VZCZCXRO4919
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHRL #2893 2721432
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291432Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5506
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BERLIN 002893 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI KISL PGOV GM
SUBJECT: SUCCESSFUL START TO ISLAMIC CONFERENCE 
 
REF: (A) BERLIN 2847 (B) BERLIN 2808 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1. Summary.  Germany's Sept. 27 Islam Conference of 
government and Muslim representatives has been widely hailed 
as a successful and historic occasion.  Interior Ministry 
contacts report the event was better than expected, even 
though there were differing views among the Muslim 
participants and two organizations have hinted they might not 
continue in the process.  The Conference, envisaged as a 
two-to-three year process, continues in November with a 
second full session as well, perhaps, as working group 
meetings.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Reports from Interior Minister Schaeuble's closed-door 
Islam Conference on Sept. 27 describe a respectful and 
orderly, if not always harmonious exchange of views among the 
30 participants -- 15 from German officialdom, 10 independent 
Muslims, and five representatives from the largest Muslim 
religious organizations.  Any lack of harmony arose, 
reportedly, from differing views within the Muslim half of 
the conference as much as from differences between the Muslim 
and official participants.  Necla Kelek, a frequent critic of 
many Islamic practices, reportedly called for a ban on 
headscarves in public schools, which provoked criticism from 
other Muslims.  Whether Muslim girls should join in co-ed 
sports classes was another controversial intra-Muslim issue. 
Between (some) Muslims and the government, the conflict over 
the participants (Ref A), who were chosen by the Ministry, 
continued -- both the Central Council of Muslims and the 
Muslim Council suggested they may drop out of the dialogue 
process.  The press made much of the agreement by Muslim 
participants, on the grounds of freedom of opinion, that the 
controversial staging of Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" should not 
have been canceled. 
 
Reaction 
-------- 
¶3. (U) On the day of the Conference, Schaeuble published a 
full page article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine, putting as 
the central task for the participants: "How can we arrive at 
the point where as many Muslims in Germany as possible feel 
themselves to be German Muslims, who identify with this 
country, its language, its culture and its laws, without 
perceiving these as in contradiction to their religious 
conception."  Despite the bumps, at the end of the session, 
which ran almost an hour longer than scheduled, Minister 
Schaeuble pronounced himself pleased, especially with the 
unreserved agreement by all participants that the German 
constitution would serve as the basis for the dialogue. 
Senior Interior Ministry staff told us they Conference had 
gone off better than they expected.  Bekir Alboga, spokesman 
for Ditib, the Turkish-government affiliated largest Muslim 
religious organization in Germany, pronounced himself "a 
happy man, on the one hand because of Ramadan, the month of 
fasting, and on the other because of the Conference."  Even 
the General Secretary of the somewhat critical Central 
Council described the day as "historic."  A Central Council 
official told us the Council "might perhaps" issue a 
statement, but had not done so by September 29. 
 
¶4. (U) Media reaction was positive and congratulatory, though 
many outlets seemed to believe that the suggestion that all 
participants (except the Islam Council) planned to attend a 
performance of Idomeneo (if revived) was the major outcome of 
the event.  The Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ), while hoping 
that the Conference could begin to end mutual ignorance and 
suspicion between the general ethnic German and Muslim 
communities, also predicted a "long and painful path" for 
Muslims who have bound their religious practice to cultural 
tradition.  The liberal "Frankfurter Rundschau" regretted 
(but accepted) that it was necessary for the government to 
deal with Islam "as an organizing political body and 
structural factor in social life" and that it would be 
successful when, in this regard, it was no longer needed. 
The "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" welcomed the dialogue in a brief 
editorial, but chose to focus, under the headline "Fear of 
Islam" on the Idomeneo story as an example of dangerous 
self-censorship. 
 
Next Steps 
---------- 
 
¶5. (U) The Sept. 27 Conference initiated a planned 
two-to-three year process of dialogue, structured in three 
working groups with intermittent plenary sessions.  The 
second meeting of the Conference, perhaps in conjunction with 
the first working group sessions, is scheduled for November 8 
and 9 in Nuremberg, where a secretariat for the Conference 
will also be established at the federal Office for Migration 
and Refugees. 
TIMKEN JR