Wikileaks unveils largest US diplomatic cables, Turkey makes up second
biggest share
29 November 2010, Monday / TODAY’S ZAMAN, Ä°STANBUL
Hundreds of thousands of State Department documents leaked Sunday
revealed a hidden world of backstage international diplomacy,
divulging candid comments from world leaders and detailing occasional
US pressure tactics aimed at hot spots in Afghanistan, Iran and North
Korea.
The classified diplomatic cables released by online whistle-blower
WikiLeaks and reported on by news organizations in the United States
and Europe provided often unflattering assessments of foreign leaders,
ranging from US allies such as Germany and Italy to other nations like
Turkey, Libya, Iran and Afghanistan.
German Der Spiegel reported on Sunday that the leaked diplomatic
cables reveal that US diplomats are skeptical about Turkey’s
dependability as a partner. The leadership in Ankara is depicted as
divided and permeated by Islamists, the report said.
According to Der Spiegel, US diplomats have grave doubts about
Turkey’s dependability. Secret or confidential cables from the US
Embassy in Ankara describe Islamist tendencies in the government of
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an.
The US diplomats’ verdict on the NATO partner with the second biggest
army in the alliance is devastating. The Turkish leadership is
depicted as divided, and ErdoÄ?an’s advisers, as well as Foreign
Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu, are portrayed as having little understanding
of politics beyond Ankara.
The Americans are also worried about DavutoÄ?lu’s alleged neo-Ottoman
visions. A high-ranking government adviser warned in discussions,
quoted by the US diplomats, that DavutoÄ?lu would use his Islamist
influence on ErdoÄ?an, describing him as “exceptionally dangerous.”
According to the US document, another adviser to the ruling AK Party
remarked, probably ironically, that Turkey wanted “to take back
Andalusia and avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683.”
The US diplomats write that many leading figures in the AK Party were
members of a Muslim fraternity and that ErdoÄ?an had appointed Islamist
bankers to influential positions. He gets his information almost
exclusively from newspapers with close links to Islamists, they
reported. The prime minister, the cables continue, has surrounded
himself with an “iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors”
and presents himself as the “Tribune of Anatolia.”
US steps up pressure on Turkey over Iran
UK’s The Guardian, in leaked documents published on late Sunday said,
in a tense conversation, a senior US envoy presses Turkish officials
to support US-led action to convince the Iranian government that it is
on the wrong course. The Turks insist their mediation efforts are the
best way forward but are forced to concede that most countries in the
region see Iran as a threat.
According to the daily, the great Iranian-American struggle for
control and influence in the Middle East is far from over ` and may in
fact be hotting up ` and it was made plain again when US
under-secretary William Burns held yet another meeting with the
reluctant Turks in Ankara in February 2010. Burns insists Washington
would prefer a negotiated settlement with Iran. Then, like Gates, he
uses the spectre of an Israeli military attack to dramatise his
arguments and unsettle the Turks.
“Burns strongly urged [Turkish foreign ministry under-secretary
Feridun] SinirlioÄ?lu to support action to convince the Iranian
government it is on the wrong course. SinirlioÄ?lu reaffirmed the GoT’s
[government of Turkey] opposition to a nuclear Iran; however, he
registered fear about the collateral impact military action might have
on Turkey and contended sanctions would unite Iranians behind the
regime and harm the opposition.
“Burns acknowledged Turkey’s exposure to the economic effects of
sanctions as a neighbour to Iran, but reminded SinirlioÄ?lu Turkish
interests would suffer if Israel were to act militarily to forestall
Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons or if Egypt and Saudi Arabia
were to seek nuclear arsenals of their own. ‘We’ll keep the door open
to engagement,’ he [Burns] stressed.”
And for once, it appears he has made some headway, the Guardian
interpreted. “A visibly disheartened SinirlioÄ?lu conceded a unified
message is important. He acknowledged the countries of the region
perceive Iran as a growing threat: ‘Alarm bells are ringing even in
Damascus.’ ”
The report also said in Nov. 2009 that DavutoÄ?lu, reportedly told US
envoy Phillip Gordon that Iran cannot be bullied into compliance with
western demands.
