TURKEY: ISRAEL AND JEWISH COMMUNITY GOING PUBLIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000527

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/07/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: ISRAEL AND JEWISH COMMUNITY GOING PUBLIC

REF: ISTANBUL 387

Classified By: Consul General Sharon A. Wiener
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: A September poll reveals that most Turks have
significantly negative perspectives of Israel and the United
States. Since 2003, this negativity has also translated into
a negative impression of the Turkish Jewish population. To
combat these impressions, the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul
and the governing board of the Jewish Community in Turkey are
propagating positive images of both Israel and the Jewish
community through separate public relations campaigns focused
on the two countries' trade relations and on Turkey's Jewish
heritage. End Summary.


2. (U) A September poll by Transatlantic Trends, a project
of the German Marshall Fund, surveying Turkish feelings
toward other states and international organizations, found
Turks to be warmest toward Palestinians (towards whom 44
percent of the population has a positive perception),the EU
(33 percent),and Iran (32 percent),and coldest toward
Russia (18 percent),the US (14 percent),and Israel (8
percent). The Turks had a 6 point cooler self-regard than in
2007, with an 80 percent approval rating. According to the
Jewish Community of Turkey, since 2003 many Turks view Israel
and Turkey's Jewish population with similar degrees of
coolness and distance (Ref).


3. (SBU) Israel's Economic and Trade Consul Doron Abrahami
wants to hire a professional public relations firm to boost
Israel's image in Turkey. According to Abrahami, his
business and government contacts in Turkey tell him that
Israel's image is inextricably tied to the U.S. He thus
suggests that the U.S. and Israel combine efforts to improve
their similarly dismal images. In order to improve Israel's
image in Turkey, Abrahami requested and received a special
budget to promote public awareness of the high volume of
trade and degree of economic cooperation between Israel and
Turkey. On 27 November the Israeli Consulate will award
trade certificates to select Turkish businesses for
successful ventures involving Israel.


4. (SBU) According to Jewish Community VPs Sami Herman and
Lina Filiba, Turkish Jews consider themselves Turkish, and do
not consider themselves members of a "minority."
Nevertheless, Yael Saranga, a Turkish Jew working at the
Israeli Consulate, and Filiba say that the Turkish population
at large and prominent politicians insist on considering
Turkish Jews as "foreigners" and often consider them Israeli
instead of Turkish. As an example, Filiba noted that during a
September luncheon Prime Minister Erdogan congratulated
Jewish Community President Silvio Olvadyo on having elected
Livni as Prime Minister in Israel.


5. (U) Like the Israeli Mission, the Jewish Community of
Turkey is also strategizing new approaches to improving the
image of Jews. In an example of unparalleled cooperation, the
Jewish Community of Turkey, working with the Turkish
Ministries of Culture and Tourism and Foreign Affairs, are
sponsoring an October photo exhibit featuring the historic
synagogues of Turkey. Filiba said the exhibit is part of a
long-planned program to bring Turkey's Jewish heritage to a
place of prominence through regular programs and exhibits. By
pulling the Jewish community from the shadows through such
public affairs programming, Filiba explained, the community
hopes to become an accepted and familiar part of the average
Turk's life and concept of nationality. Speaking at the
exhibit, Herman and AKP Party Vice Chairman for Foreign
Affairs and Istanbul MP Egemen Bagis both emphasized the
cultural and historical wealth that different ethnicities
bring to the single nation of Turkey.


6. (SBU) Filiba and members of the governing board of the
Jewish Community agree that they should "open up and expose
themselves" to the Turkish population, "offering familiarity
rather than intrigue and suspicion." While they do worry what
newspapers like religious "Vakit" will write, Filiba
explained that they view education to be the only solution.
Toward that end, the Community has submitted a proposal to
the European Union Commission for Human Rights for funding a
year of Jewish cultural programming in Turkey that includes a
10,000 euro line item for before and after polling. Filiba
has received news that the proposal will be accepted in
mid-October and is currently discussing polling options with
Koc University's Professor of Sociology Fatos Gokcen.


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7. (C) Filiba said that she envisions this programming as
one step forward in the Jewish Community's quest for a legal
personality from the GOT (Ref). She posits that, with a
legal personality, the board of governance would gain more
respect from its own community. Filiba also says that GOT
views Turkey's Jewish community more favorably than its other
minority religious populations. She suggests that because
most of the Jewish population was welcomed to Turkey by the
Sultan in the 15th Century, and later by the Turkish
government in the 20th Century, they continue to maintain a
very close relationship with the government. Filiba considers
the Community as fortunate in many ways, however she notes
that "While other minorities want greater rights" (i.e. to be
able to build a place of worship),"we receive these
opportunities, but behind closed doors and not through legal
and accountable channels."


8. (SBU) Comment: Instead of hiding, the Jewish community is
choosing to propagate positive images of Turkey's Jewish
heritage in very prominent places in Istanbul. The Jewish
Community continues to enjoy a positive relationship with the
Turkish government at all levels. While Turkish
ultra-nationalists are not likely to delink Israel, the
United States, and the Turkish Jewish community because of
these efforts, younger Turks may begin to consider the Jewish
Turkish population as part of their nation. End Comment.

WIENER