VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB
DE RUEHAK #2134 3541154
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191154Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8258
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 1362
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-3/J-5// PRIORITY
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU PRIORITY
UNCLAS ANKARA 002134
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: MARR PREL PARM IZ TU
SUBJECT: INCIRLIK CARGO HUB: GOT MOVING TOWARD EXTENDING
AGREEMENT, NOT THERE YET
REF: A. ANKARA 2114
B. BAGHDAD 3891
C. STATE 126696
(SBU) The Government of Turkey fully supports extension of
the Incirlik Cargo Hub agreement and is working through its
internal bureaucratic processes in order to issue a Council
of Ministers decree as soon as possible. The Foreign
Minister's request for the decree to be issued was delivered
to the Prime Minister's office on December 16, one day after
receiving the Government of Iraq's note supporting the USG
request. On December 19, DCM contacted MFA Deputy
Undersecretary Haider Berk and Ambassador Ali Yakital, Senior
Diplomatic Adviser to the Prime Minister, to underscore the
urgency of this issue and to explain that prudent logistics
planning would require re-positioning of aircraft well in
advance of the December 31 expiry of the existing agreement.
Both men acknowledged the high priority of the agreement and
expressed confidence that the decree to extend the validity
of the agreement would be issued before it would be necessary
to re-position aircraft. They also pledged to intervene
again to ensure passage of the decree if it is not issued
before December 22.
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey
Jeffrey