GOA ADDRESSES CONTROVERSY OVER ISLAMIC INSTRUCTORS

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 000124 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM AU SUBJECT: GOA ADDRESSES CONTROVERSY OVER ISLAMIC INSTRUCTORS Classified by: Economic-Political Counselor J. Dean Yap for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The GOA and Austria's official Islamic Faith Community (IFC) announced on February 2 a program designed to improve Islamic education in public schools and end the controversy sparked by a recent study indicating that many Islamic instructors hold views inconsistent with democracy and Western values. Under the program, the IFC will update the curriculum for Islamic education and more closely monitor instructors. Some of the Embassy's Muslim contacts argue that the survey confirms their view that the IFC promotes fundamentalist Islam, while others maintain that the survey results merely reflect the broader divide between the Islamic world and the West. The GOA's hastily announced reform program is intended to avoid a bruising debate over Muslim integration. End Summary. Survey: Many Islam Teachers Oppose Democracy -------------- ¶2. (U) The controversy was sparked by the January 27 publication of an article in the Austrian weekly Der Falter outlining some of the conclusions of a dissertation drafted by Mouhanad Khorchide, a Vienna-based Islamic scholar. The dissertation includes the results of a 2007 survey of 210 out of the approximately 330 Islam instructors then employed in Austria's public school system. Results of the survey include: -- 21.9 percent of instructors oppose democracy because it conflicts with Islam. -- 18.2 percent believe Muslim apostates should be subject to the death penalty. -- 28.5 percent believe there is a contradiction between Muslim and European identities. -- 44.1 percent said they want to help their students understand that being Muslim makes them better than their non-Muslim schoolmates. ¶3. (U) The report drew fierce condemnation from across the political spectrum aimed at the Islamic Faith Community (IFC),the official representative of Austria's approximately 400,000 Muslims. The IFC has authority over the content of the Islam courses and is responsible for recruiting, training, and overseeing the Islam instructors. Approximately 50,000 students attend the classes, somewhat less than half the Muslim school-age population. A number of politicians and pundits have called for the resignation of IFC President Anas Schakfeh, whom they criticize for trying to downplay the results of the study. GOA Announces Reforms -------------- ¶4. (U) Education Minister Schmied, reacting quickly in an effort to end the controversy, announced on February 2 that she and Schakfeh had agreed on a program to improve the quality of Islamic instruction and prevent contradictions between religious education and Austrian laws and customs. Under the program, a new teachers' contract will be prepared including a preamble emphasizing the requirement that instructors comply with the constitution as well as the values of democracy and human rights (Note: The contract would be used for instructors of all officially recognized religions. End Note). The IFC will work with a new independent advisory council to update Islamic textbooks and establish a revised curriculum by the end of April. IFC officials charged with monitoring Islamic instruction will be required to report every semester to the Education Ministry, with the first report due February 12. Instructors will also be tested for their German-language abilities. ¶5. (U) Ednan Aslan, a University of Vienna professor who specializes in Islamic religious education, has been outspoken in calling for improvements in the Islamic curriculum and higher standards for instructors. His arguments seem to have made an impact on the GOA; the announcement of an independent advisory council on Islamic education appears to have been inspired by a recent op-ed written by Aslan. ¶6. (U) At the same time, though, Aslan maintained in a meeting with us that the significance of the study should not be exaggerated. No religion, he argued, is democratic. When you consider that the Islamic instructors come from Muslim countries lacking in democratic traditions, it should come as no surprise that many of them are suspicious of democracy and Western values, he said. Aslan averred that, while the quality of instruction can and should be improved in short order, there is nothing the GOA or IFC can do to quickly close the cultural gap between the Islamic instructors and Austrian values. That will only come about as a consequence of a broader rapprochement between the Islamic world and the West. Muslims Divided Over Representation -------------- ¶7. (C) In the meantime, however, the controversy has been cited by the IFC's Muslim critics as proof that the organization promotes a fundamentalist form of Islam. Some of our Muslim contacts, particularly in the Turkish community, tell us regularly that the IFC is close to the Saudi Government as well as radical organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood. They claim that those Turks who choose to join the IFC are members of Milli Gorus, a Turkish Islamic organization they view as extremist and anti-Western. They also point out that Schakfeh is an employee of the Saudi Embassy. Turkish Ambassador Selim Yenel told us that he has often warned GOA officials that the IFC promotes "the worst form of Islam" -- Wahhabism -- which he believes undermines integration. ¶8. (U) The IFC is dominated by Arabs (Schakfeh, for example, was born in Syria) and some Turks assert that the organization acts to minimize the influence of Austria's much larger Turkish community. According to the IFC constitution, Schakfeh's term in office should have ended in 2007. But the vote has been delayed; an IFC spokeswoman has said the organization will hold an election, but has declined to specify a date. Schakfeh could run for a second term. ¶9. (C) Aslan, a native of Turkey, rejects the claim that the IFC promotes fundamentalist Islam. He said every significant Muslim organization in Austria is represented in the IFC except ATIB, the Austrian branch of Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs, which has chosen to boycott the organization. These organizations represent a broad spectrum of Muslim beliefs, from "moderate" to "fundamentalist." Aslan believes it is foolish to demand Schakfeh's resignation; despite Schakfeh's flaws, there are many worse alternatives. ¶10. (U) Khorchide, whose study initiated the controversy, seems to agree. In a recent interview, he expressed surprise that so much has been made of the negative aspects of the survey. He argued that the overall picture is not so negative; for example, 93 percent of Islamic instructors want their students to espouse non-violence, and 89 percent believe it is their duty to promote religious tolerance. Khorchide maintained that the negative survey results reflect the fact that most instructors were hired with little or no training before the establishment in 1998 of the IFC's Pedagogical Institute. Comment: Hasty Reforms Will Not Address Problem -------------- -- ¶11. (C) Thomas Schmidinger, a University of Vienna professor and expert on political Islam, argued to us that the reforms announced by Minister Schmied are designed to avoid a bruising public debate over Muslim integration, rather than to improve Islamic instruction. The governing coalition parties, he maintained, fear the influence of the xenophobic, anti-Muslim far right FPO and BZO. We share that view. Adding pro-democracy language to the teachers' contract will not change the mentalities of the instructors. It makes sense in theory for an advisory committee to help the IFC update the curriculum. But it is not clear whether the GOA can ensure that committee members will represent a "moderate" form of Islam consistent with Western values. KILNER