Cablegate: Turkey Resumes Loading of Jp-8 Bound For

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

080544Z Mar 05

UNCLAS ANKARA 001214

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD IZ PGOV PREL TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY RESUMES LOADING OF JP-8 BOUND FOR
IRAQ/MNF-I, SOMO STILL WAITING

REF: ANKARA 1105

Sensitive But Unclassified.

1. (SBU) Turkish Customs confirmed to Ankara Economic
Section that on Friday, March 4, Turkey ordered that fuel
trucks providing JP-8 for MNF-I resume loading in Turkey,
partially rescinding the GOT's March 1 decision (reftel) that
all fuel trucks making deliveries to Iraq for SOMO and MNF-I
would not be allowed to load their trucks until the large
backlog of trucks waiting to cross the border into Iraq was
reduced. The decision to resume truck loading followed
Ambassador Edelman's meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Ali
Tuygan, in which he raised U.S. concerns that fuel trucks for
MNF-I and SOMO were being singled out and that the stoppage
could affect MNF-I operations in Iraq.

2. (SBU) Officials from Petrol Ofisi, the Turkish contractor
for the MNF-I fuel deliveries, confirmed that they have been
loading trucks with JP-8 since Saturday. However, they noted
that Turkish Customs officials are not allowing them to
reload trucks delivering diesel and Mogas; this includes all
SOMO trucks. We stressed to Customs Acting Under Secretary
Guler that preventing the loading of supplies for MNF-I was
not a solution and that it was imperative to avoid disrupting
supplies for MNF-I. Customs said this was understood.

3. (SBU) We will continue to press for a full resumption of
loadings, but the shift of the backlog of trucks from the
Iraqi to the Turkish side of the border seems to have changed
the dynamics of Turkish concerns.

Baghdad Minimize Considered.
EDELMAN

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