US embassy cable - 05ANKARA814

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 000814 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU 
SUBJECT: GOT'S NEW APPROACH TO PROTESTANTS SPARKS BACKLASH 
 
Classified By: Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b an 
d d. 
 
1. (U) Summary: Protestants in Turkey say the GOT has made 
tentative steps toward a more flexible approach to churches 
and missionaries, partly due to the influence of the EU 
process.  For example, during Christmas authorities in 
Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir for the first time gave permission 
for missionaries to distribute bibles.  However, the bible 
distributions set off a backlash among nationalists and 
Islamists, leading to threats, intimidation, and 
anti-Christian press coverage.  The vice president of the 
GOT's Religious Affairs Directorate acknowledged missionaries 
have the right to work in Turkey, but asserted that methods 
such as bible distribution are inappropriate.  He also cited 
the traditional, parochial Turkish view of Ottoman history to 
argue that Turkey has a strong tradition of religious 
tolerance, and rejected the idea that Turkey will have to 
expand freedom for non-Muslims in order to meet EU standards. 
 Protestants with long experience in Turkey say the fear of 
Christians is deep-rooted, and will not fade away quickly. 
End Summary. 
 
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Authorities Approve Bible Distribution 
-------------------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Ian Herenga, Istanbul-based pastor for the Alo Dua 
bible distribution and prayer hotline group, says the GOT has 
become more tolerant of Protestant groups since he began his 
missionary work in Turkey 17 years ago.  Although Alo Dua has 
been distributing bibles for years, last Christmas marked the 
first time the authorities officially permitted the activity. 
 Group members, expecting the usual bureaucratic run-around, 
were surprised to receive last-minute authorization to 
distribute for a few hours per day the week of Christmas in 
Istanbul's main pedestrian thoroughfare.  Herenga, a 
Canadian, said Alo Dua distributed 54,000 bibles during 
Christmas season this year, compared to 10,000 last year. 
Authorities in Ankara and Izmir also granted permission for 
the first time to distribute bibles.  Andrew Hoard, an Amcit 
member of a Protestant church in Ankara who has lived in 
Turkey for 15 years, told us that elements of the GOT and 
Turkish society retain a hostility toward non-Muslim faiths. 
Nevertheless, he cites the new, more flexible attitude toward 
bible distribution as an example of why members of his 
congregation are "ecstatic" when they compare the environment 
today with the situation 10 years ago. 
 
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Islamists, Nationalists React 
----------------------------- 
 
3. (U) At the same time, however, the bible distributions 
have sparked a nasty backlash from Islamists and 
nationalists.  Brian Telford, a South African Alo Dua member, 
told us that on the third day of bible distribution in Ankara 
(December 23) an official from the Islamist "Saadet Party" 
incited the crowd with anti-Christian rhetoric, forcing Alo 
Dua to shut down after 40 minutes.  Next to Alo Dua, someone 
had set up a table and was passing out anti-Christian 
literature alleging that distributing bibles is an insult to 
Islam.  Though the man had no authorization, the police left 
him alone, Telford said.  Rahsan Ecevit -- former chairwoman 
of the Democratic Left Party, wife of former PM Ecevit, and 
an arch-secularist -- has helped stir the controversy with 
public statements characterizing Christian missionaries as a 
threat.  There have been a few balanced and accurate press 
reports, and several columnists have defended the rights of 
missionaries.  But in general the press has amplified the 
anti-Christian message with numerous biased stories.  ATV, 
for example, broadcast a piece that mixed coverage of a 
Protestant church with footage of a sex cult, while Tempo 
magazine called Alo Dua's activities "witchcraft."  Following 
two weeks of negative coverage in December, 40-60 
nationalists gathered at the Alo Dua Istanbul office, chanted 
anti-Christian slogans, vandalized the premises, and beat the 
landlord when he confronted them.  Herenga told us the 
landlord reported the incident to local police, but they have 
made no arrests.  Neighbors have begun harassing Herenga and 
his family.  Police have refused his request for protection 
during Saturday services, on the grounds that Alo Dua is not 
officially registered as a place of worship (Note: It is 
extremely difficult to register a church in Turkey. End 
Note). 
 
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GOT Struggles With Approach to Missionaries 
------------------------------------------- 
 
4. (U) Turkish law does not prohibit proselytizing, although 
many Turks believe it does.  Christians performing missionary 
work are sometimes charged with disturbing the peace, 
insulting Islam, conducting unauthorized educational courses, 
or promoting separatism.  Protestant contacts say the GOT, 
due to Turkey's EU candidacy, is tentatively trying to adopt 
a more flexible approach to missionaries and churches. 
Hard-core nationalists opposed to EU membership are reacting 
against this, while many Islamists increasingly fear that 
Christians will exploit the openings created by the EU 
process to "dilute Turkey's Islamic character."  The strains 
are evident in the public statements of GOT officials.  Ihsan 
Ozbek, pastor of the 300-member Kurtulus Church in Ankara, 
Turkey's largest Protestant church, said Christians in Turkey 
are encouraged that PM Erdogan publicly supported, in general 
terms, the right of missionaries to work in Turkey.  At the 
same time, Mehmet Gormez, vice president of the GOT's 
Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), has vowed to 
educate the public so that missionaries cannot "exploit 
people's ignorance" and questioned why missionaries from the 
West come to Turkey instead of spreading the faith in their 
own countries, where "40 percent of the people are atheists." 
 
