US embassy cable - 05ANKARA4911

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004911 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINS, TU 
SUBJECT: A SNAPSHOT OF TURKEY,S SAADET PARTY: LEFT-WING 
ISLAMISM 
 
Classified By: POLCOUNS John Kunstadter; E.O. 12958, reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Saadet Party is the latest incarnation of 
Islamist parties formed by political Islam leader Necmettin 
Erbakan.  The party,s members are hardcore Islamists (while 
not averse to material wealth), but their rhetoric often 
combines elements of Islamism with a leftwing inspired 
criticism of West.  Temel Karamollaoglu, Saadet,s VP for 
International Affairs, is an anti-American religious bigot, 
whose ideas are unfortunately all too common in Saadet.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
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SAADET,S BACKGROUND AND INFLUENCE 
--------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) Saadet (Felicity) Party is an Islamist party 
ostensibly led by acting chairman Recai Kutan, but actually 
run by former PM Necmettin Erbakan from behind the scenes. 
Saadet is the latest incarnation of an Erbakan-controlled 
Islamist party.  Erbakan,s earlier parties --- the Refah 
(Welfare) Party (1998-2001), the Fazilet (Virtue) Party 
(1983-1998), and the National Salvation Party (MSP) 
(1972-1980) --- were all banned by the state.  In the summer 
of 2001, after the banning of the Refah Party, the 
Islam-oriented political movement in Turkey split in two. 
One group led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abdullah Gul formed 
the Justice and Development Party (AKP).  A second group of 
Erbakan loyalists, however, formed Saadet Party. 
 
3. (U) Saadet remains under the cloud of Erbakan,s past 
corruption.  Erbakan is currently facing the possibility of 
jail time for a court case involving millions of dollars 
missing from the banned Refah Party,s coffers. 
 
4. (C) Some inaccurately portray AKP as Refah,s clean, 
moderate wing and Saadet as the corrupt, radical wing. 
Although AKP tries to portray itself as a clean and moderate 
"conservative democratic" party, the party is dominated by 
hardcore members of the political-Islam National View (Milli 
Gorus) movement and corruption remains a problem. 
 
5. (C) Saadet received only 2.5 percent of the vote in the 
November 2002 election and it does not control any seats in 
the parliament, but its influence is much greater than these 
numbers would suggest.  Saadet sits on governing AKP,s 
Islamist flank, and AKP,s leadership carefully watches 
Saadet,s frequent criticism on "Islamist issues" including, 
for example, criticism that AKP has been effective on 
removing headscarf restrictions.  Newspapers and some 
contacts routinely speculate that 20-50 AKP MPs will leave 
the party and join Saadet; but despite defections to 
center-right parties, no AKP MP has yet defected to Saadet. 
However, if AKP,s leadership makes a mistake that alienates 
Islamist voters, a number of AKP,s MPs and grassroots 
supporters could indeed jump to Saadet. 
 
 
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THE FUTURE OF THE SAADET PARTY LEADERSHIP 
----------------------------------------- 
 
6. (C) Although Kutan is loyal to Erbakan, he is weak and 
ineffectual and there are rumors that he may be replaced this 
fall at the Saadet Party convention.  If Erbakan's legal 
troubles bar him from the chairmanship, then a number of 
other candidates will vie for the job.  Numan Kurtulus, the 
former Istanbul Fazilet Party chairman, is a leading 
candidate.  He is popular with party adherents, but may not 
be loyal enough in Erbakan's eyes to merit the chairmanship. 
Another possible candidate is Mete Gundogan, Erbakan,s 
economics advisor.  Gundogan is also close to Oguzhan 
Asilturk, a Saadet ideologue and one of the most influential 
members of the party.  Former Justice Minister Sevket Kazan 
is another candidate mentioned.  He is seen as a 
representative of the party,s old guard.  Former Konya mayor 
Mustafa Ozkafa and former State Ministers Teoman Riza Guneri 
and Ahmet Demircan are also mentioned as possible candidates 
to replace Kutan. 
 
 
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KARAMOLLOGLU,S LEFTWING ISLAMISM 
-------------------------------- 
 
7. (C) POLOFFs met with Temel Karamollaoglu, Saadet's Vice 
President for International Affairs.  Karamollaoglu, who is 
married to an English woman who converted to Islam, is a 
controversial figure.  He was the mayor of Sivas in July 1993 
when a Sunni mob started a fire at a hotel where Alevi 
(heterodox Muslims) organizations were holding a meeting. 
Thirty-seven people died in the fire.  Karamollaoglu was 
captured on television several hours before the incident 
inciting the mob with anti-Alevi rhetoric.  He later became a 
member of parliament and was never prosecuted for his actions. 
 
8.  (C) Karamollaoglu,s philosophy is a good illustration of 
the strange mixture of left-wing and Islamic rhetoric common 
in Saadet.  He said Saadet is the party of the National View 
(Milli Gorus) movement.  He claimed that they are not racist, 
but defenders of human rights, democracy, equality, and world 
peace.  He lamented the unfair distribution of wealth within 
Turkey and, more generally, within the world.  He also 
criticized the fact that girls are being denied the right of 
education due to Turkey's requirement that university 
students not wear headscarves. 
 
9. (C) Saadet Party is not anti-American, Karamollaoglu tried 
to claim, but it is against the policies of the Bush 
Administration.  Karamollaoglu doesn't like the phrase "war 
on terror," which he believes President Bush uses as a code 
word for a war against Muslims.  He also claimed that 
President Bush equates terror with Al Qaida and Al Qaida with 
Islam.   He believes that Secretary of State Rice has decreed 
that the borders of the Middle East must change as part of 
the Broader Middle East Initiative.  He is, moreover, deeply 
suspicious of the official US description of the events 
surrounding 9-11 and told POLOFFs that he suspects Muslims 
had nothing to do with the attacks. 
 
10. (C) Comment.  Karamollaoglu is an anti-American religious 
bigot, whose ideas are common in Saadet.  He thinks that 
American wealth and power are rooted in selfish exploitation 
and militarism.  He also concludes that President Bush speaks 
in code words, because that is how Karamollaoglu and other 
Milli Gorus leaders --- including all Saadet Party members 
and many members of the governing Justice and Development 
Party (AKP) --- communicate with their followers.  End 
Comment. 
MCELDOWNEY