US embassy cable - 05ANKARA3416

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 003416 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO NEA/DAS CARPENTER, NEA/FO WALSH, NEA/PI SCHULZ 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/16/2015 
TAGS: PREL, TU, KDEM 
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR DAS CARPENTER'S VISIT TO ISTANBUL; 
THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING THE TURKS TO UNDERSTAND BMENAI 
 
 
(U) Classified by DCM Nancy McEldowney, E.O. 12958, reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary: The June 21-22 meeting in Istanbul focusing 
on the participation of women in public life, the first 
substantial Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD) event, is an 
opportunity to underscore U.S. support for the initiative 
shown by co-sponsors Turkey, Italy and Yemen.  The Turkish 
MFA and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation 
(TESEV) have organized the conference and have a good grasp 
of BMENAI.  However, the overwhelming majority of Turks does 
not.  Conspiracy theories, disinformation and misinformation 
abound.  When discussing BMENAI in Turkey, therefore, it is 
important to avoid landmines by not referring to Turkey as a 
"model" or "example" or as an "Islamic" or "Muslim" country; 
by not claiming that there is such a thing as "moderate 
Islam"; by not conflating Turks and Arabs; by stressing 
Turkey's role as a BMENAI partner, not a target; and by 
emphasizing BMENAI's core message of the need for 
locally-generated, rather than externally-imposed, reform. 
End summary. 
 
Conspiracy Theories Abound 
-------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Despite a broad USG public diplomacy campaign, the 
overwhelming majority of Turks, including members of 
Parliament and academics, has a tendentious view of BMENAI. 
Conspiracy theories abound: 
 
-- Much of the public subscribes to an Islamist/leftist 
scenario that BMENAI is a plot for U.S. domination of the 
Middle East and its oil. 
 
-- Turkish "secularists" advance another conspiracy theory 
that BMENAI is a successor U.S. plot to the "Green Belt" 
thesis, i.e., to convert Turkey by stealth into a "moderate 
Islamic" state that will serve as a "model" that the U.S. 
will "export" to other countries in the region.  In a lucid 
explanation of BMENAI during an April 20 speech, CHOD Ozkok 
emphasized the error of considering Turkey either a "model" 
or an "Islamic state" or "Islamic country." 
 
-- Concern lurks just under the surface that Turkey is a 
BMENAI "target."  While we have managed to overcome this 
concern with our MFA colleagues, the Turkish "secularist" 
elite is sensitive about not being lumped together with 
target countries -- and they notice it when they are. 
 
-- There is a widespread belief among Turks that rhetoric 
about democratization is code for imposing a political system 
by use of military force; many Turks, whether left-wing or 
Islamist-oriented, think the U.S. definitions of democracy 
and democratization inherently include dropping bombs and 
imposing a "Christian-based system";  Islamist-oriented Turks 
maintain that Islam is broader than democracy and that the 
U.S. has no business poking its nose into the "Muslim world." 
 
 
Avoiding Landmines in Turkey 
---------------------------- 
 
3. (C) To overcome this widespread ignorance and the grip of 
conspiracy theories, we have adopted the following approach 
in discussing BMENAI: 
 
-- We avoid referring to Turkey as a "model" or even an 
"example."  Instead we note that Turkey has recent experience 
in internally-generated reform, that a country's 
internally-generated reform is the heart of BMENAI, and that 
we understand Turkey is ready to share its reform experience 
with other countries. 
 
-- We do not use the phrase "moderate Islam", which has 
evoked sharp rejoinders from Prime Minister Erdogan that 
there is no such thing as "moderate" Islam, there is only 
Islam.  Erdogan and others do not shrink from charging that 
"non-Muslims"'s use of the adjective "moderate" is a patent 
attempt to interfere in another religion.  These charges 
resonate deeply in the Turkish public.  In short, the phrase 
is radioactive in Turkey.  Using it sets Muslims in Turkey 
against us. 
 
-- When the subject of Islam arises, we say that 
interpretations of the meaning of Islam depend in the first 
instance on Muslims, and that what we look at is the way they 
live their religion. 
 
-- We refrain from calling Turkey a "moderate Islamic 
country" or an "Islamic state" or "Islamic country" or even a 
"Muslim" country.  Such references land us in the middle of a 
fierce internal Turkish debate about the role of Islam in 
Turkey.  Instead, we stress that Turkey is a democratic, 
secular state with a majority-Muslim population. 
-- We are careful to avoid conflating Turks and Arabs.  Some 
in ruling AKP are very Arab-oriented (e.g., many from the 
political Islam school of former Prime Minister Necmettin 
Erbakan, including FonMin Gul, who spent seven years at the 
Islamic Development Bank in Jiddah and has long followed a 
Saudi Sunni line in his approach to Islam).  Some have 
deluded themselves into thinking that the part of the Arab 
world once under the Ottoman Empire is nostalgic for the 
Ottomans (e.g., Gul's ideological soulmate Ahmet Davutoglu, 
currently the chief foreign policy advisor in the Prime 
Ministry).  However, the vast majority of Turks feel an 
antipathy towards Arabs, see their forms of Islam as 
different (in many cases more mystical), and strongly resent 
being treated as if they are in the same cultural basket. 
 
-- To appeal to a Turkish audience, therefore, it is 
important to acknowledge that Turkey has a far different 
culture and history than the Arabs do.  We thus stress 
Turkey's role as a BMENAI partner.  Turkey's status as a DAD 
co-sponsor and organizer of the Istanbul conference 
illustrate this point. 
 
-- We stress that BMENAI means U.S. support for 
locally-generated reforms, not imposition of a U.S. plan. 
While this is a staple of BMENAI philosophy, it is news to 
most Turks, and bears repeating. 
EDELMAN