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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ISTANBUL 000017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2018 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL TU EINV IR AA
SUBJECT: EUR/SE DEPUTY DIRECTOR BRINK IN ISTANBUL MEETINGS 
 
REF: ISTANBUL 493 
 
ISTANBUL 00000017  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Sharon A. Wiener for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary.  On December 18, EUR/SE Deputy Director 
Bridget Brink ended a week-long visit to Turkey by meeting 
with officials of the Turkish business association MUSIAD, 
the press relations officer of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, 
and prominent newspaper columnists.  The overall theme of the 
conversations included how to re-energize U.S.-Turkish 
relations.  Brink suggested to both the business leaders and 
the columnists that normalizing relations with Armenia would 
be a positive step toward that end.  Brink also emphasized to 
the Ecumenical Patriarchate that the U.S. Government would 
continue to press the Turkish Government to open the Halki 
Seminary as an important part of our efforts to promote 
religious freedom and human rights in Turkey.  End summary. 
 
------ 
MUSIAD 
------ 
 
¶2.  (U) While MUSIAD representatives normally avoid 
discussing with us politically-sensitive subjects, in this 
meeting its chairman, Omer Vardan, was quite forthcoming with 
opinions on Turkey's relationships with its neighbors, the 
global economic crisis, and the AGR. 
 
¶3.  (U) Neighbors:  According to Vardan, the policy of 
"Strategic Depth" that Turkey's ruling Justice and 
Development Party (AKP) began to implement several years ago 
has resulted in greatly improved relations with Turkey's 
neighbors.  As proof, Vardan said, in the past several years 
Turkey's exports to surrounding countries had increased from 
36 billion USD to 136 billion USD.  (Comment: This number 
appears inflated.  According to press reports, Trade Minister 
Kursad Tuzmen recently announced that while Turkey's total 
exports to all countries in 2008 had been projected to be 136 
billion USD, the global economic crisis had reduced them to 
131.4 billion USD.  End Comment.)  Many of MUSIAD's members 
are currently working in Northern Iraq, and MUSIAD is 
actively seeking to expand Turkey's involvement in the 
reconstruction of Iraq. 
 
¶4.  (C) AGR:  Brink noted the chances of passage of the AGR 
this April may be higher, and urged MUSIAD to tell the GOT it 
supports the normalization of relations with Armenia.  Vardan 
said while MUSIAD supports the GOT's dialog with Armenia, 
there is also an "Azerbaijani angle" that needs to be 
straightened out (i.e., Nagorno-Karabakh).  Brink urged 
Turkey not to link normalization to resolution of the 
Nagorno-Karabakh issue, since Nagorno-Karabakh may not be 
resolved before April.  Vardan said it would be "very bad" 
for relations if the AGR passed, and expressed the hope 
(shared with us by other Turks and apparently widely-held) 
that the support for AGR expressed by President-Elect Obama 
during the campaign would not continue once he begins 
governing and assesses the positives and negatives of such an 
action.  "We trust that the president can stop the AGR," he 
said.  Brink replied that the position that will be taken 
will be up to the new administration but noted that Congress 
is a separate but equal branch of government.  Vardan said 
MUSIAD would convey Brink's points to the "responsible 
people." 
 
¶5.  (U) Economy:  Vardan said Turkish business is 
"suffering," with reductions of between 10 percent and 75 
percent, depending on the sector.  Vardan noted Turkey does 
not have the structural difficulties of Europe or the U.S., 
since its banking system is "very sound" and there is little 
consumer credit -- Turkish banks extend few home mortgages 
and the average consumer credit card debt is but 30 percent 
of yearly wages.  (Comment: A quick Internet search indicates 
that average U.S. family's credit card debt equals from five 
to twelve percent of its annual income.  End Comment.) 
However, Vardan claimed Turkish businesses are experiencing 
"major problems" in obtaining project financing from the 
world markets, since most foreign banks are not lending. 
Moreover, said Vardan, banks are calling loans "prematurely." 
 Vardan explained that, in Turkey, post-dated checks are a 
common form of financing, and are freely negotiated and given 
to banks as security.  However, now banks are insisting on 
cashing them, despite their future dating. (Comment: In 
Turkey, unlike the U.S., a post-dated check remains a demand 
 
ISTANBUL 00000017  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
instrument, and is normally not cashed as a matter of custom; 
however, a holder is under no obligation to observe this 
custom.) 
 