According to The Guardian, when Gordon says Ankara should send a stern
public message to Tehran about the consequences of ignoring UN
resolutions, DavutoÄ?lu replies that [Turkish prime minister Recep
Tayyip] ErdoÄ?an made just such a statement during a recent visit to
Tehran. “Only Turkey can speak bluntly and critically to the Iranians,
DavutoÄ?lu contended, but only because Ankara is showing public
messages of friendship.”
The exchange continues: “Noting that DavutoÄ?lu had only addressed the
negative consequences of sanctions or the use of military force,
Gordon pressed DavutoÄ?lu on Ankara’s assessment of the consequences if
Iran gets a nuclear weapon. DavutoÄ?lu gave a spirited reply, that ‘of
course’ Turkey was aware of this risk. ‘This is precisely why Turkey
is working so hard with the Iranians.’ ”
French and Americans exchange views on Turkey
During Assistant Secretary Gordon’s visit to Paris on September 11, he
met with a number of French policy-makers including Elysee Diplomatic
Advisors Jean-David Levitte, Damien Loras, and Francois Richier,
Assistant Secretary equivalent for Continental Europe Roland
Galharague, and Acting Director of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Strategic Affairs bureau Jean-Hugues Simon-Michel to discuss Turkey’s
EU accesion, among other important topics.
According to the leaked documents, unveiled by the Guardian, Levitte
informed Gordon that there had been no change in the French position
advocating a “privileged partnership” between the European Union and
Turkey, in lieu of EU membership. However, he emphasized that France
was not preventing accession negotiations from progressing on all the
EU chapters that do not pre-suppose membership. There remain plenty of
chapters of the acquis to open, so if progress is not being made, the
fault lies with Turkish intransigence on Greek Cyprus. Unfortunately,
Ankara is not completing the required necessary reforms and progress
has stalled. Levitte anticipated a negative report this fall on
Turkey’s failure to fulfill the Ankara Protocol. Gordon said that
Turkey was caught in a vicious cycle and it is not completing
necessary reforms because the Turks do not believe that their EU
candidacy will be allowed to progress, and at the same time, their
negotiations are not progressing because they aren’t completing the
required reforms. He noted that in the latest German Marshall Fund
polls in Turkey, fewer that 30% of the Turkish public believes they
will succeed in getting EU membership.
Levitte agreed, according to the leaked information, but noted that
Paris hopes that it will be the Turks themselves who realize that
their role is best played as a bridge between the two worlds of Europe
and Asia, rather than anchored in Europe itself. He stated that Turkey
is in a difficult position as it wants to enter the EU but has refused
to accept one of the other EU member states. Levitte predicted that a
worse case scenario would be if Turkey finally manages to complete the
acquis and end negotiations and a public referendum is held in France
which is finally opposed to their membership. Despite all of these
problems, Levitte claimed that President Sarkozy is a friend of Turkey
and has visited the country at least 10 times in his life.
Elderly American’s escape from Iran to Turkey
In a series of leaked documents, The Guardian also chronicled the
story of elderly American’s escape from Iran to Turkey. The story
goes: When Hossein Ghanbarzadeh Vahedi, a 75-year-old American of
Iranian descent, decided to visit relatives in Tehran in May 2008, he
took a flight from Los Angeles in the normal way. When he returned
home, his means of transport was somewhat less orthodox.
After seven months in which he was prevented from leaving Iran, had
his passport confiscated and saw his appeals ignored by the
revolutionary courts, Vahedi took matters into his own hands. In a
daring escape, he mounted a horse, hired two guides, and began a
perilous 14-hour overnight climb across the freezing mountains of
north-western Iran into eastern Turkey. After that he took a bus.
On 9 January 2009, Vahedi turned up at the consular section of the US
embassy in Ankara and asked for assistance. To the evident
astonishment of American diplomats, Vahedi appeared in good health,
but for “a few aches and pains” caused by a fall.
Vahedi’s previously untold ordeal, and its happy conclusion, is
related in a confidential diplomatic cable from the Ankara embassy
seen by the Guardian. In it Vahedi, who left Iran during the 1979
Islamic revolution, tells how his sojourn to his parents’ graves and
ancestral home turned into a nightmare. His passport was confiscated
at Tehran airport as he was about to fly home and the Iranian
authorities repeatedly refused to return it, he said. There appeared
to be two reasons. One was “simple extortion”: it was made clear, he
said, that $150,000 (£92,000) would facilitate his departure.
