VZCZCXRO4730
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHRL #0891/01 2041423
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231423Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4687
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BERLIN 000891 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR S/P-BEHRMAN; S/SRMC-PANDITH; EUR/PPD-WHITE AND HELLING; 
EUR/PGI-WEINSTEIN AND ELDRIDGE; R-DAVIDSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KPAO PREL SCUL GM
SUBJECT: GERMANY: REACTIONS TO CAIRO SPEECH AND PLANS FOR ONGOING 
ENGAGEMENT 
 
REF: STATE 71325 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Mission Germany conducted a range of activities to 
highlight President Obama's June 4 Cairo speech and to solicit 
feedback from local Muslim communities.  Per reftel request, post 
provides preliminary feedback on our ongoing outreach efforts within 
Germany, including feedback from local stakeholders and partners on 
activities and programs related to the policy priorities outlined in 
the speech.  Initial response to the President's speech has been 
exceedingly positive, though stakeholders are now eager to see 
action.  In order to demonstrate U.S. commitment to dialogue and 
partnership, we will continue to build on our highly successful 
outreach programs and exchange activities and seek new opportunities 
to expand and deepen dialogue.  End Summary. 
 
Mission Germany Engages Local Audiences on June 4 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Mission Germany hosted in-house events and used social 
networking tools to engage local audiences and encourage them to 
view the President's speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt on 
June 4.  In Berlin, a diverse German and American audience of 
approximately 50 students, journalists, politicians and community 
leaders watched the speech live, and shared their impressions of the 
speech and its implications for American engagement with the Muslim 
world in a discussion led by the MCPA.  ConGen Duesseldorf hosted a 
similar event with influential Muslim contacts from Cologne, 
Duesseldorf and the Ruhr area.  These fora enabled participants to 
exchange ideas with each other regarding the future of America's 
relationship to the Muslim world, as well as to discuss 
opportunities for partnership going forward.  On June 5, the Munich 
CG highlighted the speech in a television interview which aired four 
times that day. 
 
Initial Reactions to Cairo Speech 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Overall response to the speech has been overwhelmingly 
positive.  Muslim contacts, in particular, noted that the speech 
outlined constructive ways that the United States and Muslim 
communities around the world can bridge some of the differences that 
have divided them.  Aiman Mazyek, General Secretary of the Central 
Council for Muslims, who attended the ConGen Duesseldorf event, was 
very outspoken, saying that "with this speech, the U.S. has taken 
back moral authority" in the world.  He called the speech "balm for 
the Muslim soul," a phrase that he repeated frequently in subsequent 
local TV and newspaper interviews. 
 
¶4. (U) Duesseldorf participants described the President as the 
"proto-type of a globalized man" and asserted that no American 
president "has ever shown so much respect for the Muslim world." 
Audiences at both events were impressed that Obama quoted the Koran, 
respectfully referring to it as the "Holy Koran."  They stated that 
Obama and America offered hope for the Muslim world. 
 
¶5.  (U) According to press reports, the General Secretary of the 
Central Council for Jews praised the President's efforts to promote 
better relations with the Islamic world and commented that a success 
for the President "would be a success for world freedom." 
 
¶6. (SBU) During the June 4 discussions and in subsequent 
conversations with individuals, contacts praised both the content of 
the speech and its respectful tone; however, many emphasized that 
they needed to see action and results before they got too excited. 
A high-level Muslim contact in Berlin who had traveled to Israel 
after June 4 noted that the President's speech was also received 
very enthusiastically in the Middle East and could "be linked to 
Hezbollah's loss in the elections" and the declining influence of 
extremist groups like al-Qaida.  Arabs, she noted, were very 
impressed by the fact that the President acknowledged the suffering 
of the Palestinians and had referred to "Palestine."  The President 
had earned the respect of the Arabs through his speech and was 
viewed as "one of them," she said, since his father was a Muslim. 
He now had an opportunity to "reach the masses" and "win hearts," 
but he must "move quickly" to implement the initiatives outlined in 
the speech, she cautioned, before enthusiasm wanes. 
 
