Cablegate: Blue Lantern: Verifying Bona Fides of Registered

VZCZCXYZ0013
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIT #0453 3441312
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101312Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9380
INFO RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000453

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

PM/DTCC - BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETTC KOMC TU
SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN: VERIFYING BONA FIDES OF REGISTERED
BROKER ONDER HAVUZLU - CASE NO K-1872

REF: SECSTATE 99612

1. (SBU) Summary: In response to reftel, Consulate
economic officers visited the offices of PROFEN Muhendislik
(Engineering) Sanayi Ticaret on December 2, 2009 and met with
Managing Director Onder Havuzlu, Sales Director Sadettin
Avcilar and Sales Director Ilgar Alibeyli. The purpose of
this visit was to establish the bona fides of the company and
its managing director, Onder Havuzlu, and to review reftel
questions. Company representatives were cooperative in
responding to our questions and, based on the site visit and
the information provided by company representatives, we
believe PROFEN is a legitimate company engaged in the
brokering of defense articles and services. End summary.

2. (SBU) PROFEN Engineering, founded in 1995, is in the
business of brokering defense articles and defense services
at the Istanbul address cited in reftel. PROFEN's officers
stated that satellite communications equipment, wireless and
point-to-point products account for 50-60% of its sales
revenue (USD 12-13 million in 2008); project design,
maintenance and installation account for the rest of its
revenue. PROFEN has two floors in FAMAS PLAZA in the Sisli
district of Istanbul, and other offices in Istanbul and
Tuzla; Havuzlu added that they also have an office in
Azerbaijan. PROFEN has two other operating divisions:
PROFEN Communications and PROFEN ICT (Information and
Commercial Technology). The company has 50-60 employees.
FOX-TV is PROFEN's largest domestic commercial customer.
PROFEN's principal shareholders are: Onder Havuzlu (managing
director), Sadettin Avcilar (sales director), Ilgar Alibeyli
(sales director), Murat Surucu and Nuri Hacigucuoglu.

3. (SBU) PROFEN officers stated that the company does not
deal in USML (U.S. Military List) items, and is not
registered with PM/DTCC (Office of Defense Trade Controls
Compliance). It does have a recently expired local broker
registration number (K-1872, Expiration Date 10/31/2009).
Though PROFEN does not have specific authorization from
Turkey's Ministry of National Defense, it does receive
technical inspection by Information and Communication
Technologies Authority, which was established by Turkish law
in January 2000. Havuzlu offered that for almost all of
their items (military or commercial) the company uses an end
user application form in which it specifies the customers who
will eventually use the item. Some items can be dual-use
(antennae, certain electronic products); if the end user is
military, PROFEN applies for an export license and uses a
Department of Defense broker number. General Dynamics is a
major U.S. business partner of PROFEN (PROFEN works with GD
Satellite Technologies, under GD C4 Systems) and in the past
has applied for an export license to sell goods to PROFEN.
Many of PROFEN's clients are subcontractors, or other
organizations that do business with the military. Among
these are SAVRONIK, TUBITAK, ASERSEN, STFA,VESTAL, GATE AND
TAI.

4. (SBU) Consulate officers found nothing in the public
record to indicate criminal activity on the part of PROFEN,
nor any derogatory information about its officers. PROFEN
does not broker or export items to Iran, North Korea or Cuba.
It does nonmilitary business with Iraq, Libya, Syria and
Sudan. PROFEN officers declared that the company does not
store or handle USML items, only commercial items like
antennae.

WIENER

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