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DE RUEHIT #0211/01 0480910
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R 170910Z FEB 06
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4258
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISTANBUL 000211 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE, NEA/PI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL TU XD XF XI KDEM KWMN
SUBJECT: BMENA:  TURKS KEEP DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE DIALOGUE 
MOVING FORWARD 
 
REF: 05 ISTANBUL 1080 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Not for internet 
distribution. 
 
¶1.  (U)  Summary:  A February 6-7 conference organized by the 
Turkish NGO TESEV within the framework of the Democracy 
Assistance Dialogue (DAD) brought together 150 NGO and 
government representatives from around the Middle East and 
North Africa to develop an action platform to increase the 
role of women in public life in the region.  Building on the 
proceedings of a June 2005 DAD symposium, the group 
formulated concrete recommendations calling on governments to 
ratify, narrow reservations to, and implement the Convention 
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against 
Women (CEDAW), with a particular focus on the issues of 
political participation and personal status law.  They also 
recommended the establishment of a region-wide gender 
institute.  Governments will take up the proposals at a 
follow-on event in May.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Can Paker, President of the Turkish Economic and 
Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), which helped organize the 
conference, told participants that a "powerful and organized 
request" by women in Turkey is what had led to progress on 
women's rights in this country.  He expressed hope that the 
DAD's efforts would improve dialogue between civil society 
and governments in the region.  The value added of DAD, his 
colleagues said, is its promise to be a continuous and 
transparent process, with a bottom up focus on local ideas. 
Setting the stage for the two-day event, organizers called 
for participants to focus on political participation, as that 
affects all other issues, and urged participants to develop 
concrete recommendations for delivery to Broader Middle East 
and North Africa (BMENA) government officials.  In addition 
to NGO and government officials from across the BMENA region, 
conference attendees included European MP Emma Bonino; former 
UK Ambassador to Yemen Frances Guy, who now heads up the 
FCO's Engaging with the Islamic World initiative; and World 
Bank official Shaha Aliriza, currently serving as advisor to 
the NEA Bureau. 
 
¶3.  (U)  GOT Participation:  Speaking on behalf of FM Gul, 
Turkey's MFA Coordinator for the Broader Middle East 
Initiative Ambassador Omur Orhun said the DAD has proven to 
be a useful instrument to bolster reform processes.  He 
called for an expanded role for women in public life, and 
noted that existing challenges in this area were compounded 
by a "misrepresentation and/or misinterpretation of cultural 
and religious values."  Gul's message stressed that the 
Turkish role in the G-8's BMENA initiative is that of a 
democratic partner of the region, sharing experiences to 
facilitate local reform efforts.  He acknowledged that Turkey 
still has much to do to improve the status of women here, but 
argued the government's constructive relationship with civil 
society would be of benefit in addressing the situation, and 
pointed out the first OIC Conference on Women will be hosted 
by Turkey late in the year. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Some Success, but Still Working:  Turkish women who 
were empowered by their campaign to reform Turkey's penal 
code shared success stories with participants, and identified 
their next target:  transformation of the political party 
system.  Women are excluded from political participation 
systematically, they said, lamenting that in Turkey, there is 
no consensus for implementation of a quota system to enhance 
women's participation.  (Note:  Conference participants 
almost universally accepted quotas as good.  End note.) 
Other participants also suggested the utility of monitoring 
media for gender bias, and of training journalists in such 
issues. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  True Grit:  Several participants from the region 
shared their experience of taking risks to improve the 
political status of women in their respective countries.  On 
the margins of the conference, Bahraini participant Ghada 
Jamsheer told us that she had multiple court cases against 
her for her demands to codify family laws in Bahrain and 
reform the sharia-based family courts there and had been 
threatened after a recent interview with Al Arabiya on the 
issue.  Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid 
exhibited courage of a different kind in the workshop itself. 
 A group brainstorming ways to hold governments to 
commitments entailed by CEDAW was skeptical that any 
monitoring committee could have teeth.  Eid suggested that 
participants press for autonomous bodies around the region to 
supervise and report on governments' performance and ethics; 
 
