MINISTER DECLARES MISSIONARIES "SEPARATIST AND DESTRUCTIVE"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001935 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/04/2015 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE SUBJECT: MINISTER DECLARES MISSIONARIES "SEPARATIST AND DESTRUCTIVE" REF: A. ANKARA 1511 ¶B. ANKARA 814 Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b and d. ¶1. (C) Summary: State Minister Aydin, who oversees the GOT's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet),released a statement labeling missionary activities in Turkey "separatist and destructive" and implying that missionaries are part of an organized effort by foreign governments to create divisions in the country. A Protestant pastor told us threats against Christians are on the rise, and missionaries have decided to halt activities until tensions subside. Two MPs from the ruling AK Party (AKP),both former Diyanet presidents, told us they believe some of the language in Aydin's statement and in a recent, nationwide anti-missionary sermon was inappropriate, and said they would raise their concerns with Aydin and others. End Summary. -------------- Minister Calls Missionaries "Destructive" -------------- ¶2. (U) State Minister Aydin issued a four-page written response to a question from an AK MP about the "threat" of missionaries in Turkey. In the paper, publicly released March 27, Aydin asserts that missionary activity in Turkey is "separatist and destructive" and implies that missionaries are part of an organized effort by foreign governments to create divisions in the country. He claims that missionaries are concealing their true motives by operating under cover as doctors, teachers and other professionals. Aydin advises Turkish citizens to report missionary activity to authorities. ¶3. (U) Excerpts from Aydin's paper include: -- "History as well as contemporary developments have demonstrated that missionary activities are not an innocent act of communicating one's religion or exercising religious freedom, but a highly planned movement with political motives." -- "The Diyanet believes that missionary activities aim to distort historic, religious, national and cultural unity by leading to changes in the religious belief that lies at the heart of the most fundamental values of our society, whereas our people have cohabited peacefully in Anatolian territories for centuries by upholding these same values. We also deem it to be a violation of the most intimate freedom, the freedom of religion." -- "Today, rather than Christian priests, missionary activities are conducted by doctors, nurses, engineers, Red Cross workers, human rights defenders, volunteers for peace, language teachers, computer instructors, sports organizers, etc." -- "Concealing their true objectives and aiming at weaknesses among our citizens, some foreigners coming to Turkey with tourist visas conduct missionary propaganda." -- "The Diyanet considers these activities as separatist and destructive since they may create a basis for a spiritual and cultural gap and distort our religious/national integrity in the long run, and considers it necessary that our citizens notify the Diyanet and all relevant government institutions about such activities." ¶4. (U) Aydin states that the Diyanet has established a "Missionary Monitoring Committee" to follow missionary activity in Turkey and has developed an "action plan against missionary activities." He also notes that the Diyanet will hold a symposium titled "Missionary Activities in the Turkish World" April 15-17 at March 18 University in Canakkale. He further reports that missionaries have converted a total of 368 Turks, according to information compiled by the Diyanet. ¶5. (U) Interior Minister Aksu also issued a paper on missionaries, in which he assures Parliament that "missionary activities in Turkey are followed up by judicial authorities." -------------- Pastor: Threats Against Protestants on Rise -------------- ¶6. (C) Ihsan Ozbek, pastor of the Kurtulus Church in Ankara and general secretary of the Alliance of Turkish Protestant Churches, told us the statements by Aydin and Aksu are the latest in a series of developments in recent months that have increased the pressure on Turkey's tiny Protestant community of approximately 3,000. As reported reftels, bible distribution by Protestants last Christmas sparked anti-Christian media coverage, and the Diyanet issued an anti-missionary sermon delivered in mosques across the country March 11. ¶7. (C) Ozbek believes the anti-missionary statements reflect a new GOT method of opposing Christianity. In the past, he said, police would often detain and beat Protestants performing missionary work. Protestants in those days were "like shadows," never mentioned in the media. Today, by contrast, nationalists and Islamists have free rein to bash Christians in the press. It is now political and religious extremists, rather than police, who carry out the harassment and intimidation, which the authorities rarely