VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAK #0460/01 0700832
ZNR UUUUU ZZH(CCY ADX6B82D2 UTS0510 - 648)
R 100832Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5525
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RULSJGA/COMDT COGUARD WASHDC
RUEAORC/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUCNEXC/EXPORT CONTROL AND RELATED BORDER SECURITY
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC

UNCLAS ANKARA 000460 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y -- ADDED CAPTION 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
DEPT FOR NP/ECC- YWONG, ACHURCH, BGOLDEN 
DEPT FOR EUR/SE - BHUNT, PMALIK 
DOE/NNSA- TPERRY, LPARKER, EDESCHLER 
CBP/INA- BWATTS, BPICKETT 
DOC FOR DCREED 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC KNNP KSTC MNUC PARM PREL TU
SUBJECT: EXBS: TURKEY ADVISORS MONTHLY REPORT- (FEBRUARY 
2008) 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  EXBS Advisor attended dedication ceremony in 
Izmir for one of five new Customs Enforcement container x-ray 
and inspection facilities donated by European Union (EU) 
Commission as part of the EU Accession project to provide 
border security assistance programs to Turkish Customs at 
major Ports of Entry (POE).  Post provided MFA with letter 
requesting implementation of EXBS agreement with submission 
of Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy Agreement to U.S. Congress. 
 Turkish Customs is ready to move ahead on planning future 
professional exchanges and equipment procurements. 
 
¶2. Completed Actions for the Reporting Period 
 
¶A. Meetings During Recent Reporting Period 
 
1)  EXBS Advisor and Coordinator met with the following 
Turkish, European and U.S. officials this period: 
 
a) Feb 5 - 8 - Attended dedication of new warehouse based 
mobile x-ray system in Izmir.  Turkish Customs Enforcement 
provided an extravagant commissioning ceremony for their 
newest German built truck  and container x-ray facility at 
the Port of Izmir. Attendees included EU Ambassador to Turkey 
and EU Commission officials, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, 
senior Customs officials, foreign government and local 
industry guests. The Izmir unit is one of five new mobile 
x-ray vehicle and container scanning units, with search sheds 
(inspection buildings with refrigeration units) at key 
land/sea container ports of Izmir, Istanbul/Ambarli, Samsun, 
Mersin and Gurbulak. The high quality pictures produced by 
this system provide Customs operators with the ability to 
identify both organic and mineral materials/goods within the 
same scan.  Up to 20 trucks/containers per hour can be 
scanned. 
 
During this visit, EU Commission representatives Ann Uustalu, 
Head of Section for Taxation and Customs Union and her 
associate, Mr. Stefano Fantorini, told us the EU was 
generally pleased with Turkish Customs commitment to align 
and harmonize Turkish Customs practices, procedures, 
professional development programs and border security systems 
with EU standards as part of Turkey's EU accession process. 
The EU has earmarked over 50 Million Euro for Turkish Customs 
since 2001.  One area which they believe requires additional 
GOT support is human resources development, mainly increasing 
the size of the Customs force and expanding professional 
development.  The EU had planned to provide state-of-the art 
training and classroom equipment, along with extensive 
technical exchanges, for a new Customs academy in Ankara. 
After an initial commitment of funds by the EU, Customs was 
unable to obtain GOT funding support required for the 
acquisition of new, or rehabilitation of existing facilities 
for this new academy.  Since these funds are due to expire 
this year, Customs has submitted a new proposal to reprogram 
these funds for procurement of a new railway scanning system 
(x-ray) for installation in the city of Van, on the main 
Turkish rail line from Iran to Syria, which is sorely needed. 
 It should be noted that EXBS has provided support through 
DHS/CBPs ongoing engagement with Customs for over a year to 
revamp current training curriculum.  DHS/CBP is scheduled to 
the deliver updated curriculum to Customs to use in accession 
and specialized training programs at existing Custom training 
facilities. 
 
We agreed to work with EU Commission in Ankara to coordinate 
future assistance programs to ensure we do not duplicate each 
others' efforts. 
 
b. Feb 14 - 15 -  DOE/SLD program Manager Eric Deschler 
visited Ankara and met with Advisor, Coordinator, and PMA 
staff.  Deschler provided a thorough briefing on SLD 
programs, capacities, and anticipated assistance requirements 
of EXBS program in Ankara.  Deschler and EXBS team met with 
TNP Criminal Police Laboratory Bomb Disposal Unit Head of 
Section, Cengiz Ozdemir.  We discussed the planned radiation 
detection training at Golbasi, which was canceled on Feb 7 
due to internal issues between TNP and MFA.  Ozdemir noted 
that this training was important for the bomb units 
 
 
throughout Turkey and that his new Deputy General, who was 
just appointed within the last few weeks, needed more time to 
assess TNP's role for this new requirement before he would 
authorize this training.  Ozdemir noted that TNP would likely 
move ahead with this training in May/June timeframe once the 
EXBS agreement is in force and TNP completed its new bomb 
disposal academy class.  Ozdemir noted his academy would like 
to integrate the use of radiation detection equipment into 
their academy curriculum, once this course has been completed 
by DOE/SLD.  We toured the training site and confirmed the 
radiation detection equipment that was delivered was safely 
stored at this site.  It was agreed that TNP would accept the 
U.S. radiation sources, shipped by DOE/SLD, for the upcoming 
training and store them at the academy. 
 