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Bible Distribution "Inappropriate" 
---------------------------------- 
 
5. (U) When we raised the subject of missionaries with 
Gormez, he insisted to us that the GOT respects religious 
freedom, including the right to proselytize, or, as he put 
it, "explain one's religion."  However, he asserted that 
certain methods are inappropriate, including passing out 
bibles on the street.  "The bible is supposed to be a sacred 
book.  It is not right to hand it out on the street, where 
some people may throw it on the ground like garbage," he 
said.  He showed us a package of blankets and other items for 
newborn babies that he says he discovered while visiting a 
hospital in a poor region of Turkey.  The label on the 
package identifies the source as an American Mormon group. 
Gormez averred that distributing such packages to new mothers 
represents another inappropriate missionary method, because 
it seeks to exploit poverty for religious purposes. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
GOT Official: Muslims in West are "Temporary" 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
6. (U) Gormez rejected the idea that EU membership will 
require Turkey to allow significantly more freedom for 
non-Muslim religious expression.  He cited the various 
religious communities of the Ottoman Empire and the influx of 
Jews who came to Turkey after being driven out of Spain in 
1492 to try to assert that Turkey has a strong tradition of 
religious tolerance.  We replied that, history aside, there 
are today millions of Muslims in Europe and the U.S., but 
only a handful of non-Muslims left in Turkey.  Many Muslims 
in the West actively proselytize, using the same methods he 
deems inappropriate in Turkey.  Gormez asserted that Muslims 
travel to the West to make money, not to convert Christians. 
He insisted that the Muslim population in Western countries 
is "temporary."  For example, he alleged, Turks in Germany, 
"frustrated by a lack of access to the German education 
system," are buying land in Turkey.  Eventually, they will 
return to their "homeland," as will the rest of the Muslim 
diaspora. 
 
---------------------- 
Converts Provoke Anger 
---------------------- 
 
7. (C) Hoard said the fear of Christians is deeply rooted in 
Turkish history.  In founding the Republic of Turkey, Ataturk 
created a Turkish identity based on the Turkish language and 
the Muslim faith.  Other faiths (like other languages) are 
viewed as threats to national unity.  "Missionaries are 
viewed as crusaders, come to take the country away," said 
Telford.  Worse than a crusader, however, is a convert. 
While foreign Christians are generally tolerated, Turks who 
convert provoke a deep anger among some Turkish Muslims, who 
take it as a personal affront when a fellow Muslim "rejects" 
Islam (Note: Muslims in Turkey believe it is natural and 
right that someone of another faith converts to Islam. End 
Note).  Hoard said his church, the International Protestant 
Church of Ankara, has experienced relatively little 
harassment because its membership consists mostly of 
foreigners.  Ozbek's Kurtulus Church, on the other hand, is 
90 percent Turkish, and has suffered more than its share of 
vandalism and threats. 
 
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Missionary Keeps "An Even Keel" 
------------------------------- 
 
8. (U) Dan Wickwire, pastor of the Batikent Church in Ankara, 
is unimpressed by either the GOT's new, more flexible 
approach or the backlash against it.  He told us he has seen 
countless good and bad days during his 20 years of missionary 
work in Turkey.  The laws have often been changed, as has the 
tone of the public debate, but his work never gets any 
easier.  Through an intense campaign of court battles -- he 
keeps a team of lawyers on retainer -- he has established 
what local Protestants call the "most legal church in 
Turkey."  This year the Danistay (a high appeals court) is 
expected to rule on the government's challenge to his 
church's status.  However the court rules, he's not expecting 
a major breakthrough.  "I try to keep an even keel," he said. 
"I preach my faith, I deal with the legal system, and I don't 
let the ups get me too up or the downs get me too down." 
 
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Comment 
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9. (C) Many pious supporters of the Islam-oriented AKP resent 
the rigid form of Turkish secularism, in which the State 
maintains strict control over mosques and Islamic worship. 
They are hoping that the EU process will bring reforms 
loosening restrictions on religion.  However, it remains 
unclear whether the AKP is truly prepared to accept religious 
pluralism, or simply wants to create more space for Islam in 
Turkish society.  Gormez' comments clearly point to the 
latter.  It is no surprise that he believes Turkey is a model 
of religious tolerance.  Like many of our contacts, he lives 
in the past, using a narrow interpretation of Ottoman 
practices to argue that Turkey is progressive, oblivious to 
how human rights concepts in Europe have evolved since that 
time.  His view that the Muslim diaspora in the West is 
temporary reflects his prejudice that, because a non-Muslim 
cannot be a "real" Turk, it is unimaginable that a Muslim can 
become a real American, Englishman, or Frenchman. 
 
10. (U) This cable includes contributions from ConGen 
Istanbul. 
EDELMAN