Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ANKARA3016
2007-12-19 14:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:  

TURKEY: RULING AKP TACKLES A TABOO -- IMPROVING

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU 
pdf how-to read a cable
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4740
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-3/J-5//
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RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU//TCH//
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEUITH/TLO ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/TSR ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/USDAO ANKARA TU
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 003016 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: RULING AKP TACKLES A TABOO -- IMPROVING
TREATMENT OF ALEVIS

Classified By: Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, reasons 1.4 (b),(d
)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 003016

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: RULING AKP TACKLES A TABOO -- IMPROVING
TREATMENT OF ALEVIS

Classified By: Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, reasons 1.4 (b),(d
)

1.(C) Summary: The ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) plans to launch a campaign of Alevi outreach on January
11, when PM Erdogan hosts 500 Alevis at an Iftar dinner on
the occasion of Muharrem the Alevi month of mourning.
Following the dinner, AKP MP Reha Camuroglu, an Alevi, plans
to form a government commission to discuss with Alevis
proposals for expanding Alevi rights. Camuroglu faces an
uphill battle. He must convince AKP leadership and Turkey's
Sunni bureaucratic establishment of the benefits of granting
rights to Alevis. He must also gain the trust of a highly
secular Alevi community still deeply skeptical AKP's
religious roots. A sincere attempt to deal with this
previously taboo topic would be truly groundbreaking. It
remains to be seen whether PM Erdogan will muster the
necessary support to push forward the controversial plan.
End summary.

--------------
AKP to Launch Alevi Reforms
--------------


2. (SBU) Turkey's estimated 15 to 20 million Alevis have
several long-standing disputes with the GOT, not least of
which are assessments of the community's size, which the GOT
asserts is seven million. Far from a cohesive group, Alevis
hold diverse opinions concerning religious identity. The
government considers Alevism to be a heterodox Muslim sect.
Most Alevis, however, view their faith as distinct from Sunni
or Shia Islam. Their most pressing demands are equal
treatment in public school religion courses and in the
allocation of government resources for the construction and
administration of Alevi gathering places (cem evi).


3. (C) The ruling AKP on January 11 will launch its
multi-pronged approach to improve the situation of Turkey's
Alevis, according to AKP Istanbul deputy Reha Camuroglu, an
Alevi who is spearheading the initiative. PM Erdogan would
host 500 Alevis and 500 AKP members at an Ankara Iftar dinner
on the occasion of the month of Muharrem on the Islamic
calendar, during which Alevis mourn "martyrs who fell in

Karbala." The AKP would then form a government commission to
meet with all Alevi groups to discuss AKP's proposals to:

--establish a new institution to finance and oversee the
construction of cem evis (Alevi places of worship),and
payment of Dedes (Alevi religious leaders);

--construct at least one Alevi school to train Dedes;

--reform high school curriculum on religious education to
include more accurate information on Alevis' beliefs; and

--air programs that showcase Alevi culture and history on
state television and radio.

The dialogue would help AKP develop "historic" legislation
that Camuroglu hopes parliament will pass over the next
several years.


4. (C) Camuroglu recognizes he is fighting an uphill battle.
He told us he must convince a state bureaucracy resistant to
reforms, as well as skeptical Alevi NGOs. AKP Minister of
State for Religious Affairs Mehmet Aydin had expressed
support behind closed doors but has been reluctant to speak
out publicly. Evidencing the bureaucracy's "deep-seated fear
of change," Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) President
Ali Bardakoglu warned Camuroglu not to stray out of his lane
as a politician, and maintained that the Diyanet would never
accept cem evis as prayer houses. Pressure also came from
Alevi NGOs that believe AKP has a hidden religious agenda and
is merely seeking additional votes. Camuroglu believes that,
to the contrary, PM Erdogan is resolved to pursue these
projects not to capture new votes but to achieve a truly
democratic country.

--------------
Alevi Groups Skeptical of AKP Plans
--------------

ANKARA 00003016 002 OF 003




5. (C) Husein Gazi Association official Ali Yildirim told us
he is skeptical that AKP will sufficiently address Alevi
complaints. He sees no evidence the project has wide support
among AKP leadership. Deputy PM Cicek the previous week
publicly had denied there was any such project on Alevis.
Yildirim also noted that PM Erdogan's Iftar was culturally
insensitive because Alevis do not celebrate during the month
of mourning. Most Alevi organizations would boycott. Other
examples of insensitivity were the government's continuing
practice of turning cem houses into mosques and refusal to
appoint any Alevi as a Governor, police official, Minister or
Deputy Minister.


6. (C) Pir Sultan Abdal Alevi Association's President Kazim
Genc told us AKP's plan is too limited in scope. A true
solution requires that the government abolish the Diyanet, a
discriminatory institution staffed solely by Sunnis and which
promotes only Sunni views. The state also should put a stop
to imposing Sunni religious lessons in schools, and rewrite
laws so that all faiths are treated equally and allowed to
practice freely.


7. (C) Prior to the public release of Camuroglu's proposal,
Alevi Cem Foundation Chairman Izettin Dogan told us AKP's
plans for Alevi outreach "was only for show." It was a
positive step that the Education Ministry had added 10 pages
of instruction on Alevism in year 12 -- the final year -- of
the religious course curriculum, in response to a European
Court of Human Rights ruling in favor of an Alevi parent who
had argued his child should be exempt from mandatory
religious courses that he claimed had a Sunni bias. But the
government had again shown its insensitivity to Alevis by
failing to consult them in the development of the course
materials.

--------------
Erdogan Showing Courage
--------------


8. (C) Camuroglu called the criticisms of PM Erdogan's plans
to host an Iftar disingenuous. The Alevi groups who accused
Erdogan of ignoring that Muharrem is a religious month of
mourning were in reality ultrasecularists who generally shun
all things religious. These groups had failed to put forth
proposals of their own. In the near term, the government
should continue the existence of the Diyanet while developing
a separate institution to empower Alevis, he argued.


9. (C) Middle East Technical University (METU) Anthropology
Professor Aykan Erdemir, an expert on Alevi culture, believes
PM Erdogan has shown courage by bringing to the agenda the
previously taboo topic of Alevi reconciliation. Erdogan
would face challenges both from within his own Sunni
community and an array of Alevi organizations. Success will
require the greatest of delicacy, and missteps could increase
animosity. Erdemir believes it will be critical to allow
Alevis control over their own teaching and institutions so as
to not give the impression that Sunnis are imposing their
views on Alevis.


10. (C) Comment: AKP's proposals are groundbreaking. They
address head-on the previously taboo topic of the treatment
of Alevis and seek to address Alevis' main demands: an
education free of religious rhetoric, the right to worship
freely in cem houses, and a secular system not biased toward
Sunni Islam. They would also implicitly address the need for
religious tolerance. These steps would follow up on PM
Erdogan's outreach to Alevis during the 2007 parliamentary
election campaign when he persuaded Camuroglu to run (and
gave him a guaranteed spot on AKP's Istanbul lists) and paid
visits to several cem houses -- a first for a politician. It
remains to be seen whether Erdogan can muster the political
will to convince skeptical bureaucrats and his AKP of the
benefits of Camuroglu's proposals. Doing so would be the
first step in breaking the ice with a fiercely secular
segment of the population -- generally inclined toward the
opposition Republican People's Party -- that remains
suspicious of the Sunni-dominated Turkish establishment and
the governing AKP. End comment.


ANKARA 00003016 003 OF 003


Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/

WILSON