ISTANBUL 00000211  002 OF 003 
 
 
when asked for one concrete example of such an institution 
existing and being effective in the region, he pointed to 
Israel's state Comptroller. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Islamists on the Ascent?:  The conference took 
place against the backdrop of the "caricature controversy" 
and the recent Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections. 
The former did not garner much comment other than a TESEV 
organizer's view in opening remarks that "sacred values 
should not be attacked in the name of freedom of speech." 
Conference participants were abuzz throughout the two day 
conference, however, about the Hamas victory and the role 
women had played in achieving that victory, and the 
perception that Islamists were gaining in countries where 
free and fair elections were taking hold.  Opinions were 
diverse as to what that meant for activists working to 
improve the status of women. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) What does it mean for us?:  A Turkish participant 
opined that the region is being divided into two, with a 
paradox developing between the modern and the traditional. 
The difference between the two points of view, she said, is 
often defined by perspectives about women and their role in 
society.  Politically empowered radical religious movements 
have a negative psychological impact on some women, she 
asserted, but at the same time these movements have been 
mobilizing other women and making them more active 
politically.  A Pakistani NGO activist noted that selective 
democracy is not an option.  If Islamists win, she said, the 
region's women's movements must determine how to work with 
them. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Who Speaks for Whom?:  An Egyptian academic noted 
that voices must be disaggregated: who is speaking for whom? 
She underlined that while many comment that the views of 
women are not homogenous in the region, "we keep talking 
about them as if they were."  As if to illustrate her point, 
a Kuwaiti claimed that it was mostly women supporting 
Islamists, and that they don't have the "cultural competence" 
to raise their voice.  An Egyptian claimed that the rise of 
Islamic movements everywhere -- including, she claimed, in 
Jordan and Morocco -- eventually will bring about a total 
reorganization of society, and that women must "be prepared." 
 Yet another participant countered that religion must not be 
blamed for everything.  Freedom of speech doesn't even exist 
in some places, she said, let alone women's rights, and that 
oppression came far before the rise of Islamists.  She urged 
her colleagues not to put religion at the center of all 
discussions and to focus on the issues. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Interpreting the Qur'an:  All the same, several 
participants stressed the need for women to take interest in 
theological arguments limiting women's rights.  Women must 
claim the right and competence to interpret scripture, which 
would then allow them to challenge problematic chauvinistic 
interpretations, she said.  Conference participant Asma 
Barlas, a U.S.-based professor of Pakistani origin and author 
of "Believing Women in Islam, Unreading Patriarchal 
Interpretations of the Qur'an," seemed to share this view. 
She expressed discouragement that her 2002 book on this topic 
was not more widely known amongst Muslim women, but noted 
that at least one girl's school in Indonesia had incorporated 
her work into its curriculum. 
 
¶10.  (U)  CEDAW:  International Bill of Rights?:  At the end 
of two days of wide-ranging discussions, conference workshop 
moderators produced a statement documenting specific 
conclusions and recommendations.  Among other action 
requests, conference participants called upon governments to 
ensure a hospitable environment for NGOs, and urged 
governments to ratify, narrow reservations to, and implement 
CEDAW.  They also called for the creation of a region-wide 
gender institute, charged with enhancing civil society and 
government dialogue, and facilitation and review of CEDAW 
implementation in the individual countries of the region. 
 
¶11.  (U)  Next Steps:  These conclusions will be presented to 
a group of government and NGO representatives from around the 
region at a GOT-hosted meeting in Turkey this May 22-23, 
whose goal will be to develop concrete measures to improve 
the status of women.  As part of the continuing DAD process, 
the dialogue on the recommendations and strategy development 
will continue at a meeting of civil society and governments 
set for Sana'a in June 2006, and at the next Forum for the 
Future meeting, to be held in Jordan later this year.  As 
part of the DAD process, participants will also be encouraged 
to develop specific in-country activities to advance the 
 
ISTANBUL 00000211  003 OF 003 
 
 
issues raised in these regional discussions.  This focus on 
in-country activities will be an important part of the DAD 
work in 2006.  Bakhtiar Amin, member of the selection 
committee to appoint the board of directors for the 
Foundation for the Future, made spontaneous closing remarks, 
informing participants about the creation of the Foundation 
for the Future, and larger network of which the DAD forms a 
part, and calling for recommendations for the Foundation 
board. 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  Comment:  The diversity of voices making 
themselves heard at the conference drove home yet again that 
"women" and "Muslims" and "Muslim women" are not monolithic 
groups.  Conference workshops got off to a slow start as some 
participants were frustrated by occasionally wandering 
discussions, due precisely to the breadth of participants' 
experiences and backgrounds (and everyone's desire to get in 
their two cents' worth).  But as time went on, the event 
gathered steam and focus, and participants seemed upbeat by 
the end, hopeful that their recommendations would lead to at 
least renewed dialogue with governments on women's rights 
topics that have not been prioritized or even considered, in 
some cases.  The GOT and its NGO partner, TESEV, continue to 
play a constructive role in promoting dialogue between civil 
society and governments in the region about the importance of 
women's role in public life   The response to these 
recommendations by government representatives meeting later 
this year will be the next key to keeping the DAD moving. 
End Comment. 
JONES