DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE DIALOGUE COMES TO LIFE IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISTANBUL 001080

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KDEM PREL TU XD XF XI
SUBJECT: DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE DIALOGUE COMES TO LIFE IN
ISTANBUL, LIVES UP TO ITS NAME

REF: A. ANKARA 0789

B. ANKARA 2191


1. (U) Summary: A June 20-21 Istanbul symposium within
the framework of the Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD)
focused on "Empowering Women in Public Life and Democratic
Development in the BMENA Region." At this first
issue-focused DAD activity, nearly 100 NGO and government
representatives exchanged experiences and agreed on the
need for increased research about regional women's issues,
the importance of quotas in increasing women's political
participation, and the key roles education and economic
empowerment play in fostering women's participation in
public life. Participants agreed no religion justifies
women holding a lower place in society, but religion is
often manipulated to this effect. Event organizers plan to
bring the group together again for an event that will
result in an action platform for governments to consider.
End summary.


2. (U) The June 20-21 symposium was jointly organized by
the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV),
a leading Turkish think-tank, and Turkey's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (MFA). The conference agenda focused on
three areas: women's participation in political processes
and public life, violence and its effect on women, and
socio-economic issues.


3. (U) Held in Istanbul, the symposium brought together
nearly 100 NGO and government representatives from
countries including Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt,
Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, West Bank/Gaza, and
Yemen. Also present in their capacity as DAD co-sponsors
were representatives of the Turkish, Italian and Yemeni
governments and DAD partner NGOs, No Peace Without Justice
(Italy) and the Human Rights Information and Training
Center (Yemen). NEA DAS Scott Carpenter, two NEA staff
members, and a National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
representative also attended. Media coverage of the event
was positive and straightforward.

Foreign Minister Gul: Reforms Needed
--------------


4. (U) In his opening address, Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul noted this was the first issue-focused meeting
of the Democracy Assistance Dialogue. He underlined
Turkey's co-sponsorship of the DAD, and stressed that the
initiative reflects the aspirations of people in the
region. Gul declared the Middle East is steadily falling
behind the rest of the world, and political and economic
reforms are needed to turn that around.

Great Minds Think Alike...Most of the time
--------------


5. (U) There was consensus around many issues at the
conference, and agreement that, to a large extent, problems
are the same everywhere. Empowerment through legal changes
and quotas to increase women's participation in parliament
and local government, for example, with few exceptions,
were endorsed as vital to women being able to achieve
increased political power. All agreed on the need for
increased research and study into women's issues.
Education and economic empowerment were also stressed as
key to increasing women's participation in public life.
Participants stressed that financing is needed for
activities promoting political participation. All agreed
that no religion justifies women holding a lower place in
society, but that religion is often manipulated to this
effect.


6. (U) Despite agreement on the last point, it was clear
over the two days that questions of religion affect and are
interpreted differently by women in each country. One
Turkish participant noted, "On several occasions we have
made ourselves 'the other'...some of us say we are
feminists, some of us claim we're not; some think our
bodies belong to us, some don't believe that." On one
panel featuring two Turkish women, one of them wearing a
headscarf and the other uncovered, the women agreed that
their partnership "must become healthier." The uncovered
participant complained that covered women had chosen not to
demonstrate in front of Parliament during the women's
movement's lobbying campaign on Turkey's new civil code,
which allowed Prime Minister Erdogan to call the
demonstrators "marginal." The covered participant claimed
that sometimes she felt under pressure from "feminists" and
that tolerance was among the most important democratic
values.

Sharing Stories: Political Participation
--------------

7. (U) Participants related a wide variety of experiences:

-- Rola Dashti, Kuwaiti Defender of Voting Rights and the
first chairperson of the Kuwaiti Economic Society spoke
about the May 16 decision to allow participation of Kuwaiti
women in politics beginning with 2007 elections. (Note:
Her presentation coincided with the oath of office of
Kuwait's first female Cabinet minister in Kuwait City. End
note.) Dashti herself plans to run in the 2007 elections.
Those who oppose her, she said, attempt to label her as
anti-religious, anti-patriotic, and harmful to family
values. She expressed dismay that she is called these
things when fighting for her nation's increased
prosperity.

-- Amal Basha of the Sister Arab Forum of Yemen noted that
there is only one woman MP among 300 men in the Yemeni
parliament. She spoke of a culture of fear in Yemen, and
encouraged more dialogue between women.

-- Pakistani attendees said they felt years ahead as they
heard stories of others. Shahida Jamil, former Pakistani
Minister of Justice, commented from the audience on the
participation of women in the Pakistani Parliament, where
there are general seats open to all and reserved seats
based on proportional representation. There were 25
reserved seats for women, but those had lapsed over 10
years, before reserved spots for women were recently
reinstated. By law, one-third of the Pakistani local
council members should be women; in 2001, 38,000 Pakistani
women were elected at the local council level. Three
hundred women are in the legislature at the federal and
provincial level.