prosecute. Government leaders, meanwhile, make statements effectively pouring gas, not water, on the fire. "The March 11 sermon and the statement by Aydin hurt us a lot," he said. "They want to appeal to nationalistic elements." ¶8. (C) Ozbek said threats against Protestants have been on the rise since December, reaching a peak in February. Turks opposed to Christianity have made telephone calls and sent email messages threatening to kill Protestant church members. They have smashed church windows with rocks in a number of cities. Ankara police have searched Ozbek's church several times recently after receiving bomb threats. Ozbek said missionaries now confront an open hostility from some members of the public, a hostility that was largely absent before. He said Protestants have stopped distributing religious literature and will maintain a low profile for at least a few months, in the hope that the tensions will subside. -------------- - AK MPs: Anti-Missionary Rhetoric "Exaggerated" -------------- - ¶9. (U) We discussed the GOT's anti-missionary campaign in separate meetings with two AK MPs who are former Diyanet presidents -- Tayyar Altikulac and Mustafa Sait Yazicioglu. Both MPs claimed they had seen press coverage of the Aydin statement and the March 11 sermon (sermon text reported reftel A),but had not seen the actual texts. Altikulac defended the right of the Diyanet to promote Islam and advise Muslims not to be persuaded by missionaries, as long as it avoids provoking conflict, defining missionaries as a "threat," or accusing missionaries of having "political motives" without evidence. We replied that, in our view, the March 11 sermon and Aydin statement had violated those principles. ¶10. (C) Altikulac had the Diyanet fax him a copy of the sermon. After a first reading, he told us he saw no problem with the text. But he read it again after we pointed out the sermon's indirect reference to the Crusades and the implication that missionaries in Turkey are working on behalf of foreign governments. His tone suddenly changed. "The first time, I read it as a Turkish Muslim and saw no problem," he said. "But the second time, I realized how it looks from an outsider's perspective. I didn't like it." Altikulac said the Diyanet should not make reference to the Crusades in discussing religious issues today -- Turkey needs to look to the future, not the past. ¶11. (C) We had a similar meeting with Yazicioglu, who also defended Aydin and the Diyanet, only to change course after we showed him texts of the sermon and statement. Before reading Aydin's statement he told us, "I have known (Aydin) for 30 years; I doubt I will disagree with anything he says." But he later acknowledged that Aydin "exaggerated" when he labeled missionaries a threat to "national unity." ¶12. (C) Both MPs claimed they would discuss the matter with Aydin and Diyanet President Bardakoglu, warning them to be more careful in their statements on Christianity. They both averred that Aydin and Bardakoglu probably approved the documents without reading them (Note: This is highly unlikely, in part because the Diyanet worked on the March 11 sermon for several weeks before issuing it. End Note). They insisted the sermon and statement do not accurately reflect the views of the AKP leadership, which they asserted is committed to religious tolerance. Yazicioglu argued that the anti-missionary statements stem from an unfortunate mixing of religion and politics. He said many pious Turks fear that the country's EU drive will erode the influence of Islam in Turkey, and elements of the GOT feel the need to address those concerns. The issue is highly sensitive, but in the long run the GOT will conform to EU standards regarding religious freedom, he said. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶13. (C) Missionaries in Turkey draw the combined ire of Islamists and nationalists; the former view them as a threat to Islam, the latter as a threat to national unity. Most missionaries are Protestants, who are few in number and lacking in influence, and there are no domestic elements willing to take up their cause. The GOT's anti-missionary campaign places Turkey in direct conflict with Western concepts of religious freedom. The GOT, representing a country that is officially 99 percent Muslim, is declaring religious diversity a security threat at a time when it is supposed to be striving to join an EU committed to the principle of religious freedom. ¶14. (C) Altikulac and Yazicioglu appeared, on reflection, to understand our concerns about the anti-missionary rhetoric. However, we are not certain they will follow through on their commitments to raise the issue with key officials, or how they might do so. The efforts of the Diyanet, an arm of the Turkish State, to promote (Sunni) Islam as the only true religion and defend it against other religions appears to go far beyond the practice of other European countries with state religions, and contradicts the GOT's avowed commitment to religious tolerance. EDELMAN