Continued Dialogue through Ongoing Outreach 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Muslim Contacts and other stakeholders have lauded our 
extremely active Muslim engagement programming during the past 
several years and urged us to expand these activities, particularly 
among Muslim youth.  The Mission's Muslim Working Group intends to 
continue our efforts through building on programming conducted over 
the past year in order to facilitate a continued consultative 
process.  Successful 2008/2009 programs include: 
 
BERLIN 00000891  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
-- IntegrationXchange Conference: IntegrationXchange participants 
from Germany and the U.S. who had traveled to   one another's 
countries to learn first-hand about integration issues shared their 
experiences with each other and with integration practitioners from 
all over Germany.  Mission Germany's alumni activities continue to 
support the established network. 
 
-- R-sponsored Citizen Dialogue program: American Muslims met with 
German Muslims throughout Germany to discuss issues of common 
interest. 
 
-- Mission Germany's "Building Bridges" series: This successful 
conference series on immigrant youth and the media continued in 2008 
with conferences in Hamburg and Munich.  Additional conferences are 
planned for 2009.  The series is a partnership project between 
Mission Germany and the German government-funded Union for Democracy 
and Tolerance. 
 
-- Intercultural and Interfaith Women's Network: ConGen Frankfurt 
continued this innovative program which brings Muslim, Christian, 
Jewish, and Hindi women from the Frankfurt area together to discuss 
shared concerns and develop strategies to address challenges within 
their communities. 
 
-- Windows on America: Mission Germany continued its 
highly-successful public-private partnership exchange program for 
Muslim and immigrant high school students, sending 50 students and 
their teachers to the U.S.  The program continues to garner 
extremely positive attention from the media and German public. 
 
-- "The Streets of Wedding - Das Musical:" This Mission 
Germany-initiated musical theater project moved audiences across 
Germany in a national tour, co-sponsored by the Mission and the 
German Ministry of Interior. 
 
-- High-level engagement: The Ambassador and CGs hosted and attended 
Iftar dinners, interfaith events, and spoke to Muslim/Turkish 
business and community organizations. This engagement strengthened 
our relationships with these organizations and resulted in greater 
acceptance of Turkish-Islamic organizations and mosques by local 
governments. 
 
-- Meetings with Muslim Communities: Mission-wide meetings with 
prominent leaders from the Muslim communities throughout Germany, 
including from the Interior Ministry's Islam Conference, provided 
opportunities to discuss relevant issues and provide reporting to 
Washington to better inform our efforts and initiatives. 
 
-- International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP): Mission Germany 
continued to use the IVLP to strengthen contact with prominent 
German Muslims; 18 of our 56 IVLP participants in FY 2008 were 
German Muslims.  We expect similar numbers in FY 2009. 
 
¶8. (U) In addition to scaling-up many of these existing activities, 
we also plan to expand outreach to Turkish media and launch several 
new initiatives in the coming year, including: 
 
-- Twitter: Establish and maintain a Twitter stream specifically 
designed for Muslim youth. 
 
-- Muslim Film Series: Develop a film series to engage Muslim youth. 
 We will consider partnering with a local media institute which 
produced a film series on young Muslims in Germany. 
 
-- Video Conferences: Offer a video conference to bring young 
Muslims in Germany into direct contact with their counterparts in 
the U.S. 
 
-- Youth Alumni Event: Organize a youth-oriented alumni event for 
young minority alumni to strengthen contact with the Mission and 
facilitate mentoring among Windows on America alumni and young 
alumni of other USG exchange programs, such as Fulbright, the 
Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program, and the Youth 
Visitor Program. 
 
-- MeetUS: Expand outreach to Muslim youth through the Mission's 
MeetUs initiative which enables Mission staff and American 
volunteers to speak with students at local high schools about the 
U.S. and American values.  In addition to our traditional youth 
outreach, we will target predominantly Muslim schools and classes 
taught by former IVLP and Voluntary Visitor (VolVis) participants. 
 
-- Job Internships: Institute an internship project designed to 
provide immigrant youth with two-week unpaid internships at 
companies.  Students will be selected based on their proven 
motivation and qualifications. 
 
BERLIN 00000891  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
-- Broader Contact Events: Continue outreach efforts by hosting 
events more broadly, such as Iftars, contact dinners, interfaith 
events and other appropriate events. 
 
¶9. (U) Per reftel request, we will continue to report on the 
consultative process, providing feedback on our ongoing outreach 
efforts within Germany as they develop. 
 
Bradtke