Second, Vahedi said, Iranian government officials told him that he
should tell his LA-based sons to stop promoting concerts in the Gulf
by Persian pop singers that were considered “anti-regime”. He replied
that his sons were typical “strong, independent” Americans who would
do no such thing.
Of the four commonly used illegal escape routes, he opted for the
mountain trail into Turkey. “At one point during the 14-hour ride, the
escorts had to physically hug him to keep him warm,” the cable
recounted. “As an inexperienced rider, hours into the climb, Vahedi
lost his concentration and fell off the horse, tumbling into the
woods. He told [diplomats] that at this point he really believed he
was going to die by freezing to death on a mountainside.”
Even when he reached the other side of the border, Vahedi’s ordeal was
not over. Turkish officials declared him an illegal immigrant and
ordered his deportation back to Iran. Luckily for him, US embassy
officials had a quiet word with the Turkish foreign ministry ` and he
was allowed to fly home.
Leaked Documents disseminate information about ErdoÄ?an’s aides, cabinet
With the dismissal of Güçlü and these appointments, the leaked
documents claim, ErdoÄ?an has shown more clearly that he intends to
whittle down Gül’s influence. By dismissing AkÅ?it and Ergezen and
appointing Eker, whose family status in Diyarbakır makes him a
powerful rival to Interior Minister Aksu, ErdoÄ?an has also drawn the
noose around Aksu. Aksu has most recently served ErdoÄ?an’s purposes by
dismissing Hanefi Avcı, an leading Gülenist, according to the leaks,
who as National Police (TNP) department head for organized crime was
starting to push corruption investigations that were leading to the
heart of AK Party. However, ErdoÄ?an has long been troubled by Aksu,
whom he suspects of being ready to bolt from AK Party with a number of
disgruntled Member of Parliaments. Aksu’s Kurdish favoritism, reported
ties to the heroin trade, well-known predilection for teenage girls,
and his son’s open Mafia links make him a weak link in the Cabinet,
one ErdoÄ?an knows the core institutions of the Turkish State could
exploit at any time.
In the leaked documents, ErdoÄ?an was described as the glue of AK
Party. The documents classified 60 deputies of AK Party as
southeastern and Kurdish origin. The document claimed AK Party’s
Kurdish deputies are extraordinarily passive on Kurdish issues. The
second highest number of documents are from Turkey after Iraq,
according to the leaked documents.
Education Minister Nimet �ubukçu was described as focused, highly
ambitious in the leaked documents. It says “Ã?ubukçu is focused, highly
ambitious, and months ago made clear to us she sought the state
minister position. She has ensured that she stays close to Erdogan’s
wife Emine, which appears to have been a major factor in her
selection, according to what party deputy chairman Å?aban DiÅ?li told us
June 7.”
According to a broad range of our contacts, ErdoÄ?an reads minimally,
mainly the Islamist-leaning press. According to others with broad and
deep contacts throughout the establishment, ErdoÄ?an refuses to draw on
the analyses of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the military and
National Intelligence Organization have cut him off from their
reports. He never had a realistic world view, but one key touchstone
is a fear of being outmaneuvered on the Islamist side by `Hoca’
Erbakan’s Saadet Party. Instead, he relies on his charisma, instincts,
and the filterings of advisors who pull conspiracy theories off the
Web or are lost in neo-Ottoman Islamist fantasies, e.g., Islamist
foreign policy advisor and Gül ally Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu.
The cables also contained new revelations about long-simmering nuclear
trouble spots, detailing US, Israeli and Arab world fears of Iran’s
growing nuclear program, American concerns about Pakistan’s atomic
arsenal and US discussions about a united Korean peninsula as a
long-term solution to North Korean aggression.
There are also American memos encouraging US diplomats at the United
Nations to collect detailed data about the UN secretary-general, his
team and foreign diplomats — going beyond what is considered the
normal run of information-gathering expected in diplomatic circles.
None of the revelations is particularly explosive, but their
publication could prove problematic for the officials concerned.
