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P 111434Z DEC 07
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
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INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 001051 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV AORC TU
SUBJECT: GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE AGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA 
 
ISTANBUL 00001051  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (SBU) The International Conference on Islamophobia accused 
"the West" of an irrational fear of Islam.  Most speakers 
provided anecdotal evidence of hostile actions towards 
Muslims, including Turkey,s ban against headscarves in 
public institutions.  A small minority of speakers raised the 
need to address Western concerns regarding the Islamic world. 
 Conference participants proposed going on the offensive to 
directly counter anti-Islamic acts as well as lawsuits 
against "perpetrators of Islamophobia," and social and 
economic exclusion as a blueprint to combat Islamophobia. 
The counterattack strategy espoused by conference organizers 
and speakers clearly resonated with the audience and has a 
good chance of directing attention away from needed social 
and political reforms in the Islamic world. 
 
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"Islamophobia is Embedded in the West" 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Participants at the International Conference on 
Islamophobia, held in Istanbul on December 8-9, painted a 
picture of Western publics and governments engaging in a 
deliberate, hostile campaign against Islam.  The speakers, 
who represented a wide cross-section of Islamic Scholars 
throughout the world, were nearly unanimous in declaring that 
Islamophobia is deeply rooted in the West and used numerous 
examples of Western intolerance and discrimination -- ranging 
from the Crusades to the Danish Cartoon controversy -- to 
highlight what they characterized as the West,s irrational 
fear of Islam.  Islamophobia was described as "more serious" 
in the wake of the September 11th attacks and the War on 
Terror.  Many speakers accused U.S. and other Western leaders 
of manipulating fear of Islam to justify wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan as well as domestic legislation that 
discriminates against Muslims. 
 
¶3. (U) In his keynote address, Secretary General of the 
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Professor Ekmeleddin 
Ihsanoglu called Western supporters of the offensive Danish 
cartoon "extremists of freedom expression," equating them 
with al-Qaeda.  Another keynote speaker, British author Karen 
Armstrong, opined to great applause that the West is deeply 
Islamophobic. She blamed the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., 
stating the attacks proved the West failed to learn the 
lessons of the 20th century.  Speakers throughout the 
conference espoused this line of thought with little 
opposition.  Some speakers highlighted positive steps by the 
West, but most focused on examples of inflammatory 
anti-Muslim rhetoric or actions. 
 
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"Headscarf ban as a form of Islamophobia" 
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¶4. (U)  Necati Ceylan  President of the Turkish Foundation 
for Volunteer Organizations (TGTV) (which helped organize the 
controversial International Jerusalem Meeting) cited the ban 
against wearing headscarves in Turkish state institutions as 
form of Islamophobia.  The media fosters "the fear of the 
headscarf" and also is guilty of Islamophobia, according to 
Ceylan.  Fatma Benli, President of the Women,s Rights 
Society Against Discrimination, called the headscarf ban a 
human rights violation.  Benli cited a recent poll that 
showed 69 percent of Turkish women wear the headscarf as 
evidence that the majority of Turkish women have their rights 
infringed by the state. According to Benli, the bans came 
into effect in the last decade only because headscarf wearing 
women were becoming more visible in expensive shops or as 
wives of politicians.  Those who have an irrational fear of 
Islam turned the headscarf into a political issue, 
associating wearing the "turban" with a political act, Benli 
argued. 
 
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Limited Calls for Self Examination 
-------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Nearly all the speakers blamed Islamophobia entirely 
on external causes, obviating the need for discussion of 
internal reforms.  A notable exception was Tariq Ramadan, a 
 
ISTANBUL 00001051  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Swiss professor and theologian, who argued that the West has 
legitimate questions regarding Islam.   Ramadan argued 
Islamic scholars should disavow Sudan,s recent arrest of a 
kindergarten teacher arrested for naming a toy bear Mohammed. 
 Ramadan feared participants would leave the conference 
feeling victimized, thus eliminating the need to have a 
critical discussion within Islam. Although she dedicated most 
of her remarks to the headscarf issue, Benli also criticized 
restrictions on women in Muslim societies, drawing 
spontaneous applause from many in the audience.  Iqbal Unus, 
Director of the Fairfax Institute, a division of the 
International Institute of Islamic Thought, argued 
Islamophobes were not necessarily anti-Islam; they simply had 
limited knowledge of the religion drawn from sensationalist 
media fed by acts from extremists elements within Islam. 
Unus encouraged his audience to work against extremist 
elements.  These examples were in stark contrast to a two day 
barrage that presented the Islamic world as a victim of a 
ferocious attack by the West. 
 
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A Blueprint to Counterattack 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Several speakers were proponents of a comprehensive 
legal counter-attack.  Mojtaba Amiri Vahid, Iranian Deputy to 
the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) mission to 
UN-Geneva, was the principal architect of the plan.  The 
strategy: "indexing" (i.e. the cataloging of press and 
politicians who promote Islamophobia for eventual financial 
and societal expulsion), sponsorship of legally-binding 
resolutions against religiously-motivated incitement, and 
filing myriad OIC-funded lawsuits in respective "centers of 
abuse."  In the near-term, OIC lawyers and attorneys from the 
Association of Muslim Lawyers would provide the legal work 
gratis, and in the long-term joint OIC-NGO universities would 
be established to "produce pupils who know the domestic 
culture and who can argue in the language of the West." 
 
 
¶7. (U) Differing slightly from Vahid, Deputy President of the 
Egyptian Society of International Law Ali Elghatit focused on 
the one hand on the need for new legislation, claiming that 
traditional resolutions (e.g. The UN Convention on Human 
Rights) were insufficient.  Chairman of the Muslim Helfen 
Institute Ahmed Von Denffer, on the other hand, suggested 
working within the existing body of law; "there is no dearth 
of international law, it is the subjective application that 
is racist."  Massoud Shadjareh, Chairman of the Islamic Human 
Rights Commission (IHRC), claimed that the battle against 
both process and substance should wait until a change in 
perception occurs.  "We need to portray ourselves as the Jews 
have, as victims."  Muslims are a religious minority, and 
need to make common cause with all religious minorities. 
Courts will then look upon Muslims as a protected class, he 
argued. 
 
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Comments 
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¶8. (SBU) The concise blueprint to counter anti-Islamic 
actions in the West espoused by conference organizers and 
speakers clearly resonated with the audience and has a good 
chance of directing attention away from needed social and 
political reforms in the Islamic world. Increasing the 
visibility of real or imagined anti-Muslim actions in the 
West will stir up emotions on both sides and likely drive a 
wedge between moderates seeking a real middle ground.   If 
the proponents of this "blueprint" are successful, academics 
and educated Muslims might feel a lesser need to engage in 
meaningful internal debate and will to tend to blame their 
societal problems solely on external forces. 
WIENER