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FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9808
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKB/AMEMBASSY BAKU 1605
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 0556
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0480
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 1742
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0205
RUEHYE/AMEMBASSY YEREVAN 1363

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000781 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/SE AND H 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2019 
TAGS: PREL PTER IS SY TU AM AZ
SUBJECT: TURKEY: PM ERDOGAN WARNS CODEL CASEY ON AGR 
 
Classified By: CDA Doug Silliman, for reasons 1.4(b,d) 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (C) Senators Robert Casey (D-PA), Ted Kaufman (D-DE), and 
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Representative Timothy Walz 
(D-MN) and Charge met May 29 with PM Erdogan, TGS D/CHOD 
General Igsiz, and a senior MFA delegation led by U/S Apakan. 
 On Armenia, PM Erdogan urged Congress to leave the events of 
1915 to the historians, warning that the passage of an 
Armenian Genocide Resolution would have a detrimental impact 
on Turkey-Armenian talks as well as Nagorno-Karabakh 
developments.  Once Azerbaijan and Armenia resolve their 
differences, he continued, Turkey and Armenia can sort out 
their problems.  On the Middle East, he argued that the U.S. 
must view Hamas as a "political reality" that must be dealt 
with.  General Igsiz highlighted the high level of 
cooperation between the Turkish and U.S. militaries and 
solicited additional assistance from Congress for the fight 
against the PKK.  On Afghanistan, Igsiz said the TGS is 
considering additional contributions, and noted that Turkey 
is trying to increase political cooperation between 
Afghanistan and Pakistan through its trilateral summit 
process.  U/S Apakan reemphasized the importance of all 
aspects of the bilateral relationship.  He explained GOT 
engagement with Hamas is part of Turkey's overall policy of 
pragmatic engagement to reach a peace settlement and should 
not be interpreted as tacit support.  End Summary. 
 
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Prime Minister 
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¶2. (C) During a 90 minute meeting, PM Erdogan provided an 
overview of current domestic and foreign policy issues.  On 
Armenia, he urged that the events of 1915 be left to 
"historians and archeologists" and warned that a 
Congressional Armenian Genocide Resolution would have a "very 
negative effect on Turkey-Armenia talks" and would also have 
a detrimental impact on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. 
Erdogan noted that the latest efforts on N-K have been quite 
positive, in contrast to 18 years of the Minsk Group process 
which have had no results.  On the Middle East, he said that 
the U.S. needs to adopt a very different approach, coming to 
terms with Hamas as a "political reality." 
 
¶3. (C)  Senator Casey took issue with Erdogan's portrayal of 
Israeli actions during the December 2008 Gaza Crisis is 
"disproportionate," insisting that Hamas should be seen as a 
terrorist organization and, as such, should not be engaged by 
the USG.  Senator Lautenberg also challenged Erdogan's view 
of the Middle East, underscoring that Israeli textbooks would 
never condone the killing of Arab children or adults -- but 
that in the Arab world the reverse is routinely seen. 
 
¶4. (C) Erdogan replied that he does not consider Hamas a 
terrorist organization but, instead, as a organization 
attempting to defend its people.  He acknowledged that Hamas 
had fired rockets into Israel, but underscored -- quoting 
Shimon Perez -- that the resulting casualties had numbered 
"no more than two or three."  In Gaza, however, 1500 
Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks.  Erdogan 
noted that Hamas has accepted the 1967 borders, a fact which 
American audiences seem to have missed.  He complained that 
Gaza today is an "open air prison -- something we can never 
say  yes, to." 
 
¶5. (C) Turning to the Caucasus, Erdogan said he was well 
aware that an AGR sponsor was "in this very room" (a 
reference to Rep. Walz) and questioned whether such sponsors 
simply joined up with their colleagues without listening "to 
all the stakeholders."  He noted that Azerbaijan and Armenia 
should sort out their problems.  If they succeed, he said, 
then Turkey and Armenia can work out their issues.  (COMMENT: 
Erdogan again did not frame these as parallel processes, but 
instead as sequential actions. 
END COMMENT) 
 
¶6. (C) Walz told Erdogan that he had "clearly heard" the 
message regarding the AGR, and that he had taken it 
seriously.  He assured Erdogan that he would "never take a 
decision not based on the facts." 
 
ANKARA 00000781  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
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Turkish General Staff 
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¶7.  (C)  In a meeting shortened by the lengthy encounter with 
the PM, Deputy Chief of Defense Gen Hasan Igsiz praised the 
high level of coordination between the U.S. and Turkish 
militaries, including CHOD Gen Basbug's visit to DC, two 
visits by CJCS Adm Mullen to Turkey, and good coordination 
with MNF-I in Iraq.  He thanked the CODEL for good U.S. 
cooperation against the PKK saying that Turkey feels that "it 
is not only our problem any more."  He said that 2009 
provides an opportunity to eliminate the PKK and asked the 
CODEL to press for "northern Iraqi local authorities" (the 
Kurdistan Regional Government -- 
KRG) and KRG President Masoud Barzani to take concrete 
action.  He asked the CODEL for support in providing to 
Turkey AH-1W attack helicopters and an armed predator so the 
Turkish military has the tools it needs to fight the PKK.  On 
Afghanistan, Igsiz said the TGS is considering additional 
contributions, and noted that Turkey is trying to increase 
political cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan 
through its trilateral summit process. 
 
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Foreign Ministry 
---------------- 
 
¶8. (C) U/S Ertugrul Apakan hosted a lunch at the MFA also 
attended by Deputy U/S Haydar Berk, Special Envoy for Iraq 
Murat Ozcelik, and Deputy Director for Middle East and newly 
appointed Ambassador to Syria Omer Onhon.  Apakan reaffirmed 
the strong bilateral relationship between the two countries, 
adding that the GOT is looking to further develop and 
diversify its ties with the U.S.  Apakan highlighted the 
recent positive developments Turkey's normalization efforts 
with Armenia.  He said that the GOT expects to have full 
relations with Armenia within 1-2 years and, at the same 
time, to see progress on resolving issues between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan in parallel to the Armenian-Turkish talks.  Apakan 
warned that a genocide resolution from the U.S. would hurt 
the progress made on all fronts, stall talks, and severely 
strain the relationship between all the involved countries. 
Rep. Walz reassured the MFA officials that a genocide 
resolution in the House was not a statement on how the U.S. 
views the U.S.-Turkey relationship, adding that the U.S. bond 
with Turkey is unwavering. 
 
¶9. (C) On the Middle East, Senator Lautenberg encouraged 
Turkey not to legitimize Hamas, and to push Syria to make 
greater efforts to halt the flow of foreign fighters in Iraq 
across its borders.  Apakan said that although GOT officials 
speak with Hamas as part of Turkey,s overall policy of 
engagement, it should not be interpreted as tacit 
endorsement.  Rather, Turkey supports Palestinian unity and 
PA leader Abbas as the sole leader of all Palestinians.  At 
the same time, Turkey also places importance on Israeli 
security and integrity.  He underscored that while the GOT 
does not approve of the Israeli handling of the Gaza crisis, 
the MFA had issued a statement condemning each occasion of 
Hamas violence.  On Syria, Onhon said Turkey supports the 
Syrian-Israeli talks and aims to be an honest broker between 
the two sides.  He added that the MFA feels a change in 
Syrian President Assad's attitude, but SARG usually adopts a 
"wait and see" foreign policy in order to gauge the other 
side's sincerity before acting.  Nevertheless, once Syria 
decides to do something, it delivers.  Onhon concluded that 
Damascus claimed it no longer meddles in Lebanon because "it 
costs too much and Syria is no longer able to afford it." 
 
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Comment 
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¶10. (C) The differences between the statements of PM Erdogan 
and MFA U/S Apakan on Turkey-Armenian reconciliation and the 
Middle East were striking.  Erdogan, ever the politician, 
repeated populist (and not entirely factually correct) 
perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Caucasus, 
while Apakan reiterated the view of the MFA, which must keep 
all of these difficult peace processes moving forward. 
 
¶11. (SBU) CODEL Casey did not have an opportunity to clear 
 
ANKARA 00000781  003 OF 003 
 
 
this message. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey 
 
SILLIMAN