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DE RUEHAK #0771/01 1521450
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R 011450Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9785
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0125
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 5811
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 0006
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 0018
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000771 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2019 
TAGS: ETRD PREL BR TU
SUBJECT: LULA SAMBAS INTO ANKARA, REINVIGORATES 
BRAZIL-TURKEY RELATIONSHIP 
 
REF: BRASILIA 658 
 
Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady for reasons 1.4(b,d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da 
Silva's visit to Ankara on May 22-23 was the latest in a 
series of steps over recent years to strengthen 
Turco-Brazilian ties.  This successful visit was capped by 
the signing of an $800 million investment deal between 
state-owned energy company TPAO and Petrobras.  The Brazilian 
Embassy in Ankara characterized the relationship between 
Brazil and Turkey as one of "periods of intense engagement, 
followed by long stretches of inactivity" due to the 
competing priorities of both governments.  The biggest source 
of friction between the two countries remains Turkey's 
opposition to Brazil becoming a permanent member of the UN 
Security Council.  The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
(MFA) concurred with these assessments and suggested that a 
stronger relationship could be built through more frequent 
low-level diplomatic contact between the two countries.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
First Ever Visit by Brazilian President 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Lula's landmark visit to Ankara was the first ever 
by a Brazilian President, although the Brazilian Emperor Dom 
Pedro II visited in 1870.  According to Rosimar Suzano, a 
Brazilian MFA specialist on Turkey who traveled to Ankara in 
support of Lula's visit, the visit was a success and 
strengthened the close bilateral ties between Brazil and 
Turkey.  The highlight of the visit was the signing of an 
$800 million investment deal between state-owned energy 
company TPAO and Petrobras.  Under this deal, the two 
countries agreed to jointly explore for oil in the Black Sea. 
 Turkey will benefit from the assistance of Petrobras, which 
is recognized as a world leader in deep-sea drilling 
techniques.  According to press reports, Lula said that his 
government wishes to see Petrobras become the world's leading 
oil company and, to accomplish this, the company "has to 
invest and work in other countries."  Ekran Aytun, the MFA's 
Latin America desk officer, told us Turkey envisions 
additional joint contracts after the two companies build a 
sold working relationship through the Black Sea contract. 
 
¶3. (C) The visit was marked by a host of other deliverables, 
including a commitment to increase high-level visits between 
the two countries.  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan 
agreed to visit Brazil in May 2010 to participate both in 
bilateral meetings and in the next Alliance of Civilizations 
conference, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro. 
Additionally, a group from the Turkish Parliament's Brazilian 
Friendship Committee will visit Brazil in June of this year 
as part of a series of trips designed to exchange views 
between Parliamentary delegations.  In contrast to this 
positive view of high-level visits, Aytun noted that the MFA 
favors more frequent working-level visits to build strong 
lasting ties between the two governments.  Finally, the 
second meeting of the Joint Economic Commission will take 
place this year in Istanbul (the first meeting was in 2004 in 
Brazil, nine years after the agreement was signed). While in 
Istanbul, Lula attended the closing ceremony of a large 
business conference, which was the second half of an event 
held in Brazil in 2006 during then-Foreign Minister Abdullah 
Gul's visit. 
 
¶4. (C) Suzano also highlighted the recently-instituted 
Turkish Airlines (THY) flight from Istanbul to Sao Paolo (via 
Dakar).  Suzano speculated that the primary users of this 
flight would be Brazilians traveling to Turkey, as the number 
of Turkish tourists in Brazil is quite low and there does not 
seem to be much interest in traveling to Brazil among Turks, 
given that they can take a much shorter flight to Europe. 
She also believed that the new flight was more of a political 
decision than a commercial one, observing that no Brazilian 
airline had any immediate plan to start service to Turkey. 
 
Uneven Pace of Bilateral Ties 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) In general terms, Suzano praised the strength of 
Brazil-Turkey ties, but opined that the relationship is 
 
characterized by "periods of intense engagement, followed by 
long stretches of inactivity."  As an example, she cited the 
two-year lag time between when additional THY flights were 
announced and when they actually began. Aytun concurred with 
this assessment and pointed out that a reliance on high-level 
contacts led to more missed meetings because of competing 
priorities for the two heads of state. 
 
¶6. (C) The greatest scope for cooperation and increased ties 
between the two countries is in the economic realm. 
Bilateral trade is approximately $1.1 billion annually, a 
negligible amount given the size of the two economies. 
Suzano did not believe there was much potential for increased 
trade, however, as both countries produce similar products, 
both in the agricultural and industrial sectors.  According 
to Suzano, the real opportunities lie in cooperative ventures 
in third countries.  She pointed out that Turkey is looking 
to increase its political and economic presence in Africa, an 
initiative that dovetails nicely with recent Brazilian steps 
in the same direction.  She also commented that during the 
visit there had been a high degree of Turkish interest in 
Brazilian biofuels and a discussion of how such fuels could 
be productively utilized to meet Turkish energy needs.  Aytun 
raised each of these issues as well, emphasizing that Turkey 
should focus on increasing economic trade with Brazil, as the 
current figure does not crest 1 percent of either country's 
trade volume. 
 
¶7. (C) Despite the gradually deepening relationship between 
the two countries, Suzano acknowledged that their interests 
do not always align.  This is especially clear on the issue 
of UN Security Council reform, where Suzano said Turkey was 
explicit that it will not support permanent membership for 
Brazil.  Turkey and Brazil also often have "energetic" 
debates in other developing nation fora such as the 
Non-Aligned Movement, she said. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (C) The visit by President Lula to Ankara underscores that 
Brazil and Turkey have made the deepening of ties a priority, 
and this is likely to continue at least through next year 
with Erdogan's planned visit to Rio.  Whether this 
newly-invigorated relationship will weather the long-term, 
however, will depend to a large extent on the other demands 
competing for the attention of the respective governments. 
Both Brazil and Turkey justifiably style themselves as 
leaders of the democratic developing world, but beyond that 
commonality they do not have much in the way of deep-seated 
shared values or interests.  Economic ties, such as the 
Petrobras investment or cooperation on biofuels, may help 
establish shared interests over time, but it is a process 
that can easily be derailed by more important concerns. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey 
 
SILLIMAN