GERMANY'S ISLAM CONFERENCE: WATCHING SAUSAGE BEING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 000955

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2017
TAGS: GM KISL PGOV SOCI
SUBJECT: GERMANY'S ISLAM CONFERENCE: WATCHING SAUSAGE BEING
MADE

REF: A. DUESSELDORF 10

B. BERLIN 796

C. 06 BERLIN 2847

Classified By: Political M/C John Baunman for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) Summary: The second plenary meeting of the Interior
Ministry's Islam Conference took place May 2. The Conference
has yet to deliver much concrete progress on substantive
issues, but can claim the increased public attention to
Muslim integration as a major success. It is also mired in a
debate about who can legitimately represent the diverse
Muslim communities in Germany in negotiations with the German
government about the role of Islam in society. On the core
German government demand that Muslims accept German social
values, there is no consensus among Muslims. Participants,
however, remain committed to the process and expect progress
in the long-run. End summary.

Critics Decry Slow Progress
--------------


2. (U) Apart from consensus agreement that Islamic
instruction should be offered in schools (as is Christian
instruction) and a broad brush agreement that everyone living
in Germany is obliged to respect the constitutional order,
there was scant progress on the important issues that led to
the founding of the Conference in the first place: the
acceptance of German social values, such as equal treatment
of women -- as demonstrated by policies on headscarves and
girls' participation in athletic and other school activities
-- and German language requirements for immigrants.
Participants, particularly those from religious
organizations, tended to be critical of the lack of
substantive progress; Ayyub Axel Koehler of the Central
Council of Muslims said that "this cannot go on this way,
pointlessly debating issues."


3. (C) Ali Aslan (protect),Islam Advisor at the Interior
Ministry and a central organizer of the Conference, admitted
that "no concrete results have been offered so far," but
added that Germany "could not undo 40 years of negligent
immigration policy in seven months." The Conference's most
important successes, according to Aslan, are the growing
public recognition that Muslims are a permanent part of
Germany and the intense debate among the Muslim communities
about their values, roles, and representation in Germany.


4. (C) Comment: Despite problems and the criticism, we see
no real movement by either secular or religious Muslims at
this stage to quit the Conference. Social critic Necla Kelek
told Poloffs that she thinks a focus on concrete achievements
now is a mistake. She claims that the Conference's most
important role now is to reveal the (in her view) insidious
agenda of the religious groups, ensure that debate remains
lively, and thereby energize the majority community and
secular Muslims to confront and confound the religious
conservatives. Our contacts with the religious groups also
recognize that they cannot expect overnight recognition and
that participation in the Conference still holds out the
possibility of real benefits. End comment.

Mired in the Representation Issue
--------------


5. (U) In response to a long-standing German government
desire to negotiate with a single Muslim umbrella
organization, the four largest religious organizations have
formed the Muslim Coordination Council (KRM) (reftels).
Instead of solving the representation problem, the KRM has
been sharply criticized, both by secular Muslims as well as
the German government. Secular Muslims, by and large, do not
believe that the KRM, a conglomeration of more-or-less
conservative religious organizations, represents their views.
Interior Minister Schaeuble argues that while the founding
of the KRM is a step forward, it represents only 10 to 15
percent of Muslims in Germany, and cannot therefore be
considered a legitimate spokesman for all Muslim communities.
The KRM counters that it represents 80 to 85 percent of all
mosques in Germany, and therefore is a legitimate spokesman
for religious or observant Muslims. In exchange for having
fulfilled, in their view, the German government's request to
form an umbrella organization, the KRM expected to have been
conferred the status of official negotiating partner.

Interior Ministry: "It's About Integration, Not Religion"
-------------- --------------


6. (C) The KRM's demands illustrate that it sees the
Conference primarily as being about religion. According to
Aslan, however, the Conference is not about settling

BERLIN 00000955 002 OF 002


theo-cultural issues, but rather about integrating both
religious and secular Muslims into German society. For
precisely this reason, the Interior Ministry does not view
the KRM -- a conservative religious group -- as a legitimate
representative of the majority secular Muslims in Germany,
and therefore, a legitimate negotiating partner on behalf of
all Muslims. When asked why, if the Conference is about
integration and not religion, the Conference could not simply
be rolled up into the Chancellery's similar Integration
Summit process, Aslan replied that the Interior Ministry is
leading the Islam Conference because of special security
concerns regarding Muslims stemming from 9/11 and the autumn
2005 French riots.


7. (C) In addition to having its own legitimacy questioned,
the KRM continued to question the legitimacy of secular
Conference participants of Muslim origin who have been
critical of the religion's stance on women and other
practices. In the view of the KRM, such critics of Islam
have no legitimacy to represent religious views in
negotiations with the government. Note: The Interior
Ministry, since the inception of the Islam Conference, has
made concerted efforts to include secular/cultural Muslims,
and at least one person, Necla Kelek, who is antagonistic
toward the religion. Interior's purpose has been to promote
voices who are much more likely to accept German
constitutional and social values. End note.

Battlefield for Social Values: Co-ed Swim Lessons
-------------- --------------


8. (U) The central issue in the Muslim integration debate,
of course, is whether Muslims will adapt to German social
values or Germans will accommodate Muslim traditional values.
Government officials such as Schaeuble and Maria Boehmer,
the Federal Chancellery's Commissioner for Integration, have
insisted that German values drawn from the constitution are
not negotiable. The KRM is fighting to retain its view of
traditional Muslim values, some aspects of which clash with
conventional German practice, such as those involving male
and female roles in society. This tension is playing itself
out in what would ordinarily be minor topics -- such as co-ed
swim lessons -- that have become greatly magnified because of
their utility as placeholders in the values debate. Secular
Muslims tend to agree with Boehmer and others in government
that Muslim girls must participate in swim lessons with boys,
but some conservative Muslims such as Aiman Mazyek, General
Secretary of the Central Council of Muslims, vowed to

SIPDIS
"protect the right of Muslim parents to withhold their
daughters" from co-ed swim lessons. More generally, Mayzek
also reportedly rejected a proposal from the majority in the
Conference's working group on social values that endorsed
core German values.

Breaking the Logjam: The Critical Role of Minister Schaeuble
-------------- --------------


9. (U) Comment: Schaeuble, perhaps unfairly, is often
criticized by Muslims for allegedly fostering an air of
"general suspicion" of Muslims by virtue of his ministry's
monitoring of Muslim groups and his party's heavy demands on
immigrants. Although he has made missteps that have
alienated Muslims, such as once calling the rapidly
increasing number of German converts to Islam "somewhat
alarming," he has generally been a great supporter of Muslim
integration. It was his inspiration to host the Islam
Conference, and it will require further inspiration on his
part to break the logjam. End comment.
TIMKEN JR