The documents published by The New York Times, France’s Le Monde,
Britain’s Guardian newspaper, German magazine Der Spiegel and others
laid out the behind-the-scenes conduct of Washington’s international
relations, shrouded in public by platitudes, smiles and handshakes at
photo sessions among senior officials.
The White House immediately condemned the release of the WikiLeaks
documents, saying `such disclosures put at risk our diplomats,
intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to
the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open
government.’
It also noted that `by its very nature, field reporting to Washington
is candid and often incomplete information. It is not an expression of
policy, nor does it always shape final policy decisions.”
“Nevertheless, these cables could compromise private discussions with
foreign governments and opposition leaders, and when the substance of
private conversations is printed on the front pages of newspapers
across the world, it can deeply impact not only US foreign policy
interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world,” the
White House said.
On its website, The New York Times said “the documents serve an
important public interest, illuminating the goals, successes,
compromises and frustrations of American diplomacy in a way that other
accounts cannot match.”
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed the administration was trying
to cover up alleged evidence of serious “human rights abuse and other
criminal behavior” by the US government.
The WikiLeaks website was not accessible Sunday and the group claimed
it was under a cyberattack.
But extracts of the more than 250,000 cables posted online by news
outlets that had been given advance copies of the documents showed
deep US concerns about Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs along
with fears about regime collapse in Pyongyang.
The Times highlighted documents that indicated the US and South Korea
were “gaming out an eventual collapse of North Korea” and discussing
the prospects for a unified country if the isolated, communist North’s
economic troubles and political transition lead it to implode.
The paper also cited documents showing the US used hardline tactics to
win approval from countries to accept freed detainees from Guantanamo
Bay. It said Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if its president
wanted to meet with President Barack Obama and said the Pacific island
of Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to take in a group of
detainees.
It also cited a cable from the US Embassy in Beijing that included
allegations from a Chinese contact that China’s Politburo directed a
cyber intrusion into Google’s computer systems as part of a
“coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government
operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws.”
Le Monde said another memo asked US diplomats to collect basic contact
information about UN officials that included Internet passwords,
credit card numbers and frequent flyer numbers. They were asked to
obtain fingerprints, ID photos, DNA and iris scans of people of
interest to the United States, Le Monde said.
The Guardian said some cables showed King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
repeatedly urging the United States to attack Iran to destroy its
nuclear program. The newspaper also said officials in Jordan and
Bahrain have openly called for Iran’s nuclear program to be stopped by
any means and that leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates
and Egypt referred to Iran “as ‘evil,’ an ‘existential threat’ and a
power that ‘is going to take us to war,”‘ The Guardian said.
The Times said another batch of documents raised questions about
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his relationship with
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. One cable said Berlusconi
“appears increasingly to be the mouthpiece of Putin” in Europe, the
Times reported.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Sunday called the release
the “Sept. 11 of world diplomacy,” in that everything that had once
been accepted as normal has now changed.
Der Spiegel reported that the cables portrayed German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in unflattering
terms. It said American diplomats saw Merkel as risk-averse and
Westerwelle as largely powerless.
The Obama administration has been bracing for the release for the past
week. Top officials have notified allies that the contents of the
diplomatic cables could prove embarrassing because they contain candid
assessments of foreign leaders and their governments, as well as
details of American policy.
The State Department’s top lawyer warned Assange late Saturday that
lives and military operations would be put at risk if the cables were
released. Legal adviser Harold Koh said WikiLeaks would be breaking
the law if it went ahead. He also rejected a request from Assange to
cooperate in removing sensitive details from the documents.
Assange, in a response released Sunday by his London lawyer, said he
had no intention of halting the release.
The New York Times said the documents involved 250,000 cables — the
daily message traffic between the State Department and more than 270
US diplomatic outposts around the world. The newspaper said that in
its reporting, it attempted to exclude information that would endanger
confidential informants or compromise national security.
The Times said that after its own redactions, it sent Obama
administration officials the cables it planned to post and invited
them to challenge publication of any information they deemed would
harm the national interest. After reviewing the cables, the officials
suggested additional redactions, the Times said. The newspaper said it
agreed to some, but not all.
From: A. Papazian