
 
¶4.  (C) Abdulsalam said strengthening bilateral relations 
with Turkey was his other top priority.  The recent bilateral 
strain over PKK terrorism, he felt, was incrementally 
improving.  He characterized at least some of the recent 
bilateral tension over the PKK as "a political card that the 
Turkish military and political parties were playing" for 
domestic political effect.  But he underscored the GOI,s 
commitment to working with Turkey to stop PKK terrorism, and 
added that the Kurdish Regional Government also plays an 
important role.  On that score, he said he was pleased by the 
recent visit to Istanbul of a Kurdish party delegation led by 
Kurdish Islamic Union Secretary General Salahdin Bayadin 
(reftel para 6), who Abdulsalam says met with PM Erdogan,s 
foreign policy advisor, Ahmed Davutolglu, in Istanbul. 
Abdulsalam said Bayadin was pleased with the meeting, and 
speculated that contacts like that between Turkish and 
Kurdish officials would have a significant "calming" effect. 
Abdulsalam also pointed to Turkey,s willingness to allow 
international organizations to hold a growing number of 
Iraq-related international seminars and training courses in 
Istanbul for Iraqi officials (e.g., judicial training for 
Iraqi judges), in lieu of holding such training in Amman or 
Cairo.  Abdulsalam said he is also working hard to increase 
bilateral trade between Turkey and Iraq, especially in the 
energy and transportation sectors. 
 
¶5.  (C) CG Weiner thanked Abdulsalam for sharing his views, 
and urged him to redouble his diplomatic efforts to help 
secure Turkey,s help in stabilizing Iraq, not only in the 
fight against PKK terrorism but also through expanded 
political, economic, and commercial cooperation. 
WIENER