c. Feb 21 - MFA Head of Department for Nonproliferation and 
Disarmament, Ms. Elif Ulgen.  Advisor met with Ulgen to 
review status of EXBS initiatives and request MFAs response 
to Ambassador's February 15 letter to MFA Undersecretary 
Apakan requesting full implementation of the EXBS agreement 
as soon as possible, since the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy 
(PUNE) Agreement has been sent to Congress.  Ulgen confirmed 
that her office was working on a response, but reiterated, as 
in past meetings, that the EXBS Agreement would not likely be 
implemented until the PUNE was ratified by the US.  During 
this visit, Ulgen confirmed that GOT would provide the names 
of one official each from Undersecretariat of Customs, 
Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade, and General Directorate of 
the Prime Ministry Security Affairs to attend the 
EXBS-sponsored Export Control Workshop in Athens, GA in 
April.  She also confirmed that the property grant language, 
now incorporated into the property grant document, and 
pending approval by Customs, should be acceptable for the 
delivery of the CT-30 Kits and Gerber tool kits. 
 
d. Feb 22 - Undersecretariat of Customs, Director General 
for EU and External Relations, Mr. Riza Mehmet Korkmaz and 
his staff for Training and EU Accession Harmonization, Ms. 
Deniz Atasoy and Ms. Sevil Karaca.  We discussed the need to 
move ahead with development of a comprehensive plan for 
professional development, technical exchanges and the 
acquisition of specialized detection and enforcement 
equipment for Customs.  Advisor provided a broad overview of 
local EXBS processes and the need to develop a plan through 
information exchanges with Customs and Custom Enforcement 
officials.  These would include regular border gate visits 
and ongoing analysis of Custom processes/procedures to 
identify deficiencies or gaps.  This would ensure EXBS funds 
would have greatest impact on assisting Customs in increasing 
their capabilities in WMD-related detection and enforcement. 
We provided an initial list of CBP and DOE course offerings 
and agreed to meet regularly to develop and implement this 
plan. 
 
e. Feb 26 - Participated in Mission Strategic Planning (MSP) 
process.  Advisor provided initial FY2010 MSP submission for 
ongoing EXBS initiatives for $850,000 of NADR-EXBS funds 
under the Peace and Security line item.  Post anticipates 
full implementation of the EXBS agreement this year and will 
require at least this level of funds to assist GOT in WMD 
detection and enforcement capacity building, commodity 
identification training, government to industry outreach 
initiatives, and continued support of legal/regulatory 
reforms. 
 
f. (SBU) Feb 27 - Turkish Customs Enforcement, Head of 
Department for Enforcement, Mr. Ender Gurleyik and his 
assistant, Akin Akon. We discussed status of Z-Backscatter 
van training and the proposed use of this van as a covert 
detection system against smuggling along major transportation 
routes and key shipping locations within Turkey.  Gurleyik 
informed us that they are completing the factory training for 
this van and are eager to receive the DHS/CBP operational 
training in March/April so that they can begin making 
seizures with this new technology.  When asked about the 
changes occurring within Customs as a result of the new 
administration,  he noted that many of the new appointees 
within Customs are wary of Customs Enforecemnt taking on new 
 
roles or responsibilities for the time being.  He indicated 
that it may be more difficult for Customs to move ahead with 
new U.S. assistance programs, such as acceptance of new 
detection equipment, until these new appointees feel 
confident in the Customs organization and the EXBS agreement 
has been implemented by MFA.  We informed him of our 
discussions with Customs External Affairs Staff and noted we 
would work closely with them during the planning process. 
 
¶B. Training Conducted During this Reporting Period: - AS&E 
completed a one week operator and familiarization training 
with Customs Enforcement on the recently delivered AS&E 
Z-Backscatter van.  This training was well received and 
Customs is awaiting DHS/CBP Operational training before 
taking the van into the field for operations. 
 
¶C. Equipment Delivered During this Reporting Period: - None. 
 
¶D. Imminent Training or Equipment Status Update: 
 
1) Three GOT officials will attend the March 31 - April 11 
session of University of Georgia's Export Control Academy in 
Athens Georgia as noted in (2.A.1)c) of this cable. 
 
2) A DHS/CBP team from Miami, FL will arrive Ankara on April 
6 to provide Customs Enforcement with a 10 day AS&E 
Z-Backscatter Van operational training program from April 7 - 
¶8. 
 
¶E. Significant Developments in Export Controls, 
Nonproliferation, or Related Border Security: None for this 
period. 
 
¶3. Future Activities: EXBS Advisor will be on leave and 
consultations in U.S. beginning March 12 through April 4 and 
will be reachable by office cell at (90) 533-716-4805 during 
that period.  EXBS coordinator will attend UGA's Export 
Control Academy from March 31 - April 4, 2008. 
 
¶4. Red Flag Issues:  None. 
 
¶5. Contact information for EXBS Program Ankara is:  Robert 
Cieslinski, EXBS Advisor, Email: CieslinskiRL@state.gov, 
Office (90) (312) 457-7210, Cell (90) (533) 716-4808 and 
Erhan Mert, EXBS Coordinator, Email: MertE2@state.gov, 
Office(90)312 457-7059, Cell (90) (533) 264-8407. EXBS 
Program 
Office Fax (90) (312) 468-4775 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey 
 
WILSON