------------ 
Patriarchate 
------------ 
 
¶6.  (U) The Ecumenical Patriarchate's press relations 
officer, Father Dositheos, opened his presentation with some 
"good news": The GOT has advised the Patriarchate it will 
begin issuing one year visas for non-Turkish clergy working 
at the Patriarchate.  Previously, foreign clergy had to 
obtain tourist visas and exit the country for renewal every 
three months.  The GOT provided a list of clergy eligible for 
the extended visas, and noted they must be working in the 
Ecumenical Patriarchate to qualify.  This "positive gesture" 
comes after what Dositheos described as "five years of 
struggle" with the GOT. 
 
¶7.  (U) Unfortunately, Father Dositheos continued, there had 
been no progress on the Patriarchate's remaining problems 
with the GOT: 
 
--  The GOT recently advised the Patriarchate that reopening 
Halki Seminary was "impossible," since Turkey is a secular 
country and cannot have theological schools.  (If this is 
indeed the GOT's stance, it ignores the thousands of 
imam-hatip religious secondary schools run by the GOT.)  In 
this communique the GOT supposedly renewed its offer to 
establish a chair in Orthodox theology at a state university, 
which the Patriarchate rejects. (Note: We subsequently 
clarified that Father Dositheos was referring to press 
reporting on a to date unreleased MFA report to the 
parliament and not to any communique to the Ecumenical 
Patriarchate. End note.) 
 
-- The absence of legal status for the Patriarchate, making 
it impossible for it to own property or have "economic 
independence." 
 
-- The refusal of the GOT to recognize the Patriarchate's 
"ecumenical" status. 
 
-- Repatriation of Patriarchate properties seized by the 
state since the founding of the Republic.  Father Dositheos 
claimed that in 1913 the Patriarchate owned 11,000 
properties, while today it owns but 500.  While Father 
Dositheos said this issue is "slowly being resolved," he 
anticipates the need for further relief from the European 
Court of Human Rights. 
 
-- Synod Assemblies (Ref). 
 
¶8.  (C) Brink asked Father Dositheos how the U.S. could help. 
 He responded that direct political pressure "does not help." 
 Rather, he suggested two indirect means of providing 
pressure: 
 
-- Have American military generals convey to their Turkish 
NATO counterparts the message that the Patriarchate is not a 
danger to Turkey.  (Father Dositheos believes the Turkish 
military is the source of much of the opposition to the 
Patriarchate.  He said he has asked German NATO generals to 
convey the same message.) 
 
-- Have U.S. theology schools request Ministry of Education 
permission to form a "partnership" with the Halki Seminary. 
This will show that the Seminary is important to Americans. 
 
¶9.  Brink said she would take these ideas back to Washington 
and stressed that the U.S. would continue to do all it could 
to support the reopening of Halki. 
 
---------- 
Columnists 
---------- 
 
¶10.  (C) At a luncheon hosted by the Consul General, Brink 
met with Abdulhamit Bilici (of Zaman newspaper), Rusen Cakir 
(Vatan), Sami Kohen (Milliyet) and Etyen Mahcupyan (Agos). 
The AGR was again a major topic of conversation, with the 
Consul General and Brink reprising the points made to MUSIAD, 
including the importance of concluding a normalization 
agreement with Armenia.  The Turkish guests suggested Turkey 
 
ISTANBUL 00000017  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
would be an ideal location for President-Elect Obama to give 
his promised speech in a Muslim capital, particularly if the 
AGR passed, since the speech could then be used to move the 
issue forward.  Also, the columnists noted the widespread 
public perception that the U.S. is still not doing enough 
with respect to the PKK.  The CG and Brink pointed to the 
change in policy after PM Erdogan's November 2007 visit to 
Washington including the start of intelligence sharing with 
Turkey as historic and significant cooperation, which some 
believe is not acknowledged enough publicly in Turkey. 
Wiener