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Cablegate: Turkish Imams Deliver Anti-Missionary Sermon

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001511

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU
SUBJECT: TURKISH IMAMS DELIVER ANTI-MISSIONARY SERMON

REF: ANKARA 814

Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b and d.

1. (U) Summary: Under instructions from the GOT's Directorate
of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), imams across Turkey delivered
a sermon March 11 depicting Christian missionaries as part of
an organized force aiming to "steal the beliefs of our young
people and children." The sermon, part of a broader effort
to combat the "threat" of missionaries, further accused
missionaries of improperly "taking advantage" of social
problems and natural disasters to divert Muslims from their
faith. Our EU contacts say they are concerned about the
sermon, and predict the GOT's approach toward non-Muslim
religions will pose problems for Turkey's EU candidacy. The
day after the sermon, an anti-Christian group threatened an
Ankara church, although it is not clear whether the threat
was related to the sermon. End Summary.
--------------------------------------
Missionaries Depicted As New Crusaders
--------------------------------------

2. (U) The sermon, while not using the term "missionary,"
implies that missionaries in Turkey today are trying to
achieve what the Crusades failed to accomplish in centuries
past (see full text starting para 7). It criticizes
missionaries for "taking advantage of" problems such as
ethnic discrimination, poverty, and natural disasters to turn
Muslims away from "the only religion in the presence of
Allah."

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3. (U) Imams across Turkey delivered the sermon under
instructions from the Diyanet, which distributed the text to
mosques. The Diyanet, the GOT agency that oversees Turkey's
mosques, routinely provides imams with content for the Friday
sermon. The March 11 message marked the opening gambit in
the Diyanet's acknowledged program to combat the perceived
"threat" of missionaries. We have discussed the Diyanet's
approach to missionaries with Diyanet Vice President Mehmet
Gormez (reftel), whose influence is clearly visible in the
sermon text. Gormez has acknowledged to us the right of
missionaries to operate in Turkey, but vows to "educate"
Turks so that they do not fall prey to missionaries seeking
to exploit their "ignorance." When we asked him how the
Turkish Government would react if Western countries conducted
similar public campaigns against Muslim proselytizing, he
asserted that Muslims migrate to the West to earn money, not
convert Christians. The March 11 sermon emphasizes the
monotheistic nature of Islam, and implies that Christians are
not monotheists; Gormez has averred to us that a Muslim would
have to give up monotheism to convert to Christianity,
because Christians believe in the Holy Trinity.

---------------------------------------
Anti-Christian Group Sends Email Threat
---------------------------------------

4. (U) The day after the sermon, a group calling itself the
Turkish Revenge Brigade sent an email to the International
Protestant Church of Ankara calling missionaries "dogs trying
to divide the nation" and concluding that "therefore your
murder is seen as an obligatory Islamic duty." The email
does not make reference to the sermon. Ihsan Ozbek, pastor
of the Church, told us the anti-Christian group has sent him
many such emails over the years, but has not carried out any
attacks on Christians in a decade. "The purpose of the
author of this message is to cause fear," Ozbek stated in an
email. "Of course, this doesn't mean they won't do small
things."

-------------------------------------------
EU Contact: GOT "Paranoid" About Christians
-------------------------------------------

5. (C) We discussed the sermon with diplomats from the
German, Dutch and Danish embassies, which have been following
the GOT's treatment of missionaries in the context of
Turkey's EU accession drive. The diplomats agreed the sermon
represents an unacceptable approach to Christianity. They
also said the anti-Christian message will give ammunition to
those in Europe who argue that Turkey's Islamic faith and
intolerance toward other religions render it unqualified for
EU membership. "This is the number-one argument used by
opponents of Turkish membership," the Danish diplomat said,
adding, "this is not going to be well received in
Copenhagen." Our German colleague emphasized that German
officials are fed up with PM Erdogan's repeated complaints
that the EU is a "Christian club." He said such comments are
particularly hypocritical given the GOT's "paranoid" reaction
to the small number of Christian missionaries in Turkey. The
diplomats said religious freedom is one of the weakest areas
in the GOT's reform efforts, and predicted it will become an
obstacle at some point in Turkey's EU accession effort (Note:
We will report septel on the overall lack of progress on
religious freedom. End Note).

-----------
Sermon Text
-----------

6. (U) The following is a translation of the sermon text:

7. (U) My esteemed brothers,
8. (U) Our supreme God sent the last Prophet Muhammed to show
everyone his mercy. He delivered the religion of Islam to
all mankind through the Prophet Muhammed. The basis of this
religion was to believe in the existence of Allah, to accept
that Allah is one (and only), not to claim that someone else
is equal (to God) and to worship him. This divine message
also invited mankind to good morals based on rightfulness,
truth, justice, information and wisdom. It made an appeal
for renouncing oppression, ignorance and mischief and
protecting the poor, needy, orphans and those abandoned in
the street, and not going to bed with a full stomach when
one's neighbor is hungry.

9. (U) In a short time this universal call resonated in the
hearts of people around the world. Islam, which began with
the delivery (of the message) by one person, in a short time
became the fastest spreading religion that compassionately
embraced people. In less than a century, people were honored
with Islam from Asia to North Africa and from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Great Wall of China.

10. (U) My dear brothers who have reached the happiness of
being Muslim!

11. (U) Many powers, which could not tolerate the fact that
Islam, the only religion in the presence of Allah, was
accepted so quickly and by such great masses of people,
resorted to all means to prevent Islam's progress and to
prevent people from opening their hearts to Islam. In order
to erase Islam and Muslims from history, they established
so-called holy armies but they could not achieve their final
goal because the (Muslim) people they were facing were
members of a supreme religion that contains values such as
monotheism, justice, fear of God, self-confidence and
opposition to oppression, polytheism, blasphemy and injustice.

12. (U) Esteemed Believers!

13. (U) Just as it was in history, the same powers today
regard Islam as the biggest obstacle to their interests and
hegemony. They work in a planned and organized manner in
order to cut the ties of our citizens with this religion. By
taking advantage especially of ethnic discrimination,
sectarian differences, economic and social problems and even
catastrophes such as earthquakes, floods and famines, they
are trying to steal the beliefs of our young people and
children. In particular people who have weak religious
knowledge and those who have problems within their families
and with others are becoming priority targets of such
centers.

14. (U) We have full confidence that all these efforts will
fail. But on this issue, important duties fall on us
Muslims. First of all we need to appreciate the value of our
religion. We must strongly embrace the belief, worship and
moral principles of Islam, beginning with the belief in
monotheism. We must teach our children and young people our
beliefs and values. And in interpersonal relations, we must
leave aside personal benefits and temporary worldly desires
and instead take as the basis justice, affection, tolerance
and mutual assistance. We must claim our religion and moral
values.

15. (U) I'm finishing my sermon with the following
translation of the verse from the Koran that descended the
last: "Today I elevated your religion to perfection for you.
I completed my blessing for you and selected only Islam as
the religion for you."

-------
Comment
-------

16. (C) Turks tend to be profoundly hypocritical on issues
relating to Islam and Christianity. Hypersensitive to any
perceived Western slights or misconceptions about Islam, they
routinely spread misinformation about Christianity and sow
fear about missionaries. Gormez, like other pious Turks,
considers conversion to Islam a natural progression, but is
deeply resentful of Muslims who convert to Christianity. It
is important to remember that this insidiously anti-Christian
sermon was prepared not by a private Islamic group but by one
of the largest branches of the GOT bureaucracy.

EDELMAN

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