-- A Saudi academic related incremental progress. She
stated that since the U.S. had entered Iraq, there had been
positive changes, including institutional reforms, less
acceptance of radicalism, limited increased avenues for
participation, increased visibility of certain issues in
state media, and the presence of international media
interested in women's issues. She related how Saudi women
had asked for the right to actively participate in the
country's recent local elections. She stated that Saudi
Arabia's election commission "had a hard time with us."
Media and public pressure forced it to come out and say
publicly that women could not participate, according to
this academic, not because it was forbidden by law, but
because there was "not enough time to arrange things,
including segregation." This procedural argument, she
said, was easier to contest than legal or religious
objections. Speaking more generally, she explained that
NGOs as we know them do not exist in Saudi Arabia. In 2000
Saudi Arabia signed the CEDAW, she added, but not one
article had been implemented to date. "International
agreements are of no use to us," she said, asserting that
the U.N. had not demanded reports on the condition of women
in Saudi Arabia.

Sharing Stories: Violence and Socio-Economic Issues
-------------- --------------


8. (U) In the panel addressing violence, Fatma Khafagy,
Ombudsman for Violence against Women in Cairo, said
one-third of Egyptian women are affected by violence and
that a strategy must be developed to prevent this. Nebahat
Akkoc of Turkish NGO KAMER described the foundation of the
organization in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir and
outlined KAMER's main goals: a job for every woman and
effective assistance to women about how to resist
violence. KAMER is especially active in fighting so-called
"honor killings" in southeast Turkey, and is one of the few
independent civil society groups in that region.


9. (U) A representative of the Revolutionary Association
of the Women in Afghanistan claimed life has not changed
for many Afghan women since the fall of the Taliban, with
violence against women continuing. The following day,
however, another Afghan participant acknowledged that while
things are not perfect, many things have changed for the
better. "Four years ago I wouldn't have attended this
conference as I would have been scared to death," she
said. A lively discussion followed the panel on violence,
featuring a question about the relation of democracy to
domestic violence, with a participant doubting there was
less domestic violence in democratic countries. Several
women also mentioned female circumcision in their remarks,
pointing out that men are not the only perpetrators of
violence against women.


10. (U) On the socio-economic panel, a Yemeni NGO leader
described how her organization has contributed to girls'
education in a country where 67 percent of women are
illiterate. An Afghan NGO leader, who also focuses on
education, pointed out that five years ago, less than 4000
girls were studying in Afghanistan, and that was only
happening in underground schools. Today, she said, 5
million girls were in school there and 3.2 million women
voted. She stressed the importance of bringing social
change while respecting local traditions, cultures and
religion. A Pakistani participant stressed the need to
bring the private sector into the DAD format, as the
private sector is often helpful in breaking divides and
what she called the "politics of polarization." She
prioritized the need for personal financial empowerment.


11. (U) Rajaa Khuzai of the National Council for Women in
Iraq proclaimed that freedom of speech had come to her
country, and thus she had no fear to speak to such a
symposium. She highlighted the need to help the large
number of widows that had been created by the wars in which
Iraq was involved over the past 25 years. She spoke of
solidarity among women across the country, illustrating the
point with the story of a Basrah request for a shelter spot
that was met by "sisters in Iraqi Kurdistan" when a place
was not available in Baghdad. She highlighted the need for
expanded networks and support systems for activists to
share experience. She also highly praised the 25% quota
that had been instituted to promote women's participation
in the Iraqi assembly, which led to women comprising 31% of
its seats.

Emma Bonino: Our Issues Are Not Marginal
--------------


12. (U) In her closing remarks, European MP Emma Bonino
stressed how she benefited from friends in the north
decades ago when she was struggling for increased women's
rights in Italy on issues like custody and divorce. Having
an international network of supporters lends one confidence
and legitimacy, she said, especially when public opinion
considers certain women's issues marginal compared to
concerns such as poverty and the need for stability. Time
has proven that these issues are not marginal, she said.
She stressed that while service-based social NGOs are
necessary and important, from time to time "you have to go
out and vote." Thus she asserted that the DAD should stay
focused on political participation and participation in
public life. And once women achieve roles in politics and
parliament, they must be trained to use their power. She
encouraged participants to reach out to one another after
the conference, and to do things "with and for" each other.


Regional, Not U.S. Imprint
--------------


13. (U) Comment: Per reftel B, some in Turkish civil
society planning the conference had initially questioned
holding the symposium under the auspices of the DAD, but
those doubts were overcome after NGOs learned more of
Turkey's role in the DAD. Indeed, outside of three
comments on the first day suggesting that the United States
must continue to hold to the values it is promoting in the
region, there was very little mention at all during the
symposium of the U.S., its role in promoting the BMENAI, or
its experience with women's political participation.
(Note: Bonino did acknowledge the financial support for
the conference by the U.S. and the U.K. End note.) The
Turkish media at the conference focused almost exclusively
on the individual women participants and their stories,
resulting in interviews in print and on television of
Kuwaiti Rola Dashti, Afghan activist Sahar Saba, and
others.


14. (U) Comment, cont'd: Participants were unanimous in
their praise for the spirit of the event and the benefits
derived from bringing together this network of accomplished
leaders in the region. Due to the size of the event and
the sheer volume of information that each participant had
to share, however, some stressed that the conference was
too short, and/or that a format with more and smaller
working groups and fewer panels would have been more
productive. Nevertheless, participants appreciated the
quality and sophistication of their peers. Organizers plan
to build on this start by bringing the same group together
again in a future activity that will result in an action
platform for governments to consider.

ARNETT