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R 100525Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005851 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS PHUM TU
SUBJECT: RAMADAN IN ANKARA 
 
 
ANKARA 00005851  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  The holy month of Ramadan, or Ramazan as 
it is known in Turkey, is welcomed in Ankara with a wide 
variety of degrees of observance of prayer and fasting.  Acts 
of compassion and donations to the poor increase, while 
family bonds are affirmed over the break-fast table. 
Compared to other parts of the country, or other Muslim 
countries, public life in Ankara does not change much. 
Meanwhile, Turkey's leading Justice and Development Party 
(AKP) makes extensive use of its party structure, grassroots 
organization, and hold on various levels of government to get 
its services (and message) out to voters during Ramadan.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
----------------------------------- 
RAMADAN IN ANKARA: A VARIED PICTURE 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Ankara shows little outward sign of change during this 
lunar month, this year from September 24 to October 22, apart 
from festive holiday lights, a few signs welcoming the month 
of Ramadan, and more prominent grocery store signs 
advertising holiday bounty.  Most restaurants find sufficient 
custom to keep regular hours, as do businesses.  Many 
neighborhoods hear the 4am drummer rousing fasters for the 
pre-dawn meal; others do not.  Driving in Ankara, wild at the 
best of times, becomes even livelier later in the day, as the 
pre-iftar rush clogs Ankara's narrow streets. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Some Turks in Ankara commit to keeping the fast for 
the entire month; others fast only for a day or two (at the 
beginning of the month, or if they are invited to an iftar), 
or not at all.  Even Muslims who do not generally observe 
other aspects of Islam may fast.  DAO observes that the 
majority of military officers fast, even Special Forces 
stationed in Northern Iraq.  Many people do so out of 
tradition or because they believe fasting is healthy, as well 
as for religious reasons.  Some Turks abandon other vices for 
the month, including cigarettes or alcohol.  There is no 
visible social pressure to fast, and no noticeable 
condemnation of those who do not.  Embassy officers found 
that even the cafeteria underneath Kocatepe Mosque -- the 
capital's largest and most prominent -- on a Friday does a 
lively lunchtime business.  One very observant Muslim in 
Ankara's Or-An neighborhood stressed the importance of 
fasting coming from the heart, not from outside imposition; 
she expressed satisfaction that unlike some countries, in 
Turkey, observance is really a matter of choice and not 
compulsion. 
 
¶4. (U) Iftar is the break-fast dinner, announced each dusk by 
the early evening call to prayer (or, for those listening to 
the radio, by a brief word from the announcer, who announces 
three separate iftar times for three zones across Turkey). 
The meals are often home events, bringing together friends 
and family.  Some public iftars, like the one outside 
Kocatepe Mosque, are paid for by a different business or 
family every night; the sponsor's name appears on a prominent 
banner.  Restaurants typically do a brisk iftar business, 
with plates of light food or soup ready and waiting for 
diners, or bountiful buffets.  Fasters often break the fast 
with olives or a date, followed by soup and the main meal. 
At this time of year, bakeries prepare a round, 
sesame-crusted loaf called "pide," ubiquitous at iftars.  In 
the late afternoon, a frequent sight is of Turks with bags of 
pide under their arms hurrying home.  Another Ramadan 
specialty is the sweet, milky, starch-based pastry called 
"gullac," flavored with walnuts, pistachios, or strawberries, 
and sometimes sprinkled with pomegranate seeds for a classic 
Ottoman effect. 
 
¶5. (U) Ramadan is a time of compassion and giving, an aspect 
evident in Ankara on several levels.  Strangers on a dolmus 
(small communal bus) offer chunks of bread at iftar time. 
People give trays of baklava to friends or their doorman's 
family to ease the burden of daily evening entertaining. 
Social welfare NGOs are especially active in bringing their 
services to the poor and frequently host iftars.  Muslims are 
reminded of the compulsory obligation to pay zekat, or 
one-fortieth of their wealth, to the poor.  In addition, 
non-compulsory "fitre" donations are common and encouraged at 
this time.  The Religious Affairs Directorate, the Diyanet, 
sets the standard minimum fitre amount in money by tallying 
the cost of 1460 grams of wheat, 2920 grams of barley, 2920 
grams of raisins, and 2920 grams of dates; this year the 
 
ANKARA 00005851  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
fitre is set at about 4.5 YTL.  Supermarkets prepare boxes of 
staples--rice, flour, lentils, oil, tomato paste and other 
essentials of the Turkish kitchen--meant to be given as 
Ramadan gifts.  The prepared boxes are exempt from the VAT. 
 
-------------------------- 
AKP: NOBODY DOES IT BETTER 
-------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ramadan provides an opportunity to reach out and 
provide services to the public, and no organization in Ankara 
province is more visible or effective than the ruling Justice 
& Development Party (AKP), which takes full advantage of its 
party organization, the municipality, and the national 
government.  AKP-held Ankara municipality is serving dinner 
to thousands every night at 30 municipal iftar sites around 
town, marked with posters signed by Mayor Melih Gokcek.  AKP 
youth branch officials tells us that their iftar tent, 
organized by the Ankara provincial level youth branch, has 
different nightly sponsors: AKP members or those who wish to 
be associated with the party.  Prime Minister and AKP 
chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a different public 
iftar every night and has reportedly instructed AKP members 
to go out and break the fast with the poor, rather than at 
home or in expensive hotels. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Ankara Province AKP organization is preparing 
4000 food baskets at a cost of 35 YTL each (approx. USD 20). 
Provincial-level women's and youth auxiliaries are effective 
at distributing these to the poor.  According to Women's 
Auxiliary Chair Selma Kavaf, the women's branches are also 
active in providing winter clothing, school supplies, 
household materials, green cards for health care, and 
communication with social assistance funds for handicapped 
children -- year round, but especially at Ramadan.  Chairman 
of the Ankara Province AKP, Nurettin Akman, told us that 
under Erdogan's orders, the provincial deputies are grouped 
and sent out to Ankara's 24 provinces to meet with the 
people, three days a week for two weeks during Ramadan. 
According to Akman, Erdogan's background as a municipal mayor 
and a man of the people has developed his sensitivity to 
people's needs. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
ELSEWHERE IN TURKEY: OBSERVANCE IS HIGH 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Ramadan as experienced in Ankara does not 
necessarily represent "the Turkish approach" to Ramadan. 
Professor Hasan Onat, from the Faculty of Theology at Ankara 
University, says that according to his research, 60-70 
percent of Turks fast.  Parts of the country experience a 
substantial difference in daily life, with restaurants closed 
during the day and modified working hours.  The Political 
Counselor, traveling in the southeast, noted that while the 
large city of Diyarbakir still had restaurants open during 
the day, smaller towns like Bingol and Batman evinced more 
universal observance with nothing to offer beyond the grocery 
store. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Diyarbakir municipality has decided to establish 
iftar tents specifically in order to defuse pressure from 
more radical religious groups.  According to municipal 
officials, even in this first year, the response has been 
positive and the demand high. 
 
¶10. (U) Even the national airline of the secular state, 
Turkish Airlines, acknowledges the month by providing pink 
iftar bags to travelers (who, according to some, are not 
obliged to fast).  The iftar packs contain a date, water, 
cheese sandwich, and a package of Knorr instant soup. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON