US embassy cable - 03ANKARA3507

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 003507 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/29/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, PHUM, PGOV, SCUL, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKISH FONMIN GUL TO OIC: "WE SHOULD FIRST PUT 
OUR (ISLAMIC) HOUSE IN ORDER." 
 
 
REF: STATE 140027 
 
 
(U) Classified by Political Counselor John Kunstadter. 
Reason: 1.5(b)(d). 
 
 
1. (U) Much of May 29 Turkish press highlights what it 
reports as Deputy P.M./FonMin Gul's strong pro-democracy 
statement at May 28 OIC meeting in Tehran.  Promoting what 
some press characterized as a "visionary" message (one 
supporting some USG points in reftel demarche), Gul urged the 
transformation of the Muslim world by "put(ting) our house in 
good order": 
 
 
-- telling Muslim countries to reform their administrations 
to meet the needs of the modern age through "a vision in 
which good governance, transparency and accountability will 
reign (over) fundamental rights and freedom and gender 
equality are upheld..." 
 
 
-- calling for reforms to promote democracy, political 
participation, equal opportunity; 
 
 
-- insisting that "rational thinking should be our driving 
force"; 
 
 
-- advocating the eradication of illiteracy, corruption and 
waste of human, natural and material resources; 
 
 
-- urging that the OIC's message should be "unity in 
diversity." 
 
 
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COMMENT 
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2. (C) We will follow up with members of Gul's delegation and 
with MFA contacts for first-hand readouts of what Gul said in 
his private contacts with the Syrians and Iranians when the 
del returns to Ankara week of June 2.  But it is clear that 
Gul's comments are significant in several respects, 
particularly in terms of the domestic political and policy 
battles shaping up in Ankara.  First, the philosophical: 
Gul's emphasis on "rational thinking," though coming from a 
political leader with impeccable "Islamic" credentials, runs 
counter to a theme recently reiterated in the Turkish 
Islamist press.  Abdurrahman Dilipak, a columnist and Embassy 
contact with great influence over the Islamist hardcore 
rank-and-file, took issue recently with the West's allegedly 
"rationalist secular religion," which he charged has no 
respect for "sacred values." 
 
 
3. (C) Equally important, the new activist approach 
articulated by Gul under the influence of Ahmet Davutoglu 
(now foreign policy adviser to P.M. Erdogan) is essentially 
radical in its vision.  As such, it is likely to cause 
friction in a Turkish foreign policy Establishment habituated 
to caution and willingness to look the other way in the face 
of the very failings of the Islamic world's political 
leadership that most need to be addressed, particularly in 
the wake of September 11. 
PEARSON