Cablegate: Turkey Committed to Sending Police to Haiti,

Barbara J Miles 02/12/2010 01:01:40 PM From DB/Inbox: Barbara J Miles

Cable
Text:

UNCLAS ANKARA 00233
CX:
ACTION: AMB
INFO: POL PMA DCM

DISSEMINATION: AMB /1
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: PMA:AGODFREY
DRAFTED: PMA:RLEE
CLEARED: NONE

VZCZCAYI375
PP RUEHC RUEHZG RUEHPU RUCNDT
DE RUEHAK #0233 0421603
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111603Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2102
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE PRIORITY 0001
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 4311

UNCLAS ANKARA 000233

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV HA SOCI MCAP MARR SNAR ASEC EFIN
KJUS, KPKO, XL
SUBJECT: TURKEY COMMITTED TO SENDING POLICE TO HAITI,
TIMING REMAINS UNCLEAR

REF: SECSTATE 12558

1. (U) MFA UN Affairs Department Head Turhan Dilmac told us
that Turkey's offer to send a formed police unit to Haiti
(ref a) is formal and said Turkey's UN Mission has
instructions to convey this to UNDPKO. Dilmac noted that the
mission is a challenging one, but underscored Turkey's firm
commitment to send a unit of between 120 to 150 police
personnel to Haiti. He said two specialists from the Turkish
National Police (TNP) are planning to head to Haiti in the
near term to determine the area where the Turkish unit will
be deployed -- in consultation with the UN -- and to conduct
a survey of that area. He said Turkey's UN Mission will
coordinate with the UN on the travel of the specialists to
Haiti. The specialists' mission is to make a security
assessment of the area and provide recommendations on the
equipment and capabilities the Turkish unit would need for
the mission. Dilmac stressed that the length of deployment
has not be decided and can only be determined following the
experts' assessment. He also mentioned that there may be an
agreement needed between the Government of Turkey and UNDPKO
in order to finalize arrangements for the FPU's deployment,
and said Turkey's UN Mission is working with UNDPKO on this
agreement.

2. (U) Dilmac said it would be premature to speculate on when
the Turkish FPU may be able to deploy or its equipment needs
at this point; the GoT will have to wait for its experts'
assessment before making these decisions. He also said
issues related to transportation logistics for the unit's
deployment has not been specifically discussed yet. Dilmac
did not indicate any requests at this point for assistance
with the unit's deployment.

COMMENT
-------

3. (U) Turkey delivered humanitarian aid in the immediate
aftermath of the earthquake using five Turkish Air Force
C-130s. Although the MFA did not state this, we expect
Turkey will be able to employ its C-130s to transport the
police unit to Haiti.
Jeffrey

"Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s
gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"

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